Nick & Charlie (TV WORLD)

Chapter Thirty Six

[TRIGGER WARNING: Without giving too much away, this chapter discusses death. This chapter is dedicated to Matthew Perry (Chandler from FRIENDS), and maybe even my own mother too who passed away. FRIENDS was and will always be a comfort show for me for so many reasons; a main one being that my mom and I use to watch it all the time before she passed in 2002. She never got to see how the series ended, but I'm sure she found him up in heaven and he filled her in <3 ] Additionally, sorry for the delay. I broke my pinky and my whole hand is in a cast so this is not easy LOL

Chapter Thirty Six.

Charlie:
I get ready and walk over to Nick's before we head to Elle's for her birthday dinner. I knock on the door and naturally, as the door opens, Nellie greets me before Nick can even speak. 

"You still think Nellie loves you more than me?" I ask while laughing.
"I think it might be up for debate at this point," Nick says with a smile.

I stand back up and hug him.

"Hi."
"Hi."

We walk inside and head up to Nick's room and decide to watch a movie before we head over to Elle's.

"I think it's really sweet that you invited Imogen tonight," I say.
"She's been feeling really alone lately. She shouldn't be feeling like that, she's a great person."

I look up and kiss his cheek.

"The world needs more Nick Nelsons."
"I think the world needs more Charlie Springs."
"I think we're too cheesy."
"I think you're right," he says as he kisses the top of my head. "But I wouldn't have it any other way."

We finish watching the movie and Nick starts getting ready for us to start heading over to Elle's. As we're about to walk out of his room, my phone rings.

"Ugh, it's my Dad," I say.
"Answer it, I'm going to ask Mum to give us a ride and we can walk home," he says as he walks out of his room.

I pick up the phone.

"Hey Dad, we're about to go to Elle's right --"
"Charlie, you need to come home," he says. His voice sounds broken.
"Is everything okay?" I ask, scared for the answer.
"It's Mum. She - " I hear him holding back from breaking out into a full sob.
"Dad..."
"She had a stroke while driving home and crashed into -- "

He couldn't even finish his sentence. Or maybe he did and I just didn't hear it. Everything in my world became out of focus.

"I'm on my way," I say before hanging up.

I grab my things and start running down the stairs only to be greeted by Nick at the bottom. His face turns pale as he looks at me.

"What happened?"
"Something with my Mum. I need to go. I'll call you?" I say as I kiss him quickly and run out the door.

I don't even know if she's alive. All of a sudden, all of our fights, everything we have ever said to each other didn't seem to matter. Instead, I thought of all the things I wish I said, but didn't. I start to fully sprint even though I don't have any idea what I'm sprinting home too. I reach the house but do not see Dad's car in the driveway. I go inside to see Tori sitting on the couch, wiping away tears. 

"What happened? Is she.. is she okay?" I ask quietly as I walk over to her.
"Dad's on the way to the hospital," she says quietly. "She was -- " She takes a breath to collect herself. "She was found unresponsive but they were able to get a pulse last I heard. They were rushing her to the hospital for emergency surgery."

I fall into the couch. 

"We should go."
"Yeah, lets go."

We hop on the bus and travel in silence. We were never Mum's biggest fan but didn't expect anything like this to happen. I didn't think we'd run out of time to repair the damage. I look down and didn't even realize that Nick has texted me checking in.

Nick: You never usually leave like that, I hope everything is okay.
Nick: Not going to go to Elle's until I hear from you.
Nick: ....you're scaring me.
Nick: I love you, please text me when you can.

He's right though; I never do leave like that. He must be worried.

Charlie: Everything is not okay, but I will fill you in once I know more.
Charlie: I love you xx
Charlie: Go to Elle's, I'll call you if I need you.

We reach the stop that is closest to the hospital and begin to walk. The silence between us is deafening and I can't help but think that Tori is feeling the exact same way that I'm feeling. We reach the hospital doors and stare at each other briefly before rushing inside. We head straight for the front desk but in the corner of my eye I see Dad on the floor against the wall.

"Dad!" I exclaim while me and Tori run over to him.

My heart sinks as I reach him though. No one ever sat on a hospital room floor because they have good news. He wraps his arms around us as he tries to hold it together.

"They lost her in surgery," he whispers.

Everything after that just was white noise. I couldn't hear what he or Tori were saying. I helped Tori pick up Dad and we headed to the car. That was it, just like that, our whole world would never be the same again. Every dinner, every holiday, every graduation, birthday, really anything, would feel a little broken, incomplete. We never really saw eye to eye but she was really trying lately and now we'll never see it through. I'm not sure how to feel; it's almost like I'm lost. I'm not really sure how to be, what to do or what to say. Tori drives home because Dad is checked out. We get inside and Dad steps into the kitchen as we follow him. He paces back and forth a bit, wipes his tears and collects himself and puts one hand on each of our shoulders.

"We're going to need each other more than ever right now. I will do my best to be there for you both in any and every way that you need but if I'm being honest, I'm going to need you both to do the same for me."

It's really starting to sink in now. I always thought how it would be to lose someone close to me. Not in a morbid kind of way, just wondered how life would even go on. The house looks the same. Mum could be out picking up groceries right now, but then you're smacked with the hard reality that she's gone. I feel like that'll be something that happens to all of us randomly. We'll go to bed tonight, and when we wake up, for a brief second we'll think things are normal, even though it will never be normal again.

As Dad grabs his phone to make some phone calls, I pick up mine to text Nick.

Charlie: I need you more than ever right now and I feel like it's going to be like that for awhile..