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On his first morning back at home post-trip, Nick slept in, then sat in his bed for a while scrolling through photos and Instagram. His entire camera roll was taken up with pictures of Charlie, and he didn't mind that at all.

He found photos from the end of that dinner, that first night, after they had come back to the table with Imogen, and noticed something he hadn't at the time: Charlie's plate, on the table in front of him. Everyone else's plates were empty or had been cleared, but Charlie's looked completely untouched.

It was a reminder to him that just because he had told people they were dating, all their problems weren't solved. And this eating thing of Charlie's … it wasn't going to go away. He hoped it might get better without the stress of waiting for Nick to come out, but … it had existed before him, and he didn't think just being happy with his boyfriend was going to get rid of it entirely.

Nick was just getting ready to take Nellie to the park when his mum came through her kitchen on her way out the door. "Your dad called. He's coming for dinner next week."

"Dad's coming to visit? Sick," David responded. As always, he was sprawled on the couch watching the TV.

"Can we invite Charlie over?" Nick asked. He wanted the chance to come out to his dad while he was here, and Charlie should be there for that.

"That's a lovely idea," his mum agreed.

"What? You're joking."

His mum ignored David, saying to Nick, "Yes, we can invite his parents and sister, make a proper dinner party out of it."

"How come Nick gets to invite someone and I don't?"

Their mum stopped, looking at David. In the chilly tone she used when one of them had disappointed her, she said, "Do you have a girlfriend you'd like to invite, David?"

She knew perfectly well that he didn't, so she didn't wait for his answer before she left the room. David huffily turned the volume back on the TV, while Nick smiled to himself, happy that the dinner with his dad was going to work out.

On his walk with Nellie, a text came in on their newly named Paris Squad group chat—Elle's art was going to be displayed at a show for the school she'd applied to, and she was inviting them all to come.

"Omg Elle congrats!" he typed, smiling, along with everyone else's good wishes and promises to attend. Tao asked her if she'd been accepted, and she said not yet … but Nick had to think if they were showing her art, they wanted her. And why shouldn't they? She was very talented.

The conversation turned to the need to shop for art exhibition outfits, and for prom outfits. Nick had forgotten that was coming up. He supposed he'd attend, although he'd never really been a person who went to dances. He wondered if he could go with Charlie, if there would be rules about that. If they could go together … that would be pretty awesome.

The group of them went shopping the next day. Nick couldn't remember the last time—other than Paris—that he'd gotten together with a whole group of people and just hung out like this, wandering the shops. It was nice.

Charlie asked him if he was going to prom, and he said he was thinking about it.

"What would you wear?"

"I don't know."

"I don't think they allow jumpers." Charlie smirked at him.

"No, really? That's surprising." He grinned. "I suppose I'll have to buy something new. Maybe a suit."

"What colour were you thinking of?"

He hadn't thought, really. Shopping had never been his thing. But he didn't want blue, which reminded him of his dad, or black, which seemed pretty basic. "I don't know. Just, like, maybe a grey?"

From the back of the group, Isaac called out to them and they all stopped to look at him. "I'm going to catch up with you in a bit. I said I'd meet up with James."

"Oh my God, they're going to kiss!" Darcy squealed.

Everyone else smiled and wished him good luck, and they kept walking as he went off to find James.

In a clothing shop, Nick made his decision. He wanted to go to prom, and he wanted to go with Charlie, rules or no rules. He found Charlie by the suits, and he leaned over the rack and smiled at him. "I think I'm going to go to prom."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Um …" He felt surprisingly nervous asking the next question. "Would you like to, like, um, be my prom date?"

Charlie's smile was so beautiful. Nick loved to make him smile like that. "Really?"

But then … what if it was bad, or people made fun of them, or … "I don't know. Maybe it's stupid."

"No. No, it's not." He smiled even more broadly. Then it faded, and he leaned forward. "We might get a lot of attention. And I don't want to wear matching suits."

"Oh, me, neither," Nick said, as if he had given it a lot of thought, which he definitely hadn't. But Charlie was right, that might look a little silly.

They laughed together. "Good."

"Good."

While they were layering Tao up with accessories, for the fun of it, Darcy was trying on a suit Tara had picked out for her. When she came out of the changing room, they all crowded round her. She looked … great. Somehow older, more mature, more … Darcy, but like she would be someday later.

She protested that she didn't have any money, so they all dug into their pockets and gave her what they had, which turned out to be enough. Nick didn't have any idea what Darcy's home life was like, but it didn't matter. She was their friend, and she deserved this—and so did Tara.

Outside, in the rain, all three couples were standing, each under a single umbrella, when Isaac found them again.

Seeing his face, Elle asked, "Did something happen?"

"Something definitely happened," Charlie said.

"Did you kiss?" Darcy sang.

Isaac looked at them all, and then snapped, "Can you guys just shut up? Look, I get that you don't think my life is interesting unless I have some kind of romantic drama going on, but I'm sorry to break it to you, I don't like him back! Okay? You can all carry on with your day now."

He pushed through the group.

"Isaac …" Charlie said softly, clearly feeling bad.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm fine. I just … I don't want to talk about it." And he kept walking.

The rest of them followed him, staying just a little behind.

"You think he's okay?" Nick asked. "I've never seen him like that."

"No. Me, neither. I'll check in on him later. He said he didn't want to talk about it, so I don't want to push, but … I'll check in."

They kept an eye on Isaac until he turned off for his house, but he never looked back.