"Charles, what happened?" Tori asked again. She'd stepped inside the bathroom and installed herself onto the side of the bath next to her brother.
"Nothing, it's okay. Just an argument." Charlie said, as he looked up at Tori and faked a smile.
"You don't look okay." She replied. You could see that she was worried about her brother because her eyes were watery and there was a look of concern on her face.
Charlie's eyes were fixed on the little bin that stood on the left side of the toilet. His vision got blurry as his eyes started to fill up with tears. He didn't want Tori to see. He didn't want people to worry about him and he didn't want to be a burden.
But then his breathing got quicker and more intense, slowly turning into full-on sobbing. "Shit," he whispered in between sobs, almost inaudible.
Tori wrapped him in a hug. Holding him tightly as if he'd fall apart if she didn't. Like a tower made out of cards or a Jenga tower that's about to fall over.
They sat there like this for a while. Just holding each other.
"I don't know what happened. He just barged out like that." Charlie paused for a second and then continued. "He seemed upset so I followed him. And then he told me to leave him alone, but I didn't. And now he's gone and it's all my fault."
"It's not your fault," Tori replied, holding Charlie even tighter. "Honestly it was kind of a shit move from him to act like this on your birthday."
"Yeah...I guess so..." Charlie said almost inaudible again.
"You wanna come downstairs? People might start to worry if we stay out any longer."
"Do you think they noticed?"
"I think it will be fine. All the doors were closed so they wouldn't have been able to see anything. Although I think they might have heard Nick's extremely subtle way of closing doors."
This made Charlie chuckle. It was a genuine laugh, but Tori could tell it was covered by pain and insecurities.
"Maybe it's best to just leave him alone for a bit." She said as they stood up and walked downstairs.
YOU ARE READING
When I Look Into Your Eyes (An AU Heartstopper Story)
RomanceNick and Charlie are both in university. Nick is in his last year and is about to graduate, while Charlie still has 1,5 years of uni left. Even though they're attending different schools in different cities, their relationship is still as strong as...
