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Charlie woke up, stretching. He was torn between the long and emotionally difficult day yesterday had been, and the long and hopefully exciting day today was supposed to be.
For a few minutes, he just lay there, looking at the picture of him and Nick and Nellie in the snow, dreamily imagining what it would be like to go to prom with his boyfriend. Then he reached over and picked up his phone, opening Instagram, meaning just to look at a few posts.
At first, he didn't realise what he was seeing. Nick had posted pictures of them before. But this was different—this was the two of them in the same bed, wrestling and laughing, and underneath it the caption read: "Boyfriends (I'm bi, actually)".
"Oh, my God," Charlie whispered to himself. "Oh, my God!"
He switched to the text thread and typed out, in all caps: "COME OVER. RIGHT NOW."
Nick replied with a string of hearts, and Charlie scrambled out of bed to get dressed and run downstairs, so that when Nick came down his walk he was standing there, waiting to rip the door open and throw himself into his boyfriend's arms.
"You—you are the best!" he said as Nick lifted him off his feet and whirled him round and round. When Nick put him back down, he asked, "Have you seen the comments?" He'd been scrolling through them as he got dressed one-handed.
They went upstairs and lay down together on Charlie's bed, scrolling through. So many hearts, so many people happy for them. A few not so much, but then, they had expected that, hadn't they?
"I guess we knew this would happen," Nick said, echoing Charlie's thoughts.
"Are we going to get mobbed at prom tonight?" Charlie wasn't totally unhappy about the prospect.
"There might be some stares. Are you sure you want to go?"
Charlie closed his phone and turned to Nick, propping himself up on one elbow. "This is the best my life has ever been. I don't have to hide my amazing boyfriend anymore. I'm not getting bullied. Everything's perfect." Maybe that was a stretch, but it was close enough to true for today.
Nick smiled that adorable half-smile Charlie loved so much.
"So we're going to go to prom and we're going to be the cutest couple there," Charlie continued, "and everyone will see." He rested his head on Nick's chest, soaking in his warmth. "Is it weird that I have no interest in getting up? I could just lie here all day until it's time for prom."
"I don't see why not." Nick's chuckle resonated through his chest. "I don't want to go anywhere, either. I just want to be with you."
Charlie leaned up and kissed him, slow, then rolled over and picked up his phone again, his head resting against Nick's strong rugby arm. They lay there together looking at their phones, occasionally making comments, until a freaked out text came in on the group chat from Tara: "Can everyone who's free come help with prom setup? It is NOT going well"
Nick texted back "Me and Charlie are free!" Isaac and Elle chimed in as well, and Elle promised to bring Tao.
The five of them met up outside the school and walked in together, stopping to look round at the chaos that was a prom in progress.
"Oh, God," Elle said, staring around her in shock.
Tara came up to them, stressed but relieved to have backup. "Guys—I'm having a breakdown."
Nick and Charlie were assigned to staple glittery streamers to the front of the stage. Displaying hitherto unknown acting skills, Nick pretended to have been stapled in the hand, dissolving into giggles when Charlie caught on. "That wasn't funny."
"It was a little bit funny."
"We're meant to be finishing this so we can help elsewhere," Charlie reminded him.
"And we will. As long as you stop trying to staple me to the stage."
"I never started. Dork."
Nick grinned. Before he could say anything further, Tara called him over, climbing on his shoulders so she could put up streamers over the door. Charlie watched them go, glad to see Nick so comfortable with her. To think, the two of them had barely spoken for years, and now look at them, laughing together.
The streamers safely installed, Nick put Tara down and came over to anchor a ladder for Charlie, so he could collect the helium balloons that had floated up to the ceiling. As he came down the ladder, Charlie heard someone say, not quietly, "Oh, my God. Do you think they're actually dating?"
He turned to look as someone else replied, "Apparently."
Nick didn't seem to notice them. He moved the ladder, holding it so Charlie could climb up. He had the balloon strings in his other hand. Charlie found it adorable that he was taking this all so seriously.
The first kid's voice came again. "Go and ask."
Then the second one. "You go ask. Go on."
Charlie tried to ignore them, but it was difficult to ignore two people staring up at you and asking if it was true you were going out with your boyfriend.
Both Nick and Charlie went quiet, looking at them and then at each other. Nick looked back at the girl who had asked. "Yeah."
"I didn't know you were gay, Nick," the other kid said.
"Well, I … I'm bi, actually, but … yeah."
The girl smiled. "I think you guys look so cute together. I told you," she whispered loudly to her friend as they retreated back to their little knot of people to spread the word.
Nick looked up at Charlie, who was still on the ladder. "Do you want to stop and get something to eat?" Charlie looked down at him, startled and distressed. "We can walk to the shop," Nick suggested.
Forcing a smile, Charlie said, "I'll eat later. I had a really late breakfast, so …" He knew he had promised Nick not to lie to him about the eating, but he was so used to deflecting people's questions about food, it just came naturally. And he didn't want his issues ruining the day of prom. He'd be fine. "You can, though."
He could tell from Nick's silence that he didn't really buy it—and it was a thin story, anyway, since Nick had been with him almost since the moment he got up—but he didn't push the issue, which Charlie was grateful for.