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Charlie and Nick stood in the doorway of prom for a long moment, taking in the change in the room since this afternoon and the people dancing … and garnering no notice whatsoever. They looked at each other, smiled, and clasped hands, before following the others into the heart of the prom.
Elle and Tao were already in front of the photographer, Tao being absolutely ridiculous for the camera.
"I can't believe Nick's showing off his boyfriend, but none of you managed to bring a girl!" Harry Greene, loud and obnoxious as usual. But … oddly accepting of the new way of things, too. Nick had hopes that maybe next year's rugby wouldn't be quite as awkward as he'd been afraid it would be.
As Harry and the others disappeared into the crowd, the photographer turned to Isaac, standing there with his book. "I don't want one."
"Isaac, why not?" Charlie asked.
"'Cause it's so embarrassing standing there on my own."
"Right, come on, then." Charlie grabbed his hand. "The four of us are getting an art-room photo."
Nick smiled, watching them all pose.
"You all right, Nick?"
He turned to see Otis, Sai, and Christian behind him.
"Where have you been, mate?" Otis asked.
Sai grinned. "Too busy hanging out with your boyfriend?"
"Sorry if we made you feel weird about telling us," Christian said.
"I can't believe Nick's the first out of us in a relationship." Otis tapped him lightly on the chest.
"I could easily have a girlfriend any day now."
"Yeah?" Nick laughed. Christian always was the optimist.
"Is Tara Jones single?"
Otis frowned at him. "She's gay. Everyone knows this. Come on, man."
"Whatever, man. We've missed you, mate," Christian added.
"Yeah."
"I've missed you, too. I'll see you guys later." It was a promise, this time. These three had been trying their best to make up for the cinema, to be real friends, and Nick felt maybe he hadn't given them a chance to explain, or apologise. He would try, going forward.
They moved off together. In the crowd, Nick spied Tara. Still alone, weaving her way through, every once in a while popping up her head to look round, as if she hoped Darcy was there somewhere and hadn't found her, either.
Nick waded through the crowd after her. "Tara?" She was nearly in tears. "What's wrong? What's happened?"
"I don't think she's coming."
"Why not?" If there was anything Nick was sure of, it was that Darcy was as head-over-heels in love with Tara as he was with Charlie.
"I know something's wrong, but she never wants to talk about it. How do you talk to someone about something they don't want to talk about?"
Nick wished he knew. If he did, then he would know how to get Charlie to open up, let Nick help him carry some of the pain. But he couldn't say that to Tara. She needed more than that, some kind of answer. And so did he. "Maybe … maybe you just have to try, even if it doesn't work."
Tara nodded a little, then she put her arms round Nick and rested her head against his shoulder.
He wasn't used to casual hugs like this—except with Charlie, of course, but that was different. It wasn't that long ago that a girl holding him like this would have meant something other than friendship—but he and Tara weren't like that. They were real friends, and real friends held each other when they needed comfort. So Nick held her, resting his cheek against her hair, until she was strong enough to let go.
Tara walked off. He hoped she knew what she was doing.
On the stage, the band was tuning up, getting ready to start playing. Tao and Elle joined the crowded dance floor, and even from the sidelines Nick could see that they danced like they were born to dance together.
He looked for Charlie over the heads of the dancers, finally finding him at a table in the corner. His Charlie. The best thing that had ever happened to him.
Charlie found him in the crowd, smiled, and waved. Nick waved back, joining Charlie at the table and taking the seat next to him. He held his hand out on the table, and Charlie took it.
"Feels weird." He glanced at Charlie. "Should we, I don't know, dance or, like, get a photo or something?" Here they were, in the middle of a party, hiding with each other again.
"Can you dance?"
"Oh, no. Not at all. No."
"Me, neither." Charlie looked round them. "Can we leave?"
"I thought this was what you wanted. I—I'm not worried about people seeing us together."
"But why should they have to see? We've been so obsessed with the idea of coming out, it's like we've forgotten why we wanted to do it in the first place. It's not for them."
Nick smiled. That was all true. They were out now so they didn't have to hide, so they could be together whenever and wherever they wanted, openly, not so that other people could comment on their life.
"I just want to have a fun night with you and our friends."
"Yeah. I want that, too. I mean, David and my mum are out tonight, so … I do have a free house." He wondered, suddenly, if his mum had arranged it that way, just in case of something like this. She really was the most awesome mum.
Tao and Elle joined them at the table.
"You two were incredible," Nick told them.
"You got the dance floor going," Charlie agreed.
Then Isaac was there, and, much to Nick's surprise, Darcy. "Hey," she said to all of them. "I thought prom was supposed to be vampire themed."
"Darcy, are you okay?"
"Where have you been?"
"Where's Tara?" Darcy asked.
"She went to find you."
"Oh, no! She didn't. I have to find her!"
Nick got up, reaching for Darcy's arm. "Hold on. Here's what we'll do. We'll all go back to my house, and I'll call Tara and she can meet us there." They didn't want to work out whatever was going on with them in the middle of prom, he was sure of that. He looked round at the others. "Okay?"
"Okay." Elle and Isaac were already on their feet. Elle put an arm round Darcy, who was near tears. "It's going to be okay."
Isaac and Tao made way for them through the crowd, and Nick and Charlie followed behind, Charlie's hand on Nick's elbow guiding him so he could focus on calling Tara.