Heartstopper Future

Chapter 15 - Jane's Birthday

T/W: Mention of abuse, Bruising, Trouble eating

Date: Saturday 13th July 2024

Nick’s POV

Today we are going out for a meal with Charlie’s family for his mums birthday. He says he’s fine with it but I’m not so sure – especially with what happened at graduation. I think he’s only partly going as it’s an excuse to check on Olly, which is fair enough.

He has also been on top of the world recently, since he got called back by the school to schedule the 3rd interview and I don’t want this to dampen his spirit, but hopefully everything will be ok.

As we pull up in the car park for the restaurant, I notice Charlie becoming anxious, so I say “Hey, we can leave if you want?”

“No, there’s no point. If we don’t show up mum will never shut up about it. It’s better to just get this over and done with.”

“Ok, you ready?”

“Yes, let’s go,”

We get out the car, and walk over to the restaurant, with Charlie holding the present. When we enter, we notice that Jane, Julio, and Oliver still aren’t here but Tori and Michael are, and are already sat at the table so we go and join them.

“How is everything going?” Michael asks, as we approach them while subtlety glancing at Charlie’s stomach.

“It’s all going very well, thank you.” Charlie says while placing his hand on his stomach. We sit down and Charlie continues “I got a call back from the school, and they said they wanted to meet me again,”

“Wow, that’s great news,” Michael replies.

“Thank you, again, for convincing me to apply,”

“It’s no problem.”

“Anyway, how have you guys been?”

“We’ve been well.”

The exchange between them continues, with me and Tori sitting quietly listening, until I notice that she hasn’t been listening, but staring at her phone. While Charlie and Michael keep conversing, I ask Tori “Is everything ok?”

“Oliver hasn’t replied to my messages for the past couple of weeks, so I don’t know if he’s ok, and now they’re late to this lunch, so I’m worried something’s wrong.”

“If you want, if he goes to the bathroom during this meal, I can go and check if he’s alright then. It will mean Jane wont be around as well.”

“If you could that would be good, provided you let me know what’s going on afterwards.”

“Of course I would.”

And then, as if it’s speak of the devil, then she shall appear, Jane turns up with Julio next to her and Olly a few paces behind. Olly immediately dashes to the free seat next to me, I assume to avoid sitting by Jane, and that’s when I notice his eyes are red, like he’s been crying.

After Jane and Julio have sat down, with (unfortunately) Jane sitting the other side of Charlie and Julio next to her, conversations fill the air. I notice Charlie, ignoring his mum to continue the conversation with Michael to which I don’t blame him, although I can see she’s getting a little bit annoyed, so she’s likely to blow up soon. With everyone involved in a conversation, except myself and Oliver, I quickly get my phone out and write:

If you want to talk, in 10 minutes excuse yourself to go to the bathroom and I will follow a few minutes later and we can talk there. Also nod your head after reading this message so I know that’s what your doing and you don’t just want to go to the bathroom.