Work Text:
The image that started it all:
“Look, Nick!” Darcy yells with a laugh as she points at the sign in front of us that reads: Single Riders Will Be Paired. “Maybe you’ll get yourself a girlfriend after all.” Her eyes dart around, looking at whoever might be listening in to our conversation, and then she leans in unnecessarily close and whispers, “Or boyfriend.” I can smell the pickled onion-flavoured Monster Munch on her breath.
While I appreciate Darcy trying to implement some discretion for once in her life, I highly doubt that any of these strangers walking up to queue for the new rollercoaster care about my gender preferences in potential romantic partners.
Tara chuckles and shakes her head at her girlfriend’s outburst, and then gives me a warm smile. “Are you gonna be alright riding without one of us?”
“Yeah, of course!” I answer quickly.
“Are you sure?” Tara asks. “Because I can always ride with you and release Darcy onto some other unsuspecting rider.”
“Oi!!”
I laugh, but assure Tara that I’ll be alright. She does have some cause for concern, to be fair… I maybe have a teeny, tiny, healthy fear of rollercoasters, but nothing that would prevent me from riding The HeartStopper. They announced it in April, and it seems to be all anyone is talking about this summer.
“It’s SO tall.”
“Did you hear it has 5 loops?”
“It’s, like, super fast!”
And I cannot be the only guy on my school’s rugby team who’s too chicken-shit to get on it. Even Harry Greene’s been on it twice already, for god’s sake.
Don’t get me wrong. I do like riding coasters, and I’m actually looking forward to it. It’s the main reason we even came to the amusement park today, but for some reason I can’t just ignore the heavy knot in my stomach.
It’s kind of like trying to chat up a really pretty person. It’s scary as hell and you gotta psych yourself up to do it first. And the whole time your stomach is doing this weird twisty thing and you’re thinking about all the worst case scenarios that could happen like crying in front of everyone or how maybe you might die. But you still do it anyway because the best case scenario is worth it… probably.
Tara and Darcy have been my very best friends for a few years now, so they know all about my complicated feelings regarding rollercoasters and beautiful people. And they’ve both always been there to back me or hold my hand along the way. When it comes to rides, usually we all get on together, but The HeartStopper is decidedly a two-person-per-row kind of coaster. I figure this is as good a time as any for me to spread my wings and try riding solo… or, I guess, with a stranger, since it seems I’ll be paired up with someone.
I don’t have any expectations about finding a girlfriend — much less a boyfriend — via forced proximity with a total stranger while contemplating all the methods of death that we’re narrowly avoiding. I’m sending telepathic apologies to whoever they are in advance for all the screaming I’m going to be doing. I don’t think anything about my anxious demeanour is going to help attract a cute guy or girl. So I guess that means I’ll have to hold my own hand this time.
Sigh … I think I’ll manage.
I’m silently praying that I don’t get paired up with the sweaty guy behind us who keeps making a gross, wet sound as he clears his throat, or, god forbid, someone who gets nauseous on rides. I’m looking around at all my possible options waiting in the queue with us when I see him.
The most gorgeous guy… scratch that, the most gorgeous person I’ve ever laid eyes on is standing only a few paces in front of me, laughing at something one of his friends just said. His bright blue eyes catch the sunlight, and the reflection could blind someone if they weren’t careful. His cheeks are slightly pink, and each is accented with a perfect tiny dimple. His face is framed by dark curls which look like they would be just the softest to touch.
“NICK?! Earth to Nick!” Darcy says and shakes me out of my reverie.
“Umm, what?”
Darcy scrunches her face. “Where’d you go?”
Tara turns to see where I was looking and then shoots a cheeky grin at me when she spots him. “I think I have an idea where our little Nicky went just now.”
I look down and pretend to adjust my hair. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I say. But, of course, Tara knows me entirely too well.
She subtly points him out to Darcy, and then covers her girlfriend’s mouth to stop her squealing or further outbursts. In true Darcy fashion, she licks Tara’s hand.
“Eww!” Tara cries out.
I take advantage of the two of them distracting each other to sneak another glance at him. Except that one glance turns into two, which turns into twenty, and I’m having a hard time differentiating between glancing and just straight-up staring. I feel my cheeks get hot when I realise that Tara and Darcy have gone quiet and they’re watching me watch the pretty guy as he puts a water bottle to his lips and takes a few sips.
“Well, looks like Nick found his Helen of Troy,” Tara says.
“HUH?” Darcy and I both say at the same time.
Tara rolls her eyes. “Right. I forgot you two don’t pay attention in class. Helen of Troy, the Face that Launched A Thousand Ships.” We continue to look at her like she’s speaking a different language. “SHIPS!” She says again like it might suddenly click for us. “Never mind, just that he’s clearly your type.”
I shake my head. “What? I don’t have a type.”
Darcy snorts. “Uh… yeah you do! And he’s standing right there.”
When I look over at him again, he’s resting up on the railing while we’re at a standstill. From this angle, I can see he’s quite long and lean. His slender arms hold himself up and his lissome legs are crossed at the ankles. He’s wearing a t-shirt of some band that I don’t recognise and a long-sleeve checked shirt tied around his slim waist. His jeans are ripped at the knees and he’s got on some beat-up looking Converses that somehow manage to look good on him. He’s saying something to his friends that I can’t quite hear, but I watch his lips as they move. I can’t help but wonder what his voice might sound like.
“You should go talk to him!” Darcy says.
My eyes go wide. “What? No. No way!”
Like I said, beautiful people make me really nervous, and I’m already all tangled up from anticipation of riding the coaster. I think, if I tried to talk to him now, I might spontaneously combust. Besides, despite realising that I was bisexual earlier this year, I haven’t exactly tried to chat up any boys… like, EVER. It’s hard enough trying to talk to pretty girls. But finding a guy that I fancy, then figuring out if he’s even interested in boys, and then trying to get him to see that I’m interested in boys, all the while hoping against all hope that he might fancy me back — sounds like a puzzle that I don’t think I’m smart enough to put together.
Besides, I would have to cut through people in the queue just to approach him, and I don’t want to bother him while he’s with friends. He’s here to ride the coaster, not to be harassed by some rando.
“Maybe you’ll get paired up with him,” Tara suggests.
I shake my head. “He’s in an even group,” I say, slightly gesturing towards the three other people with him: A tall lanky guy with swoopy hair under a beanie and a tall girl with hair in two curly puffs who lean into each other like they might be a couple. Next to the beautiful boy is another guy; he’s got a giddy smile like he’s holding back a secret and is alternating between listening to his friends and reading the book in his hands. Can you even bring a book on a rollercoaster?
“I’m shocked you managed to notice the other people around him,” Tara says.
“SHUT UP!” I reply, feeling a bit bashful now. The truth is that I only noticed because I had the same thought as Tara before I checked and, to my disappointment, realised that the boy of my dreams was already part of a group of four. I’m not gonna give Tara further ammo by admitting that, though.
This time, when I look at him again, his eyes shoot up and meet mine. I turn completely scarlet and fix my gaze on a speck on the ground. He probably noticed me staring and is wondering what the heck my problem is.
Darcy nudges me hard with her elbow and scream-whispers. “Hey, Loverboy. Your Prince Charming is looking over here.”
“Shut up!” I say. “I think he caught me staring.”
“So you admit that you were staring,” Tara says.
“I hate you both,” I groan.
They both just grin and Darcy ruffles my hair. “Aww... We love you too, Nicky.”
The queue starts to move, finally, and I focus on putting one foot in front of the other and not stumbling. I try my best not to look at the beautiful boy, who’s probably straight and definitely out of my league.
Unfortunately, Darcy hasn’t gotten the memo and delights in the art of meddling. We’re just passing in front of another sign that reiterates: Single Riders Will Be Paired, when she gets the bright idea to wave to the guy, point to me, and then dramatically circle her hand over the word ‘Single’ while mouthing the words ‘He’s SINGLE’ just in case it wasn’t already clear.
And now I’m definitely going to be single forever.
“Ohmygod, DARCY!” Tara squeals. “I think he gets the point.”
I think the blush on my face might be permanent this time. I’m going to forever look like I’ve forgotten to apply suncream, even in the winter. I can’t look up… ever. I want the pavement to melt from the heat and take me with it. My shoulders tense up and almost touch my burning ears.
“Why would you do that?” I whine at Darcy. “What if he’s straight?”
“He’s not,” she says.
“How do you know that?” I shoot back, annoyed.
“Hmm, call it my gay intuition.”
“Yeah,” Tara says, “Oooor maybe the fact that he’s smiling and looking over here.”
“WHAT?!” I cry out.
And sure enough, when I finally look up I’m greeted with a shy smile made of sunshine and sugar. His blue eyes, simultaneously piercing and warm, are roaming my face.
‘Hi,’ he mouths to me.
I stare back and try my best to close my mouth, which has probably been agape and making me look like a right idiot this entire time.
‘Hi,’ I mouth back after what feels like an eternity of trying to get myself together.
His smile grows even wider, his dimples even deeper. And then he does something that turns me instantly to goo…
He winks at me.
I don’t think anyone has ever winked at me in my entire 16 years of life… Certainly not in that way. Before I can even start to consider what an appropriate response would be, the queue starts to move again and he’s turning around to walk forward with his friends and whispering something to them.
I’m rooted to this spot, and Tara has to grab me by the arm and pull me forward. We start to walk up the steps which lead to the station where we’ll finally board The HeartStopper. I’ve been so focused on the beautiful boy that I pretty much forgot what I’d even been queuing for. It’s like there’s no space left in my brain to fret over my fear of rollercoasters.
“He… He winked at me,” I say, still dumbfounded.
Tara laughs. “Wow, we clearly have not prepared you for the world of dating and flirting.”
“Nick Nelson, my favourite bisexual disaster,” Darcy says, as if she knows any other bisexual disasters, “Now you ABSOLUTELY have to go talk to him.”
“But… I– I don’t know what I would even say…”
“You could start with Hi,” Tara says.
But I’ve technically already said that, and, anyway, how am I going to walk up to him? I don’t think the people who have been patiently waiting to ride The HeartStopper would take kindly to me cutting through just so I can talk to a cute boy.
We get separated into different rows and he looks over and gives me a sad little smile. Maybe I can talk to him when we get off the coaster… though it seems like he’ll probably get on before me.
Maybe he would wait for me? … Seems unlikely.
I watch as his group approaches the front of their queue and the coaster arrives at the station. It comes to a complete stop and the over-the-shoulder harnesses unlock for the previous riders to detach themselves and make way for the next batch of riders.
“NOPE!” I hear the tall boy with the beanie say as their gate swings open. “I’m sorry, guys. I can’t do it. NOPE. NO WAY!”
His girlfriend gives him a pout but nods, “Okay, babe. I understand.”
She turns to Beautiful Boy and starts to say something when Book Boy suddenly hands his book to Beanie Boy and says way too loudly, “I’ll ride with you, Elle! Charlie can ride by himself, right, Charlie?!”
“Um… yeah…” Beautiful Boy… Charlie … scrunches his brows and starts to get onto the coaster.
“You’ll have to ride with someone else,” one of the workers starts to say with a bored expression. She’s around our age but looks like she’s ageing by the minute with a frown on her face and her features rumpled together. She glances up towards the gates and shouts, “Any solo riders?”
My arm shoots upwards without a moment’s thought and I barely register that Tara and Darcy are also pointing animatedly at me.
“Okay,” the worker says with a sigh and points at me. “YOU! C’mon.”
“YES!” Tara and Darcy say simultaneously and pat me on the back. As I’m saying excuse me to the people in front of me and squeezing my way towards the front, I suddenly start to remember that I’m afraid of rollercoasters.
What a mighty fine time for my panic to start kicking back in, or maybe I’m panicking about going to sit next to Beauti— Charlie. Or probably both. Yeah, of course. Knowing me, it would definitely be both.
I scramble into the seat and glance over. Our eyes meet and I can’t remember any words in the English language and I think speaking in French might be a bit weird.
“Hi,” I say when I finally remember Tara’s advice.
He grins at me. “Hi… I’m Charlie.”
“Hi, Charlie,” I reply like a lovestruck fool.
He chuckles. “And you are…?”
“Oh… um. N-Nick. I’m Nick.”
“Nick…” he says, as if turning it over in his mouth. Then he smiles shyly. “I like that name.”
I blush and think of what to say next when the workers come by to check on our restraints and it hits me again. The panic. I’m on a rollercoaster. A tall, fast, twisty rollercoaster called The HeartStopper. What if my heart actually stops? What if I die?
I tell myself I’m being irrational and try to regulate my breathing when the sweet voice next to me says, “You okay, Nick?”
I turn to him and he’s leaning forward on his arm restraints to look at me with the loveliest face of pure concern. God, he’s beautiful AND nice.
“I’m kind of afraid of rollercoasters,” I say.
“OH!” he says, surprised.
“I still ride them,” I say, suddenly having found all the words I had forgotten. “But usually my best friend Tara holds my hand.”
He raises one of his thick eyebrows. “Is that a hint?”
“WHA—? Uh, n-no!” I start to say. Charlie giggles then, and I stammer out. “Unless you wa–. I m-mean. If that’s n-not, like, wei–”
“Nick,” he says. It’s only one syllable, but there’s something about the way he says my name that sends chills through my spine. “I’d love to hold your hand… If you wanted me to.”
The coaster starts to slowly disembark from the station and I clench my eyes closed. “Yes, please!” I blurt out.
I open my eyes and dare to look at him. I feel his pinky brush against mine and look down at our hands. I swear I can see a tiny spark.
When I look back at his face, he links our fingers together. “Is this okay?” he asks.
“Y-yeah,” I reply as the coaster locks into the chain lift and begins its long uphill climb to the highest point. This has always been my least favourite part; something about the slow ascend makes me think of a prisoner being led to their execution. I breathe slowly in and out, and Charlie softly squeezes my hand a few times and runs his thumb across the back of my hand. It sends a zing through my entire body.
“Y’know,” he says, “Rollercoasters are actually really safe.”
I nod, but squeeze my eyes shut as I feel us inching higher and higher. I squeeze his hand back.
He continues, “I read somewhere that there’s like a 1 in 17 million chance of getting injured while on a rollercoaster.”
“Really?” I say, “I guess that’s pretty low.”
“Mhmm,” he continues, “There’s a 1 in 775,000 chance that you’ll get struck by lightning. And I’ve never been struck by lightning. Have you?”
“No,” I say with a chuckle. How does he know all this? God, he’s beautiful, nice, and smart too. “Thanks,” I add, “For making me feel better.”
“My pleasure, Nick.”
“Have you been on The HeartStopper before?” I ask.
“Nope! First time,” he responds with a smile. “I’m guessing the same for you.”
I chuckle. “What gave it away?” Then I add, “Um, I’m sorry about all this. I’m sure this isn’t how you were planning for your first ride on The HeartStopper to go.”
He giggles. “No, definitely not… This is much better.”
“R-really?”
“YES!” He says like I’ve just asked something silly. “It’s not every day I get to hold hands with a really cute guy.”
Cute?!?!?!
He thinks I’m cute.
I would leap for joy if I wasn’t strapped down by the overhead restraints. Thank God for safety measures. Instead, I lean forward to look at him and we’re both blushing.
“Um,” Charlie laughs. “Sorry if that was too much.”
We’re almost at the top and this is no time for me to be too scared. I decide to take the plunge.
“Charlie… I think you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.”
He turns completely red, and then we both do, and then we’re…
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Falling.
We both yell out at the same time but quickly our screams turn into whoops of joy and we’re pressing our hands together tightly as we careen towards the bottom of the hill. All my prior fears fly away and all I can think is… this is amazing!
The coaster glides forward and takes us into the first loop. I’m soaring through the air at top speeds and I’m the safest I’ve ever felt. I rub my thumb across the back of Charlie’s hand and he gives me a few squeezes back.
“NICK… YOU OKAY?”
“THIS IS AMAZING!” I scream out loud this time.
“WOOHOOO!!” Charlie yells. “THINK WE CAN PUT OUR ARMS IN THE AIR?”
“WE CAN TRY!” I yell back over the roar of the wheels on the track. But before he can pull away, I squeeze Charlie’s hand tighter and say, “BUT DON’T LET GO… PLEASE.”
His thumb traces over mine and then he trails it across the inside of my wrist. “I WON’T LET GO NICK… I PROMISE.” I’m on a literal rollercoaster but somehow it’s this boy with his touch and his words who’s making my stomach do flips.
I follow his lead and we throw our hands up in the air as we enter the third loop and I don’t think I’ve ever grinned this much on a ride… ever. A camera flashes and reminds me that there’s going to be a snapshot of this moment. Me, Nick Nelson, holding hands with a boy for the first time in my life.
And not just any boy either.
Charlie … I’m already wondering what his last name is and how it would sound next to mine.
God, get a grip, Nelson. So I lower the arm that’s not holding Charlie’s hand and grip the restraint tighter and I just let myself live in the moment. Charlie brings our arms down and lets out a loud whoop.
“I THINK MY HEART STOPPED ON THAT LAST LOOP!” I yell. Charlie’s laugh is bright, and echoes as we surge through a short tunnel.
We throw our hands up again for the next loop with a big “WOAHHHH!”
The last loop has a twist at the very top and I let out a high-pitched shriek at the unexpected turn. Charlie giggles uncontrollably and I can’t help but dissolve into laughter with him.
The coaster screeches to a halt when we approach the station and we both stop laughing as the air gets taken out of our lungs, but then we’re immediately in hysterics again as it starts up to slowly bring us to our drop-off point.
I lean forward in my seat to look at him and he’s even prettier with the flush of laughter all over his face.
“Well, Nick,” he says to me. “You didn’t die.”
Really? Because I was starting to think this might be heaven, I think but thankfully don’t say out loud. Instead, I grin and say, “Don’t jinx it. We still have to make it to the station.”
He giggles again and I think of how I’d love to make him laugh as often as possible.
We finally roll into the station. I’m completely unscathed but definitely not unchanged. I spot Tara and Darcy at the front of their queue and they both cheer when they see me.
“YES NICKY!” Tara yells at the same time as Darcy screams, “GET IN!”
I put my hand over my face and pretend not to know them.
Charlie laughs, “Your friends are fun.”
“Mmm,” I say. “They delight in embarrassing me but they’re the best.”
“Sounds like our friends would get along,” he says, but turns pink at his own words.
We come to a complete stop and the restraints unlock. We each unclasp the safety belts with our free hands. Charlie stands up first and leads me out by our joined hands. I don’t know if it’s weird now that we’re still holding hands, seeing as we were complete strangers just a few minutes ago, but Charlie still hasn’t let go and I decide to go with it and enjoy it for as long as he’ll let me.
Book Boy gets off the ride in front of us and he’s grinning at us, still with his smile like he’s keeping a secret. The tall girl wags an eyebrow at Charlie and mouths, ‘Well done! ’
I feel my face warm up under the attention but I never want to let go of Charlie’s hand.
“Nick, this is Isaac and Elle. Guys, this is Nick.”
I wave to them with my free hand and Isaac loudly whispers to Charlie, “I told you he wasn’t straight.”
Charlie turns bright red, just as the worker tells us that we need to move it along.
“Oh, um, I should wait for my friends,” I say.
“You have to wait downstairs,” the worker says with an exasperated sigh.
“That must be where Tao is,” Elle says, “C’mon.”
I follow Charlie and his friends down the steps and Charlie leans into me and whispers, “Sorry about them.”
“Nothing to be sorry about,” I say and then shoot him a sly smile, “Sooo… you thought I was straight then?”
He groans. “You ju-just kind of look like the straightest person ever, to be honest. Sorry, I know that’s a total stereotype.”
“I think we’re going to have to ban the s-word,” I say.
“Straight?” Charlie asks with a cheeky smile.
I laugh and nudge him softly. "I thought you might be straight too, to be fair."
"Me?!" He laughs. "I'm definitely gay."
I smile. “That's good... I’m actually bisexual,” I whisper. “I hope that’s okay?”
He raises his brows at me. “Obviously! Did you think it wouldn’t be?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. I’ve never really, um… You’re my first, uh…” I stumble to get the words out.
“First boy you held hands with while on a rollercoaster?” He asks. And there’s that cheeky smile again.
I chuckle. “Well, yeah. That, too. But, um, you’re also the first boy I’ve held hands with… Period.”
He looks down at our hands and back up at me and grins widely. “Well. I’m honoured, Nicholas…”
“Nelson,” I finish.
“Charlie Spring,” he says. God, what a great name.
I also learn that Charlie’s just a year younger than me and he lives in Kent, the same county as me! We get back to ground level and Charlie introduces me to Beanie Boy… Tao, whose eyes get wide when he sees us holding hands.
“The HeartStopper was AMAZING, babe!” Elle says to him, “I’d go again if you changed your mind.”
He shakes his head. “Yeah… No thanks.” He looks up at the tracks and shudders.
“I’m afraid of rollercoasters, too,” I admit.
Tao looks at me incredulously. “So why do you get on?”
I shrug and look over at Charlie, who’s watching me. “I don’t know, really,” I say. “Yeah, it’s scary, but it's also really exciting and afterwards, I’m so glad that I did it.”
Isaac grins at me and waggles his brows at Elle.
Tao whispers something in Charlie’s ear that makes him go a deep pink.
“Let’s go look at the photos!” Elle yells out.
“YES! LET’S!” Charlie says and we jog together until we reach the photo area.
The picture is better than I could’ve imagined. My eyes are closed but I’m smiling and my arms are in the air, one hand holding onto Charlie’s. Charlie’s bright blue eyes are looking almost directly at the camera and his mouth is open in a joyful scream.
“I’m going to buy it,” I tell him. “Do you want one too?”
“Oh! No, Nick… You don’t have to do that!”
I pout. “You don’t want to have a memory of me?”
Charlie bats his lashes. “Well… Actually… I was kind of hoping maybe we’d see each other again? Um… I mean, if you wanted to.”
“I’d love that!” I say quickly and squeeze his hand. “And I’d also really love to buy you this photo of our first memory.”
Charlie blushes and squeezes back. “If you insist.”
“I do.”
Tara and Darcy come down a few minutes after and I introduce them to Charlie and his friends. Thankfully, they quickly make conversation with Elle, Tao, and Isaac and keep the embarrassing comments about me to a minimum. We all laugh at Tara and Darcy’s photo, in which Darcy looks constipated and Tara looks like she’s mid-sneeze.
We all spend the rest of the day at the park together. Like Charlie predicted, our friends get along swimmingly. We grab food and walk while we eat, eager to get on as many rides as feasibly possible. I spend the walks and waits in between each ride just talking to Charlie and getting to know him as much as I can. When there’s only a half hour until the park closes, we all race to the last rollercoaster left before they stop letting people on. I clutch Charlie’s hand and try my best to keep up with him and he does his best to slow down for me. I'm struggling and out of breath but all I can think is... This might be the most fun day I’ve ever had.
So far I’ve learned that on top of being beautiful, nice, and smart… Charlie is also hilarious, talented, really fast, and very brave. It’s only been a few hours, but I already know that I like him so much … Like, more than I’ve ever liked anyone. He’s definitely way out of my league, but despite that it seems like he might really like me too. He listened to me talk about rugby even though he doesn’t like sports, and he shared personal things with me, and didn’t laugh at me for still getting scared before some of the bigger rides. As we get on the last ride, he tells me I’m brave for confronting my fears and I squeeze his hand and tell him that he makes me feel braver. He blushes and leans into me and puts his head on my shoulder, and I never want to move from this position.
They announce over the speakers that the park will be closing in 15 minutes, and I feel a heavy loss in my chest. I want so badly for this day to never end. When I look at Charlie, our eyes meet and I think maybe he’s thinking the same thing.
We all walk slowly towards the exit as though we could maybe make time stop if we walk slow enough. Charlie says Tao’s mum is picking them up and she’s on the other side of the car park. My mum texts me and lets me know that she’s right outside of where we are currently.
“Well I’m this way,” I say.
“Yeah… I’m that way,” he says.
We look down again at our hands but neither one of us pulls away first.
Charlie giggles. “You have to let go first, Nick. I promised I wouldn’t.”
I grin. “Okay. But only if you promise I can see you again soon.”
“Deal!”
I bring his hand up to my face and give it a soft kiss before finally letting go. Charlie turns a pink which goes progressively redder as our friends make congratulatory noises at us. We exchange numbers and find each other on Insta.
“Well…” Charlie says. “Bye for now, Nicholas Nelson.”
“Until next time, Charlie Spring,” I say. “Thank you for everything today.”
“Me? I didn’t do anything.”
“Hmm,” I say and brush through his curls, which are even softer than I had imagined, gently with my hand. “Beautiful, nice, funny, smart, fast, talented, brave… and you’re humble too.”
“SHUT UP! You’re beautiful and nice and… all of the things,” he groans and buries his face into my chest. “And you’re definitely the brave one.”
“Well... There’s one thing I haven’t been brave enough to do all day.”
Charlie looks up at me with those bright blue eyes, “Oh yeah… What’s that?”
I look down at his lips and then back up at his eyes for confirmation. “Can I–?”
“Yes, please!” Charlie cuts me off.
I grin as we lean into each other and I cradle his face. His arms wrap around me and we just hold each other in a hug for a minute.
Our eyes lock on each other, and I wish I could take a photo of this moment too. But I know I don’t need to, because no matter what… I’ll remember this for the rest of my life.
We slowly draw closer together until inevitably our mouths meet. Our lips move together leisurely… as if we have all the time in the world, as though we could make time stop if we kiss slowly enough. Charlie grips my shirt and pulls me closer still and I sigh into his mouth. Our tongues collide and Charlie moans softly. Our hands interlock again as if on autopilot, as if they missed each other and we give each other gentle squeezes.
When we finally pull away, Charlie’s smile is so cute that I have to kiss his dimpled cheeks and then plant one final parting kiss on his lips.
We begrudgingly break away in our separate directions, waiting until the last possible second to let go of each other’s hands, our fingers grazing as if being pulled away by phantom forces. I’m sad, but not terribly so.
I don’t know a lot of things but I’m fairly confident in this one thing: this is not an ending, this is a beginning.
Our friends each implore us to get a move on but we keep walking slowly and turning every few seconds to look back at each other and wave and giggle and grin like a pair of idiots.
‘Text me!’ I mouth to him.
He nods and blushes, bringing his phone up to cover his face and types something quickly.
I grab my phone before I even hear the ping.
Charlie 😍🎢🤝💛: Hi xx
I look up at him and grin and do something I haven’t done in my entire 16 years of life.
I wink at him and watch him go pink. Then I type my reply when we’re too far away to see each other properly.
Me: Hiii xxxxxxx
Me: Just had to make u blush one last time
Me: Sorry but ur super cute when u blush
Charlie 😍🎢🤝💛: ADFKALJNWQE
Charlie 😍🎢🤝💛: No s-word!
Me: Super?
Charlie 😍🎢🤝💛: haha ur funny when u steal my jokes
Me: OUCH!
Charlie 😍🎢🤝💛: 😘
Charlie 😍🎢🤝💛: sooo I was thinking… for our next date…
Charlie 😍🎢🤝💛: maybe not a rollercoaster this time?
Me: sounds good!
Me: although I’d probably jump off a plane if you promised to hold my hand the whole time
Charlie 😍🎢🤝💛: AKFLJEIFA OMG! How are you real?!?!
Charlie 😍🎢🤝💛: I wont make u jump off a plane tho
Charlie 😍🎢🤝💛: i was thinking arcade???
Me: why do I feel like ur going to beat me at literally ALL the games??
Charlie 😍🎢🤝💛: oh I DEFINITELY will
Charlie 😍🎢🤝💛: so is that a yes to the arcade?
Me: well my schedule’s a bit packed but…
Me: u free tomorrow????
Charlie 😍🎢🤝💛: AHDSKEIGAJ
Charlie 😍🎢🤝💛: YES!
Charlie 😍🎢🤝💛: tomorrow’s perfect 💙💛