Evermore :||: Nick & Charlie

Chapter 21: Don't Try to Fight the Storm

Nick's POV

When I wake up in the morning, I know that this is the last time I'll be seeing Charlie for a while. I know it's for the best, but it doesn't make it any easier saying goodbye to him.

Last night, we talked a little more about him going away. The clinic he's going to is a little over two hours away. We looked on their website and it seems like a nice place, but I know that he's scared.

I am too.

I get myself ready, as unfortunately, I have school today too. After eating breakfast and taking Nellie out, I leave my house and head for Charlie's. When I get there, I see his parents loading his things in their car as he stands there with Tori.

When he sees me, he excuses himself from Tori and meets me at the edge of his driveway. I drop my book bag to the ground and wrap him in a tight hug, never wanting to let him go.

After staying like this for a few minutes, we pull apart from each other. My eyes start to water and Charlie's do too.

"Please don't cry. If you cry, I'll cry and I don't think I'll be able to stop." He pleads with me. I blink back my tears.

"I'll try not to." I look into his eyes, wanting to kiss him so badly, but with his parents standing right there, I know that would make him feel uncomfortable. "Did you want me to tell the others?" I ask him. He hesitates before answering.

"Just the Paris Squad. I don't want anyone else knowing."

"Charlie, it's time to go." His mom says, breaking us from our moment.

"Just let me finish saying goodbye." He tells her. I turn to see his mom nod before getting in the car with his dad and Tori. I turn back to Charlie. "I'm really gonna miss you." He tells me.

"I'm gonna miss you too." I hug him again, running my hands through his hair, feeling the softness of his curls run through my fingers. He pulls away first, looking in my eyes. "Go get that pretty head of yours fixed." He chuckles and I plant a soft kiss on his forehead. "I'll see you soon." He nods before starting to walk away. He turns around before getting in the car.

"I love you."

"I love you too, Char." He opens the car door and I watch as he gets in. The car pulls out of the driveway and I see Charlie looking through the back window of the car. I wave to him as the car gets further and further away. Once it's out of my sight, I start to cry.

I knew saying goodbye to him was going to be hard, but I didn't think it'd be this hard. To make everything worse, I still have to go to school. I'm glad that Charlie is allowing me to finally talk to our friends about what he's going through. Having to deal with this all alone has been really hard on me. I've been worried sick about him for months now.

When I finally get to the school gate, I end up running into Tao. He looks up from his phone and can tell that something's off with me. I can't even imagine what I must look like right now.

"Is everything okay?" He asks me. More tears start forming in my eyes, but I blink them back, not wanting to cry right now.

"Could you do me a favor?"

"Sure. Yeah, anything." I take a deep breath.

"I need you to text the Paris Squad and tell them to come over to my house after school. There's something I need to talk to you guys about."

"Is it serious?"

"Yeah, but I really don't wanna talk about it here. It's best if we do it at my house, so could you please just text everyone?"