I'll Love You For A Lifetime [Heartstopper, Tara x Darcy]

Year 10: Charlie Spring

Darcy's pov

"Have you heard about Charlie Spring?"

"That year 9 kid from Truham who got outed?"

"Yeah! I've seen is ig. I mean he looks so gay I am surprised he managed to stay in the closet for so long."

"He is cute though."

"He hangs out with a couple of loners from year 9, including a guy who is apparently trans."

I fisted my hands under the desk.

"Isn't that called a trans girl though?"

"Who cares."

"Do you reckon he might be into girls too? I mean, I have heard some gay guys who do girls too-"

I snapped my head around, "That is called being bisexual, by the way. And since someone else has spread this news, maybe it is a rumour and he is as straight as a pole."

One of the gossip girls who had way too much lipgloss on, shrugged and said, "He confirmed it when others started asking him. We get it you are a lesbian, Darcy but stop being so sensitive. We are just joking."

I rolled my eyes and turned back around and thankfully, the teacher walked in as I was getting tempted to throw a fist if they continued talking about Charlie again.

***

Tara's pov

I did not know Charlie Spring personally, but what he was going through was disturbing Darcy a lot. It hit close to home, I guess.

I knew Charlie's sister Victoria Spring though. She is pretty cool, but since Charlie got outed, she seems kind of on edge. I wonder what has been going on in the family. Hopefully their parents are not homophobic.

Darcy and I were sitting in a park, her head leaned against my shoulder, her fingers intertwined in mine. She was humming a song I could not recognise.

"Hey, Tara," she said, sitting upright all of a sudden, "wanna come with me to a local lgbtq party this Sunday?"

"Oh," she looked so happy, it broke my heart to say what I was about to, "Umm, I don't think I am ready to come out yet, I think. I mean, look at Charlie Spring. Shit does go down once you are outed."

"No! You don't have to come out. All of the people there promise to keep everything confidential. You just have to ask them to not tell anyone," she explained quickly.

I grimaced, "Well, they can break their promise, can't they?"

She made a sad little pouty face but did not say anything else. Instead, she leaned against my shoulder again. I felt so guilty, I started talking again.

"I would love to go later, I promise. I am going to come out."

She sighed, "Don't make promises you cannot keep."

"I don't - I am not -"

"Shush, let me sleep," she buried her face in my neck.

I giggled, "You're tickling me. Stop!"

She grinned up at me, then started tickling my belly with her fingers.

"I hate you!" I said, and sprang up from the bench, letting her race me around in the green grass until we were too tired to even walk back home. So, we lay down in the grass, Darcy's arm under my head to partially save my hair, both of us smiling and out of breath.

I lay there for a while, "I did come out to my dad though."

Darcy blinked and turned her head around, "You what?"

"I mean, he guessed it himself. But when he asked, I told him that we are, you know, into each other."

"Okay, I am really proud of you and everything, but 'we are into each other'." she made quotation marks with her spare hand, "you said exactly that?"

I had an urge to slap either her face or my own forehead, so I went with the latter, "No, obviously."

"Then it's fine," she said, "it would be horrendous to be around him if he thought we had a mutual crush or something. We are dating, after all." She side-eyed me, "Aren't we?"

She was confirming it. She was using this moment to start a conversation we never had. This girl needs a lot of verbal validation, doesn't she?

I smiled and turned around to face her, "Yes, obviously." I rubbed my hand against her arm, "You are my girlfriend, I literally confessed my love a few days back. Of course we are dating."

The corner of her lips turned up, her eyes darting around my face, as if trying to memorize my exact expression.

"I'm glad I sat beside you in the cafeteria in seventh grade, Tara Jones," she said, then leaned in and kissing my forehead, a sweet, quick, whimsical kiss.

"I'm glad too," I said. I wish I could wrap my arms around her and kiss her lips, but I did not want to do it in public. It was such a private and intimate moment to me, I did not like the idea of other people looking at us and thinking it is meant for them. I was probably just making excuses in my head for not being ready to come out yet, but well, that was what was going on in my mind as Darcy stared at my lips.