Off To Uni! (Written after Nick & Charlie by Alice Osmen)

Chapter Thirty Two

Chapter Thirty Two.

Charlie:
I open my eyes and see that it's almost noon. I snuck Nick out of the house around 5AM. He told his Mum he was coming home early in the morning and even though my parents let me go visit him at Uni, I think they would have a problem that I let him come over in the middle of the night without getting permission. I open my door to see Tori standing in front of it. 

"Almost noon, you know," she says.
"Yeah, I um, I couldn't really fall asleep last night."
"Yeah, same here, there was too much giggling coming from your room," she says as she begins to walk down the hallway.

My face turns a new shade of red that did not exist until this very moment. Tori stops and faces me.

"I won't say anything. Happy Nick's back," she says as she walks into her room.

I guess we weren't as quiet as we thought. Luckily, Mum and Dad's room are much further away than Tori and mine. As I walk down the stairs, Oliver meets me before I make it to the last step.

"Please tell me that I get to see Nick today," he begs.

I ruffle his hair with my hands and smile.

"You are absolutely seeing Nick today," I say.

His eyes widen and he smiles.

"YES! I have so many new games to show him, I'm going to build a fort for us to play in and make sure Mum makes lots of snacks," he says as he walks into the other room.

I shake my head but laugh. I pick up my phone and call Nick.

"Well, good afternoon to you," Nick says.

I smile.

"Someone kept me up all night," I tease.
"Yeah, we should definitely do that again. Maybe a bunch of times before I go back."
"Don't tempt me with a good time Mr. Nelson," I say. "Oh also, don't freak out but Tori knew you were here."
"Wait what? How?"
"Apparently she heard us giggling and hopefully that's all she heard," I say.
"Oh my god. Nope, I'm never going to your house again," he says.
"Don't be so dramatic. It's only Tori. I'm sure that's all she heard.
"Nope. Your family will never see me again."
"But your presence is being requested," I say, whining.
"If you say by Tori I'm hanging up this phone right now."

I laugh.

He laughs.

"No, the other sibling," I say, laughing again. "Oliver."
"Oh okay, in that case I'll be there soon. If it were you, I'd make you wait a bit," he jokes.
"What a nice boyfriend I have," I say sarcastically. 
"The nicest! See you soon. I love you," he says.
"I love you."
"Charlie?"
"Yeah?"
"Please keep Tori away from me so I don't have to address that," he says with a nervous chuckle.

Nick:
I'm so mortified, but Charlie's right. At least it was Tori that knew I was there, and not his parents or even Oliver. I finish getting ready and make my way over to Charlie's. Before I can even knock on the door, it opens.

"NICK!!!!" Oliver exclaims as he jumps into my arms.
"Hey buddy! I missed you. Were you looking out the window waiting for me to come?"

He nods his head as I see Charlie lean against the doorframe behind him.

"Charlie said you'd be here soon and I was so excited to show you what I have planned for us! We're going to paly video games all day!"
"Wait, don't you want to open your present first?"
"Present?! It's not my birthday," he says as he takes the bag from my hand.
"I know. It's just because I missed you."

He pulls out a video game from the bag.

"Is this the new Mario Kart?! I've been begging ANYONE to buy it for me!" He says excitedly.
"Well, now you don't have to anymore," I say with a smile.

He hugs me and starts running into the living room.

"Look at this cool fort I made us!"

As I start to walk into the living room, Charlie stands in front of me.

"You didn't have to get him anything, you know."
"I know. I wanted to. I love your family like their my own," I say with a shrug.
"God, I love you," he says as he kisses me quickly.
"I love you."
"And I'd love it if you guys were less lovey dovey when I'm trying to get to the kitchen," Tori says as she walks by us.

I feel the color leave my face as Charlie laughs at me.

"Literally mortified," I say.

We walk into the living room and I see the fort Oliver had built with a bunch of snacks.

"Wow, Oliver! You did all this for me?"
"Mum helped! I just am so happy you're back."

I walk over to him and ruffle his hair with my hand. Charlie's family has quite literally become my family throughout the years. They're amazing.

"Maybe after I'm done beating you at Mario Kart, you me and Charlie can go and get dinner somewhere?"

I laugh.

"What makes you think you're going to beat me?" I ask.
"Well, Charlie told me you haven't gotten any better and I was definitely better than you before you left," he teases.

He wasn't wrong. He beat me almost every time. My phone goes off and I see that Adam texted me.

Adam: Hey. Are you guys free during the weekend? I can take my parents car and Jacob is available too.

I look over at Charlie.

"Do you mind if we hang out with Adam and Jacob this weekend? I told him if he wanted to actually spend time with Jacob without being afraid that his parents or someone who would tell his parents would see, that he was welcome to come over here."

Charlie smiles at me.

"You're such a good friend. Yeah, that would be fun!"

I begin to type.

Nick: Yeah, that should be fine. You guys can even stay at my house for the night if we end up coming back from whatever we end up doing late.
Adam: Sounds good! Tell Charlie I've been practicing my video games skills and I'm ready!
Nick: You'll have to beat his brother first, haha
Adam: IS HIS WHOLE FAMILY VIDEO GAME WIZARDS?!
Nick: hahahah NO! Just him and his younger brother.
Adam: YOUNGER?! How good is he?
Nick: Well he just kicked my ass all day.
Adam: But you suck...
Nick: REALLY NICE ADAM!

We finish playing video games and take Oliver out to dinner. I know I have two weeks here but this first day quite literally flew by. I'm trying to soak up all these moments before I have to head back, but at least I only have half a year left before I am home for the summer and hopefully Charlie will be closer to me next year. I can't wait.