Let me take care of you

Ready for a new start

Autumn turned to winter and as the wether got colder, things seemed to start to go back to normal. The memory of everything that had happened at school started to fade and soon Charlie blended back into the crowd of students, which he had always preferred anyway, and his story was soon a tragic whispered that people mentioned every now and then.

But even if everyone forgot the story later on, new students came and it all washed into the past, it didn't matter, because Charlie's family, friends, and others he held close to him wouldn't forget it, and they wouldn't let anyone view it as an accident that could've been prevented, if it could've been prevented, then that's to bad because either way, what happened happened, so really, nothing can be prevented, changed, and no side is good nor bad. It just, happened, and it's sad, but you have to move on.

That was what Charlie was going to do, and now was the perfect time for that, Christmas was upon them and it was finally the dawn of a new year. This year, it was certainly tough, but now, this new year was theirs to make, and it would be a happy one. He would be with Nick, and all of his friends, the only thing that would change would be that Nick was going off to college, but they had spoken about it, and it would be fine (read Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman if you want more context lol)

The days of December went by and they were fortunate to get lots of snow, Nick and Charlie went sledding, and later on they did so with his friends aswell, he built snowmen with his family, and put up the Christmas decorations as the night fell, putting the lights up (a little bit badly) with his father in the early morning.

They've been having lots of large dinners, at both Nick's house and his, and although it's a struggle, Charlie has been eating, even if it is in small portions. So things seemed to be working out, he would be happy this Christmas.

"Hey, mate, snap out of it." Charlie was startled and looked up at Nick, who he had been lying down on and watching TV with. Charlie pushed himself up,
"I am not your mate Nicholas Nelson." Charlie said in a mother-voice. Nick laughed,
"Okay fine, whatever, but stop doing that. You zone out for like a good ten minutes, you think to much you little idiot." Nick said, kissing Charlie on the cheek.

Charlie laughed softly,
"Sorry, just thinking about the year we've all had." Charlie replied, putting his hand on his neck. Nick's eyes went sad for a moment, before he put on a soft smile and snuggled up next to Charlie,
"Yeah, it has, but, it's fine. You're okay now, everyone's happy, and we are all ready for a new start. Right?" Nick reasurringly said,
"Yeah yeah, I know. Am- am I ready though?" Charlie said, " So much has happened, and I know everythings fine, but after everything, can I really just... Stop thinking about it. Live here, with all these people, let time move on, without acknowledging all of the bad things that's happened?"

"Shut up" Charlie stopped, looking at Nick,
"What..?" Charlie asked,
"Stop talking about it. This is not okay, if you keep saying you moved on, you haven't really moved on. Things happen, some are much worse things than others, but either way, life moves along, and you need to move with it. Instead of being left behind, and being lost behind your bad memories and feelings." Nick said, holding Charlie's smaller hand in his.

Charlie listened quietly, not making an expression, but he knew that Nick was right, he was hung up on it. It was the happiest time of the year, and he was dwelling on what happened, still, he needed to get over it, for real this time. God, why did he keep saying that, the only way he can grow as a person is by toughening up and getting on with it. Sure, it was and would be tough, but life isn't easy.

Charlie smiled,
"You're right, you're right." Charlie said, almost laughing at the seemingly simple realisation,
"You sound like you're surprised, I'm always right." Nick said, definitely not boosting his own ego. Charlie rolled his eyes and pushed Nick away from him,
"Oh my god, okay, let's go to the others so that you can share your always right opinions with them." Charlie said, standing up and holding his hand out. Nick nodded and took Charlie's hand, dramatically standing up and putting his arm around Charlie's small body.

They went out of the room and left the house, Nick checked the time, great, they were supposed to help Charlie's mum with dinner a good ten minutes ago, but it's fine, they could just help extra hard to make up for it. They quickly walked to Nick's house and entered to hear loud, cheerful noises and laughter.

Everyone was happy to finally see Nick and Charlie and they immediately went to the kitchen to help Nick's mum. While they cooked, Tao, Elle, Alex and Isaac all tried to sneek past Nick and Charlie and steal as many ingredients out of the kitchen before Nick and Charlie noticed, unsurprisingly, Nick and Charlie made a good team and Team ITEA (Isaac, Tao, Elle, Aled) lost, very badly.

And quickly, a nice smell drifted through the house, outside was a dark and starry night and everyone was helping set up the table ready for delicious food to be served.

It was just an incredible night after that, joking, laughter, no sad thoughts about the past, just looking forward. As stated, the food was very good, mostly due to Nick's mums incredible cooking skills. And although the seating for the table was organised at first, by the end of the meal people were stealing chairs, squeezing at the end of the tabl, hiding in between others and everything was chaos, but it was great. All matureness was thrown out the window very quickly and the only person actually supervising everyone was unsurprisingly, Tori, and even she was enjoying herself with everyone else, a nice small smile on her face.

Honestly, it was a very good representation on how the future would be, full of happiness chaos, and being surrounded by the people he loved, it was all going to be okay, and this time, it would stay like that.