Evermore :||: Nick & Charlie

Chapter 29: I Guess I Should've Known from the Look on Your Face

Nick's POV

My day has sort of been nothing but chaos. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but the Nelson family Christmas Party has always been something that's very chaotic and very energy consuming.

It doesn't help that I'm really worried about Charlie. I started off the day not really worrying, but around fifteen minutes ago, he texted me and told me he wanted to come over sooner than we had planned.

Of course I say yes. I've been wanting to introduce him to the rest of my family since I finally came out to my dad and then over Instagram, but I know that something is wrong with him.

He's been getting better at opening up to me when he's having a bad day, but I know that sometimes he lies and tells me that he's okay when he's really not. I think a lot of it is the fact that he's just so used to lying all the time about his feelings that telling me how he's feeling feels harder than lying.

I know he doesn't mean to, and I know he's trying his best to get better. I can't fault him for that and I don't either. It's sad to say, but I genuinely don't think he's used to being loved.

I know his family loves him, but a lot of the time, they don't show it in the way that he needs. His friends definitely love him, but I know he feels like they don't understand anything he's been through, but with me. He just just be him without any judgment and I can be me.

When we're together, there's no pressure to be someone else or to hide who we are anymore. As cheesy as it sounds, we're Nick and Charlie, and that's something I'll never get tired of hearing.

As I'm lost in thought, I somehow manage to hear the doorbell ring over the loud music one of my younger cousins insisted we have on. I'm pretty sure my neighbors hate us at this point. I get up from the couch and head over to the front door. When I pull it open, I see Charlie standing there, soaking wet from the rain.

"Where's your coat?" I ask him, quickly pulling him inside knowing he must be freezing.

"Oh." Is all he says, looking down, almost like he didn't even realize that it was raining. I waste no time and pull Charlie into a tight hug, recognizing that something is wrong and something has happened. He brings his arms up, wrapping them around me.

"Are you okay?" I ask after a while of just holding him in my arms. I look down, trying to see his face, but he has it buried in my shoulder, like he doesn't want me to see him.

"I just- I had an argument with my mom." His voice breaks and sounds a bit shaky, indicating to me that he's crying.

I pull back slightly so I can look at him, really look at him this time. When his eyes meet mine, I see that his blue eyes have gotten a lot brighter from his tears. I bring my hands up to cup his cheeks, wiping away his falling tears.

"Oh, Char..."

"I don't really wanna talk about it." Charlie starts to shiver as he cries. I pull him close to me, trying to warm him up, but I know that the only thing that'll help is getting him a change of clothes, but I don't want to let him go. I want to stay here in the moment forever.

I hate seeing him upset, but I know that he'll be okay. He's a lot stronger than most people give him credit for, even me sometimes.

While he was away, all I could do was worry about him, but I had to learn that Charlie was gonna be okay and so was I. There's definitely hard days, I won't pretend like there aren't, but I know that he's learning how to handle them. Before he went away, he would've dealt with all these feelings on his own. Now, he's willing to come to me when something is wrong, even if he hasn't exactly opened up to me about what it is.