In Another Universe

Wednesday 8.42 Words

|Sorry for the late update. I finished my thesis and passed, and then I had to move. But I'm back, and I will try to upload consistently from now on :)|

Not everything was okay just yet, but for the first time in a week, he woke up with a smile on his lips at the sight of all those stars on the ceiling, shining a little less in the morning light filtering through the closed curtains.

Last night, after the end of the song, he got up to ask Evie about all that, hoping that Isaac wasn't a creepy guy who decided to break in their apartment. It could have been. But she explained how Isaac showed up at the door, a little bag in his hands. He was too excited for his own good, she said, and at first, his plan was to just give Charlie the bag and let him figure out its content. But since the later was in class, obviously, he asked Evie to put it in place. However, she didn't have the time, according to her, even though Charlie reckoned she was probably being lazy. So, she let him in. She was nice enough to quickly tidy his room, which was a mess, before letting Isaac into Charlie's safe haven.

"Why did you let him in? After... everything," he ended up asking. He wasn't mad, but he was a bit distraught. This happened to soothe him and make him feel better but he could have reacted so badly as well and it could have undone all his progress. She took a bet, a dangerous one.

"Listen, you can be mad and shit but he was pretty convincing. And I've seen how you've been all that time. You're bloody miserable, you can't tell me otherwise. You two need to talk. This way, you at least can't avoid it."

"I already can't avoid it."

"Yeah, okay. But now, you saw him try. We went through all of this trouble to do this for you, he has to care."

He has to care. Charlie had been thinking about that very sentence since it left Evie's lips. Did he? Probably at least a little. But this wasn't the main problem on his mind when he stepped off his bike and into school that morning.

There was still so much to deal with but now, it appeared less scary, less like Mount Everest and more like a steep but small hill. Still intimidating but climbable. Scary, yes, but he was determined to at the very least start climbing. Mending and clarifying things with Isaac came last, this was the top of the mountain. The only thing he couldn't see past, the only thing he didn't know what would happen after. Or during for that matter. There were steps before that.

He thought of starting with Lea, as he had a word to have with her. Several words actually. Some might contain an apology and others might not be so kind. At least they would be kinder than if he left her to Evie's mercy, which she offered. But Lea wasn't a priority. She wasn't even an obligation. He'll see about that later. His first steps had to be with his friends.

"Hey, man!"

William's voice stopped him in his track. He waited for him to join him and gave him a smile as a hello.

"Ain't that a smile?" He laughed happily as Charlie nodded. "I'm glad to see that you feel better."

"I do... I think I do."

"Anything to do with your lad?"

"Isaac? Partly... I mean a little. But it's not that." He shrugged. "I decided to tell them, Thomas and Jack. About me I mean."

"Wait? For real, mate?" Will asked, stopping in his track.

Charlie nodded once more with more determination. Yes, for real. He couldn't wait anymore, he needed them to know, but he needed them to hear it from him. His coming out to them couldn't happen the way it did with Charlotte or William or Sophia or the rest of the school for that matter. They weren't the most social people: they enjoyed partying but they barely hang out with anyone outside their little friend group, which suited the four of them. If they already knew, they would either have mentioned it to William or tried to talk to Charlie directly.