Life After Heartstopper

What the Fuck Aaron!

Nick's pov:
I see Tori heading towards me. She no longer looks happy. Have I done something wrong?

I start thinking about anything I could have said or done.

"Nick" Tori shouts.
"Is Charlie okay?" I question.
"He will be, but I think you should go talk to him. I need to find some little prick named Aaron."

Who's Aaron?

Before I have time to ask Tori this, she's stormed off. What the hells happened?

I hurry to the bedroom.
"Charlie, can I come in" I ask when I reach the door.
"Yeah" his voice breaks.
I open up the door but I can't see Charlie. I peer round the door and look beside the bed. He's sat on the floor, tears pouring down his face, dripping onto his knees that are curled up in front of him being hugged tightly by his arms.
"Hey, what's up?" I ask as I kneel down to be with Charlie. I shuffle myself towards him so that our hips are touching and wrap my arm around his shoulder. I gently wipe a tear from his face.

Charlie doesn't reply, it's just snuffles in response.

I lean back slightly and position myself to face Charlie. Aiming to look into his eyes, but he won't look up.
"Charlie, please talk to me" I beg. "Please tell me what's going on, I hate seeing you upset."

He begins to speak, although it takes a while for anything to expel from his mouth.

"Are you happy?" He asks. "With me?"

Of course I am. I've said it thousands of times at this point, but Charlie just can't understand how much I truly love him.
"Yes!" I try to convince Charlie.

"I know you want to be with me," he continues, "but is that just because no one better has come along?"
"Charlie, what's brought this on?" I wonder, my voice cracking as my heart breaks.
"Um- s-some guy named Aaron said, some things to me, And I don't want to believe them, but I can't stop thinking that maybe it's true?"

I instantly dive into Charlie. Wrapping my arms around his waist and nestling my head into his shoulder. Hiding my tears from Charlie.

So that's who Aaron is. What the fuck!

I pull back slightly, so that my hands are now on Charlie's hips and we're face to face.
"Who does he think he is? What the actual fuck!" I can't help but exclaim.
What.the.actual.fuck.

"Char, you know I love you and I want to be with you. And that means I want to be with you forever, not just until someone 'better' comes along. There is no one better, you are the only one for me." I try to comfort him. I hate what this guy has done to Charlie. He's come so far with his confidence and mental health but it's idiots like this that end up undoing the progress already made.

I'm so angry at this guy, I don't even know what to do, or say.
"Can you maybe tell me what exactly he said?" I query.
"I don't want to put it on you" Charlie says, like he doesn't want to burden me with this. But anything that hurts Charlie, hurts me anyway.
"Charlie, I'm here for you. I need you to know the truth, and if you tell me what Aaron said, I will prove to you that none of it is true!"

Charlie begins to recite the conversation he had with Aaron 15 minutes prior. With each word he says, it breaks my heart more and more. I can't believe how people can be so terrible.

After Charlie has finished talking, I have tears streaming down my face, and a lump in my throat.
"I need to show you something" is all that I can manage to say. But it's enough.

I get up and walk to the other side of our bed, and pull out a storage container from beneath. It's full of our old diaries. I quickly flick through them, finding all the ones I need Charlie to see.