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They could hear music and voices inside Tara and Darcy's room when they knocked, and it took a moment before the door opened.
"Finally!" Darcy scolded them. She pulled them both into the room and hastily shut the door behind them.
Charlie looked round, seeing the room filled with people wearing party hats, streamers hanging from the ceiling, tinsel in the doorway, balloons attached to the wall. "You did all of this?"
"Yeah. Everything has to be perfect for Tara. She's a princess." There was a knock on the door. "Okay. Shh! They're about to bring her in."
The door opened, and all of them yelled "Surprise!"
Tara certainly was, or she did a very good job of acting it. She ran in, straight into Darcy's arms, while everyone clapped. "Thanks, everyone!"
Then Darcy produced a bottle of some kind of clear alcohol from somewhere to loud cheers. Charlie hadn't expected this to be a drinking party, and he wondered how much trouble they would get into if they were caught.
But he didn't have to have any, so he decided not to worry about it, and just to have fun. This was their last night in Paris, and they were having a party, and he was here with Nick, wearing Nick's jumper.
After an hour or so, he ducked into the bathroom, and was met by the sight of Elle and Tao, obviously in mid-kiss, turning to glare at him. Well, served them right. They could know how it felt to be walked in on.
"Get out!" Tao demanded.
"I need to pee!"
"Too bad!"
Charlie let himself be shoved out of the room. One of the girls who had the room next to this one was hovering near the door, and she handed him her room key. "Pretty sure no one's in there. Just bring it back for the next person. I don't think they're coming out anytime soon."
"No, they don't seem to be," Charlie agreed.
He came back to the party, finding Nick across the room and making his way to his boyfriend's side.
Tao and Elle weren't the only people to have coupled up over the course of the trip. Charlie could see several kisses going on around the room, and he wished … well, maybe he didn't wish he could be kissing Nick in the middle of the party, which just felt awkward to contemplate, but he wished he thought it was possible for them to be like that.
Still, though. They were together, and they were happy, and that was enough for now.
At least, it was until Charlie looked over at the door and saw Ben in the room. No one had noticed him, or hadn't acknowledged him if they had, but he was here, and suddenly the fun party felt loud and crowded and oppressive.
"Hey." Nick tangled his fingers with Charlie's. "Let's get some air. You want to?"
"Yeah."
They ducked through the window and sat out on the balcony in the relative quiet and peace.
Nick leaned over, smiling. "We keep escaping parties to hang out with each other."
"Are we going to do it every time?"
"I hope so."
Below them, cars went by, stopping at the intersection and then going on, and above them were the stars. And here they were, suspended in midair together.
Nick turned his head to look at Charlie. After a long moment, he said softly, "Not running away this time, though."
"No. Please don't."
Before Nick could answer, Darcy crawled out the window toward them. "Sorry to interrupt your very obvious flirting, but it's alcohol time!" She held up the bottle, which by this time was only about half full.
Charlie held out the cup of punch in his hand. "Okay." She filled it to the brim, until Charlie could barely hold it without it spilling all over his shoes. "Oh. Wow."
"That's a lot," Nick said.
"Oh, sorry!" But Darcy giggled, clearly not that sorry at all. "Enjoy!" And she was gone, back into the party.
Charlie looked at the cup with curiosity. "My parents never let me have alcohol."
"Well, your parents aren't here now."
No. No, they weren't. And Charlie was in control of whether he drank this or didn't. "Okay." He took a tentative sip. And it was gross. Too sweet because of the punch and with a scalding taste, like … medicine, maybe. Or the way rubbing alcohol smelled. "Oh, that is disgusting."
Nick reached for the cup. "Wait, I've got to try it. I've got to try. I'm sure it's not that bad."
"No, it is. Trust me."
"Oh! Wow." Nick made a face at the cup. "That hits you immediately."
Charlie could feel a warmth spreading through his chest which was sort of pleasant, but not entirely worth the way that had tasted. "We don't have to finish it, do we?"
"No. Definitely not. Come on, let's go dump this out."
They climbed back through the window together. Most people were dancing, but Tara was at the door, talking to Harry Greene.
"Come on, man, everyone's here," Harry was protesting. "Can I not just talk to Nick and Charlie?"
"No, they don't want to talk to you!" Tara told him.
"What do you mean, they don't want to talk to me?"
By this point, Charlie and Nick had made their way to the door, and the room had gone silent behind them. "What do you want?" Nick asked, his tone flat.
"Look," Harry said, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I know I've said some homophobic stuff in the past, but I feel like I know better now, and I'll never say anything like that again."
It was true, he seemed different on this trip. He'd stood up for Imogen, he'd stood up for Nick and Charlie. Maybe he was really trying to change, to come round and see things differently.
But then he grinned, his normal grin, like he was just saying it to get what he wanted. "So … we cool? Can we come in?"
"No," Charlie said. He reached out and shut the door before Harry could protest. And immediately both Darcy and Tara hugged him, cheering for him, and pulled him into the rest of the party.