Char&Nicky

Love is a caleidoscope

Hey gals, guys and nonbinary fries! Here is a little chapter for you, don't know when the next one will come out since I am traveling! France, here I come! WOOP WOOP! I might have a Heartstopper moment there hehe, wish me luck!

Okay, that's all from me,
Take care <3

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Charlie's POV:

Elle's grip on my wrist isn't strong, yet something forbides me from escaping it. I run into people and stumble over chairs as she leads me out of the smoothie place. Jingles from the entrance follow us as we step outside.

Elle starts questioning me, her voice firm and arms crossed separating us. She noticed our little rendez-vous inside and felt left out. I resisted, tried to convince her that everything is fine and we aren't hiding anything from her. I just realised myself that I have a crush on Nick, how could I tell her? It didn't take a lot for her to figure out I was full of shit.

Just as I was about to open my mouth, Tao's voice interrupts mine:
"What are you two doing for so long?"

"And where were you?", Elle yells,
"I told you to follow us outside!"

"You really expect me to go out before I try my smoothie?"

Elle shoots him a reproachful look and an accusatory finger:
"I know you know something, and you're hiding it from me! "

A bead of sweat falls down Tao's forhead: "I don't know what you're talking about..."

"Ive seen the looks you all exchange, Charlie with Nick and you with the two of them, don't try to act innocent!",
She scans him and, after noticing that Tao won't say anything, redirects her fury towards me,
"Charlie, you better tell me what's going on!"

"Nothing, nothing is going on, everything is fine!"

"I really don't believe that!"

"It's true!"

"Oh come on! I know that-"

"Charlie is in love with Nick!"

Elle and I break eyecontact and slowly direct it towards Tao. Elle's eyes fill with disbelief, and mine with shock and a drop of betrayal.

"You don't think I've noticed?", Tao exhales, dropping his hands to his sides.

His voice is calm and lower than usual, a tone of sadness covering it:
"I've had suspicions since the beggining of the school year. You started spending so much of your time with him. I've noticed your shining look when you talk about him. How you look at him. I've seen you defending him to me. It's obvious."

I cannot believe he realized this... before me.
I can't believe that he is the first person to say outloud what I feel for Nick.
I'm not that bothered that Elle knows, but I still wasn't quite ready to tell her.

"I'm sorry Charlie, I shouldn't have told her, but inbetween you and I, it is an elephant in the room."

"What do you mean?"

"I know it's wrong, but since you started hanging out with Nick, I felt so left out. I mean, you are my best friend. And you spent almost all of your time with him. I don't want you to feel pressured to hang out with me, or to ditch Nick for me, but sometimes I wish we could spend more time together."

My heart breaks into a million pieces, I never realised that my obsession with Nick and drama with Ben led me to ignore what's actually important.

"Tao, I am so sorry. I didn't even realise you felt that way. I should've noticed", shame pulls my gaze to the ground, "you are my best friend and I never want you to feel like a burden to me."

"It's okay, I understand", a sad smile spreads across his face.

"I promise to make more time for you."

"Thank you, man."

We hug after a very long time. Best friends reunited once again. Not by drama or necessity, but by pure love.
From behind, small sobs make their way to us.

"That is so beautuful", Darcy pulls out a tissue and starts wiping her tears.
"You guys are bromance at it's peak, I hope you never fall appart", she speaks trough sobs.

"For how long have you been standing there?", Tao raises his eyebrow.

"Well, not too long! I wanted to see where you were, and came upon this wonderful scene!"

"WAIT! So you heard everything?", panicky butterflies fill my stomach.

"Well, I've heard enough to know what's going on..."

Elle, Tao and I exchange looks.

"So that means, only Nick is there... with Tara...", oh no, oh nonononono!!

"What? What's the matter?", Darcy's gaze fills with concern.

"Well, you probably heard that I like Nick, the only problem is-"

A squeak comes behind where Darcy is standing.
"Guys, are you coming? It's been ages and you haven't touched your smoothies yet!" Tara closes the door behind her, we probably didn't give the best first impression by leaving even before our drinks came.

"Is... everything alright?", orange light hits Tara's eyes, making them flare up. Her gaze is soft, mothering yet fiery. She is not the one to be messed with.

"Everything's fine Babe", Darcy unfolds her arms and wraps them around Tara's waist, making her giggle. Rose gold travells on her cheeks as Darcy kisses her on the lips, long and passionately.

I'm such an idiot.

Elle stands next to me as three of us watch them be all cutesy or whatever. Who could stay mad when true love is standing right in front of you in form of two such different girls connected by it. She nudges me on the shoulder thus saying: "See, you still got a chance with Nick". I smile back at her, apology in my eye flickering as she accepts it with a nod.

"Oh, sorry", Tara blushes, visibly embarrased about three of us staring at them.

"I feel so dumb right now", my palm meets my face as I laugh at how silly it was to get jelaous of Tara. Tao pats my shoulder: "There there, we are all stupid from love sometimes", I don't know if I saw it right, but I think he looked at Elle as he said that.

Jingles in front of me catch my attention. Trough the door of the smoothie place comes no other than Nick himself.

"Oi, you didn't mean to leave me hanging yeah?", his shiny smile almost blinds me.

Everyone else quiets and, in a silent agreement, start walking towards the entrance.

"What is going on?", Tara whispers.
"I'll tell you later", Darcy leads her inside. Tara's gaze is still pulling behind her, towards the only ones left standing:
Nick and I.