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

Chapter Thirty Four

Chapter Thirty Four.

Nick:
We pick up Aled along the way. Tara is borrowing her parent's car and is picking up Darcy, Tao and Elle. We reach the ice-skating rink and and wait for them to get there.

"What excuse do you think Tao will have for not being able to skate?" Charlie asks.
"Maybe he won't even show up until we go to the next place," I say.
"He sounds a little dramatic," Adam says with a laugh.
"Understatement of the century," Aled says. "But we love him anyways."

We see them pull into the parking lot and park. They all come out of the car, while Tao limps his way over to us. Jacob, Adam, Charlie and I all look at each other and burst into laughter. Tao hits mine, Aled and Charlie's arms.

"Why are you laughing?! I think I sprained my ankle."
"How? We haven't even gone inside yet and I predicted that that's where you'll be getting injured today," Charlie says with a smirk.
"He says he rolled it walking to the car, it's not even swollen," Tara says.
"That's because he's a liar," Elle jokes.

I lightly kick his other ankle.

"Ow, Nick! What's wrong with you?! I just told you that I think I rolled or sprained my ankle."

I smirk.

"Yeah, other ankle."

Tao's eyes widen as everyone laughs.

"Now that this is settled, can we go ice-skate?" Aled says.
"Oh, sorry, was distracted by the fake drama Tao had to create to try and get out of this," Charlie says. "Everyone, this is Jacob."

After everyone says hello, we start to head inside and get our ice-skates.

"You're all going to regret this when I have to be carried off the ice because I broke both ankles."

Elle rolls her eyes and pushes him. Charlie looks up at me while he's tying his skates and smiles. Funny, Charlie and I have never been ice-skating. I haven't even been ice-skating in years. Maybe this was a bad idea, I think to myself. Charlie stands up and wraps his arms around me.

"Are you any good at skating?" I ask

He nods.

"I'm not an Olympic skater or anything, but my family and I use to come here like every weekend growing up."
"Oh good, so I can just hold your hand and it'll seem like I know what I'm doing?"

He laughs as he grabs my hand.

"Hopefully," he jokes as he pulls me out onto the ice. 

We get onto the ice and Charlie is surprisingly a natural. But then again, Charlie is pretty much good at everything he does. I watch him spin around and skate backwards. I thought I was decent because I could skate without holding onto the wall and won't fall, but Charlie is making me look like I've never been on the ice before. Tao makes his way out and instantly I feel better. His legs are spread out and his hands are clenching onto the wall. I couldn't help but laugh.

"This is why there's always tension between you and I," Tao says as he glares at me.

Charlie laughs as he skates over and sticks his hand out for Tao.

"Need a hand?" he asks.

Tao proceeds to grab Charlies hand as he whisks a very scared looking Tao away.

Adam:
I step out onto the ice and within seconds, I fall.

"Oh so the superstar athlete can't handle a little ice?" Jacob teases.
"I'm an athlete on land," I say as I grab his hand and he helps me up.

He laughs.

"On land?"
"Yeah, not ice," I say with a laugh.
"This is nice," he says as we begin to skate.
"That rhymed."

He laughs again.

"I guess it did."
"It is nice, being here, not having a care in the world," I say as I intertwine our fingers.

He looks down at our hands, then back at me and smiles.

"Are you holding your hand because you like me or because you're afraid to fall again?" He asks with a smirk.
"Definitely the second reason," I tease.

It's like being in an entirely different world here. Even at Uni, it was always so close to home that I was always afraid to just be with Jacob. I'm so thankful that Nick invited us down here so I don't have to worry about anything else but my relationship. It's already been such a perfect day and it just started. Nick skates over to us and smiles.

"Are you guys having fun?"
"Yeah, thanks for inviting us," Jacob says.
"Don't worry about it," Nick says with a smile.

Jacob looks at me.

"Now that you have someone around to make sure you don't fall, do you mind if --"

I laugh.

"No, go show off your skills," I say with a smile.

Jacob skates off and Nick looks at me.

"Saw you holding his hand earlier."
"Shut up!" I say, laughing.
"I'm just saying, it's nice to see you happy."
"It's nice to feel free."
"You could feel like that all the time you know," he says.

I sigh.

"I'd feel free in a sense, but also disowned."
"You don't know that."
"Sadly, I do."
"There's no one in your family that you think would accept this?"
"I mean, outside of my immediate family, I think everyone would be able to deal with it."
"Anyone in your immediate family?"
"Maybe my younger sister."
"How old is she?"
"Fourteen."
"So why don't you start there?" He asks.
"Maybe."
"Take it from me, you're always going to feel that weight on your chest until you do. Jacob may never ask you to come out, but he's going to always feel that weight too, trust me."
"I know you're right but it doesn't make it any less terrifying."
"It's easier when you have people who know you and accept you in your corner, which you do," Nick says as he skates away.

Maybe he's right. Maybe it's time.