Charlie

“Yesterday was supposed to be our wedding day.”

I looked up at Nick’s face and saw nothing but patience and kindness in his eyes.

“I was ready to marry him, I was dressed and at the registry office waiting for him to arrive. He’d wanted to arrive separately, something about not seeing each other before we were married.”

“Well, it is tradition,” Nick gave me a small smile while he tried to lighten the mood.

When I didn’t continue after a few minutes Nick tentatively reached out and put his hand on mine in my lap before he spoke, “Did he not turn up?”

I shook my head, “I, erm,” no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get the words out. Instead, I moved one of my hands from under his, took my phone out of my pocket and opened to conversation from Tao before handing Nick my phone.

Slightly confused, Nick took it and looked at the conversation which started with Tao saying he thought Ben might be cheating on me. He watched the reel before closing the phone, putting it down and pulling me into his strong arms for unexpected but very much needed hug. I hadn’t realised until that moment that I was crying again, it wasn’t the earth-shattering tears that placed me in Nick’s arms like before, just a wave of sadness as I finally put everything that had happened out there into the world.

Nick

That poor man, how could someone do something so horrible to someone who seemed so sweet. I held him to me, not wanting to let ago, trying to convey to him how sorry I was for him but without it coming across as pity. I’m not a violent guy, but I wanted to hurt Ben for everything he had put Charlie through.

I don’t know how long I held him before I pulled away slightly to look at his face, there were streaks of tears silently falling down his cheeks. On instinct I reached out to wipe them away, part of me wishing I could wipe away all the suffering he’s been through, all the pain.

“Sorry,” he said as he tried to pull away from my hold.

I reached out and turned his chin, so he was facing me again, “Hey, don’t apologise, you have nothing to be sorry for Char.”

“Char?” his eyebrows shot up as he stopped trying to move away. Did I really just say that.

“Erm, sorry,” now it was my turn to be embarrassed.

“Don’t be, I liked it,” he said mischievously in what sounded like a flirting tone with smile that revealed the most amazing dimples causing me to blush. Was he flirting with me? It must be my imagination, he only left his fiancé yesterday, and who knew if they would patch things up. I couldn’t deny though that those dimples were stirring things in me that I had never felt before.

I’d realised at university I was bisexual; I had the biggest crush on the captain of our rugby team. It turned out he was pansexual, and we did hook up a few times after practice, but it was nothing more than a bit of fun. We even once had a threesome with a girl we’d met in a club. She said she loved our strong rugby arms and wanted to see us make-out together. We were still good mates, but we didn’t really see each other much, especially since I moved to Menorca to take care of my Mum almost a year ago.

I must have zoned out for a moment because Charlie placed his hand on my cheek again, sending sparks through me just as they had back in reception. “Nick?”

“Sorry, I..” I was lost for words, the effect Charlie had on me was unreal. I realised my arms from round him and suddenly felt self-conscious.

“Are you ok? I know I just dumped a lot of my own crazy on you, but you seemed upset when I found you in reception before.” God he was thoughtful too, he was going to be the death of me.

“Yeah, I was just thinking about my mum. This was her place, she…” I felt voice start to tremble.

“It’s ok, you don’t have to..” Charlie began to speak but I raised my hand to cut him off before I continued.

“She died, about 6 months ago. This place,” I gestured around us, “was her dream. We used to come here all the time growing up as a family, me, my Mum, my brother and my aunts, uncles, and cousins. She loved it here, so when I went to uni and David, that’s my brother, had moved out and bought his own flat, she decided to sell our old home and move out here.” I smiled remembering how happy she had been when she had our first guests here.

Charlie didn’t say anything, letting me sit with my thoughts before I continued, “Just after I finished Uni, we found out she had cancer, they tried to treat it but 6 months ago she lost the battle. I vowed to make this place special for her, I even renamed it after her. She said to me that things she loved most in the world, where me and my brother and this place.”

Without another word, Charlie pulled me into his arms and held me close to him. He smelled sweet like oranges, and I knew I was in trouble.