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Nick's dark mood lifted a little when they reached the Eiffel Tower. He had been looking forward to that, to standing there at the top of Paris with the person he liked best in the world. Just the two of them, as if the whole rest of the tour group didn't exist.
Charlie seemed happy, too. "I'm so excited to go up the Eiffel Tower. It's going to be so—"
"Quiet!" Mr. Farouk's voice, as usual, cut through all the chatter and stopped it.
As everyone stopped and looked at the teachers, Mr. Ajayi said, "Now, we've all been having fun in Paris, but we thought this morning would be a good time to remind you why we're really here. And that's to practise your French skills."
There was a collective groan from a whole lot of people who would have liked to forget that was why they were really here.
"Now, we'll be putting you in pairs," Mr. Ajayi continued, "and giving you some Eiffel Tower vocabulary to translate before you start your climb to the top, okay?" He pulled out a pile of papers.
Mr. Farouk looked at the clipboard he was carrying. "Okay. Starting with Charlie Spring and James McEwan."
A loud chorus of "Whey!" came from the back.
"Hush," Mr. Farouk ordered.
Charlie and James approached the teachers together to get their papers.
Harry called out, "Aw, it's a date!"
"Shut up, Harry," Imogen snapped.
Nick watched them go, his heart sinking. They couldn't have picked someone else for Charlie to be partnered with? Really?
Then he heard his own name. And, of course, out of the whole group, Ben's as his partner.
"Sir, I—I don't want to go with Nick Nelson," Ben stammered.
"I don't give a rat's arse, rudeboy," Mr. Farouk told him. "Grow up."
So. There was no getting out of it. Nick approached the teachers, taking the packet. At least he could fill it out quickly and get this over with.
Ben sat there scowling while Nick filled in the answers, writing as fast as he could.
At last, Ben burst out. "Are you happy?"
Nick glanced at him, confused. "What?"
"First Charlie, now Imogen. You're the one who told her about me and Charlie, aren't you?"
He could have said that no one needed to tell her, but he really didn't want to have this conversation at all. He hoped if he didn't reply, Ben would stop talking to him.
But no such luck. Ben turned to face him. "It's your mission to, like, mess up my life."
That was more than Nick could bear. "You never cared about either of them. You used Imogen for popularity points, and you didn't actually like Charlie. You just liked having control over him."
Ben stared at him, seething. "What if I said I want Charlie back?"
Nick closed his eyes. He couldn't have Charlie, that was definite—Charlie wanted nothing to do with him—but in trying to get him back, Ben could cause a lot of trouble.
"I get it," Ben went on. "I was a dick back then, but I was dealing with my own shit. Charlie didn't even give me a chance to figure myself out, and then you came along, and you stole him from me. Charlie really liked me before you got in his head."
He couldn't actually believe all that, could he? No. Not even Ben could have that skewed a view of the world.
"At least I was nice enough not to give him a hickey where everyone could see."
Nick winced. Ben was very good at finding where he was most vulnerable. Once again, he thought he should just stand up and say it right out, tell everyone there how lucky he was to be Charlie's boyfriend, and once again, he knew he couldn't.
"Okay, is everyone finished?" Mr. Ajayi asked. As everyone chorused a yes, whether they were or not, he went on, "Now, it's very hot today, so make sure you take it easy on the stairs and stay hydrated. Come on, then."
Nick sat there, staring at the paper, as everyone else got up, wishing he could be someone else, someone stronger and braver and more certain of himself.
Then he got to his feet and found Charlie in the crowd. From wanting to be the first ones at the top, now he needed to be. He needed to leave everyone else behind and just be … them. In Paris together.
He remembered Harry's party, which seemed so long ago now, chasing Charlie up the stairs, begging him to slow down, but not really wanting him to. Now things were reversed—Nick was the one in a hurry, Charlie the one who didn't see why they needed to go so fast. Nick kept hold of his hand, and kept looking back to make sure he was okay, but he also kept pulling him along, making sure they stayed at the front.
And they were. The very first ones off the stairs and to the top. Elle and Tao were close behind them, but Nick didn't stop until he and Charlie were at the rail together, standing there looking across Paris. For whatever that meant, for whatever reason he'd needed to be here first, alone, for even just a moment before Elle and Tao were there with them, they had made it.
Somehow, he felt better, smiling at Charlie, as their friends started surrounding them, taking a group selfie there at the top. It was them—him and Charlie, together—but they weren't alone, either. They had friends who knew about them, who cared about them, individually and together. Nick had forgotten, somewhere along the way, in his desperation to push himself to come out to the world, that he was already out to all these people, and they seemed to like him better because of it, not less.