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Nick sits in his seat, waiting for his form buddy to arrive. As he has done for the past few months, he contemplates excuses to invite Charlie round after school. He feels weirdly compelled to bring him home. He guesses it's because he admires him and wants to be proper friends. He doesn't want to be his mate, like he's mates with Sai or Otis, but his actual, proper friend. He's never had a friend friend before. It all feels very exciting. A bit too exciting. A bit torturously exciting…
Charlie's just cool in a super nerdy way. He's funny, kind and sweet with a really nice giggle, and his hair is pretty, and he's so sarcastic Nick could die of wanting to be his proper friend. He keeps bottling it though when it comes to inviting him over. His mum's said it's fine to have a friend round any time, even a ‘special friend’ like Charlie. He's not sure why she looked so weird when she called Charlie a ‘special friend’. Maybe she has hayfever.
His mum's pretty cool, actually, despite the seasonal allergy, but inviting a friend round to meet your mum is not the one. He likes his fairy lights but they aren't newsworthy. If they started flashing like Stranger Things then maybe, but he can't hold out hope for the Upside Down. Great, now he's scared himself thinking about the Demogorgon.
He'd thought about asking his mum for a drum kit so he could ask Charlie to teach him to play, but then Charlie would just see how uncoordinated he is. He also considered asking him to tutor him in maths before remembering Charlie's in the year below, despite clearly demonstrating he understands algebra better than Nick that time they walked to maths together. Why is this so hard? Nick decides the next time Charlie gives him an opening to invite him round he's going to take it; he won't leave this form room without asking.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
Charlie slips onto the chair beside him and his tummy does its usual wobble at how cool he is. They're obviously meant to be friends. Not that Nick's super sure what he has to offer Charlie. He's just a dumb rugby lad. His tummy wouldn't flip if there wasn't a connection though. It must be meant to be. He waits for the conversation to start as it does every day. Whether it's laughing and joking or deep talk or chitchat, they always talk about something. He waits for Charlie to set the tone, to direct the daily tête-à-tête, to give him an opening to invite him round, but he doesn't.
Instead Charlie wriggles in his seat like a dog dragging its arse across the carpet. He looks so uncomfortable it's almost animalistic. He makes little irritated grunts, which twinge something in Nick's insides in a deeply weird way. He assumes it's a specific brand of sympathy he's not felt before. He watches Charlie pull his beautiful hair in frustration and scrunch his mesmerisingly light eyes. Uggh, fine. Nick has made himself a promise and he can't bear another moment of not asking.
“Do you wanna come round to mine after school and I'll check you for worms?”
“Pardon?” Charlie stops wiggling and looks at Nick incredulously. “You want to… check my butt for parasites?”
“No! I just, erm… Never mind.”
Charlie goes back to wriggling furiously and Nick falls back into quiet contemplation. That didn't go well. Charlie’s wriggling intensifies to the point he tips his chair back so far he nearly topples off it. He has to ask. This is ridiculous.
“Why are you wriggling?”
“I… I can’t tell you why, Nick. It's embarrassing.”
“More embarrassing than worms? I'm just going to assume it's that unless you tell me otherwise.” Nick grins and entwines his hands behind his head, feeling victorious.
“It's glitter, okay! I have glitter up my butt!”
Nick barks a surprised laugh. “Why?! Oh, are you doing self-portraits in art? I remember doing that last year but I used paint and I definitely didn't get it up my arse.” Is this his chance? “If you wanted to come round tonight I could show you mine?”
“It's not an art project! It's my fucking brother! I think I told you that he's younger than me, like a lot younger?”
“Yeah?"
“Yeah, and he doesn't like brushing his teeth so our mum got him this glitter toothpaste and I guess he wiped it off his brush this morning onto the nearest thing, which happened to be the toilet paper and then… Uggh. I have a minty fresh glittery hole, okay!”
“Well, there's the problem.”
“Exactly! You try sitting still like this!”
“No, minty fresh! She needs to get him bubblegum flavour, like mine. So much better. If you want you can come round tonight and try it?"
“Nick, why are you trying so hard to get me to come round to your house tonight?”
“Oh, I just…”
“Tell me the truth please.”
“Okay, fine! Because I like you more than just a form buddy and I want to be proper friends.”
“Just proper friends? Listen Nick, I wouldn't usually be so forward but I'm very fucking uncomfortable and screw it… I like you. We've had a few moments where I've thought you might like me back, and you've literally just asked me round to check my butt and ‘show me yours’.”
“I.. have, haven't I?”
“Yes. At least this glitter torture will have been worth it if we finally kiss.”
“You think we'll kiss?”
“If you want to, yeah. But only if you want to.”
Nick thinks about it. He thinks about the tummy wobbles he gets when Charlie says hi, the twinge of not sympathy he felt when Charlie grunted earlier, and the relentless urge to bring Charlie home. Turns out it's not an urge to befriend him. It's an urge to kiss him. A lot. Fuck, now he's the one wriggling in his seat. “Yes please.”