Heart Attack (a HeartStopper story)

Charlie. The first step.

Song recommendation for the chapter: The emotion - Borns.
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"What do you think about just starting with a simple 'hi'?"

Tara, Darcy, and Tao looked at him incredulously as Charlie paced around the reception area of the center, glancing at his phone.

"When was the last time you two talked?" Tara rearranged freshly printed pamphlets and spread them across the tables in the cafeteria and reception area while Darcy struggled with numbers in the center's accounting book, and Tao just snapped pictures of everything. Tara looked fantastic with her long braided hair, dressed in a vibrant orange dress. Darcy had the same haircut as always, with her purple-striped shirt, jeans, and a pink streak in her hair that she had done to annoy her mother even more.

"On my birthday. He wished me well, and that was it. We haven't talked much more than that."

"So, you don't have much of a conversation to continue," Darcy said, seeming lost in the numbers she was trying to extract from the book. "Charlie, please tell me there's an easier way to do this."

"There is; it's called Excel," Tao quipped, teasing Darcy as she stuck her tongue out at him.

"How about sending him a funny meme or sticker?"

"That's the worst idea I've ever heard, Darcy," Tao and Darcy had become close since the center started, and their chaotic energies seemed to complement each other well from a distance. "Although I'd be lying if I said I didn't send such things to Elle when I miss her."

"See? It works!"

"Tao and Elle are practically back together already; they just won't admit it," Tara said, stating what everyone was thinking but no one seemed willing to admit. "Charlie and Nick's situation is a bit more complicated."

"You're being much less helpful than I thought you would be. It used to be so easy to talk to him."

Tara and Darcy exchanged glances. They had talked previously about welcoming Charlie and Tao without letting them know that Nick would be coming that same afternoon. They wanted to give the matter some space before getting more involved than they already were. But Charlie knew them too well, and he saw them looking suspicious while not being very helpful.

"Something you're not telling me... Has he already arrived?"

"I think this morning, yes," Charlie began to hyperventilate and walked faster.

"DARCY!"

"Sorry, dear. I'm on Tao and Charlie's 'Get Back with the Loves of Our Lives' mission."

"I'm not on any mission..." Charlie insisted. "So, he's here already, and he hasn't told me anything. Maybe that's the sign I needed. Maybe he just doesn't want to see me and wants to avoid me, and I should stop being so clingy and annoying."

"Charlie, no..." Tao, Darcy, and Tara all said in unison.

"No, no, you're right. It's been five years. I don't know what I'm doing." Charlie quickly started gathering his things to leave. "I have a rehearsal; I have to go, and I don't plan on running into him here."

"Nick asked about you," this time it was Tara who spoke, to Darcy's surprise, as she approached Charlie, took his hand, and led him back to the table to calm him down. "Stop spiraling, and listen to us for a moment. He talked about you. He's just as nervous to see you as you are to see him, believe me. Today, he'll come, we'll show him around the center, and if we think it's the right time..." Tara was already regretting her words. But Darcy's and Tao's expressions encouraged her to continue. "We'll tell you to send him a message, okay? Who knows? Maybe he's thinking of texting you right now."