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She (He) rolled in
My little sandy town
She (He) spent the summer there
A couple houses down
Charlie Spring used to seeing the house at the end of the street he lives on become frequently occupied over several seasons.
Here and there, several families end up renting it out in some sort of AirBnB situation or something and stay for an unknown amount of time in Herne Bay, which of course wasn’t much, but it was a sleepy, sandy little thing all the same, so it’s not surprising that when his Mum hands him the trash on the first good day of the Summer holidays, he sees a small car parked out front laden with luggage and a couple of people moving in and out of the house carrying things.
Normally, one of the neighbours would have been out there helping them and of course, when one of the sons of Mrs Haversham nearby waves at him from the boot, he can’t help but wave back and it seems it catches the attention of the boy beside him helping him because next minute, Charlie’s having a gay moment as the very unfamiliar strawberry blonde peers over at him with the same awed expression that must look comical on his face.
Well it was magic in the air
When she (he) caught my eye
We shared three short months
And one long goodbye
Of course it had to be another good-looking guy from out of town. There was one about a year ago back, Ben, that he’d pined over for weeks after, but then he’d hurt another boy in the neighbourhood, Issac, who was one of his friends and honestly, he thanked his lucky stars he’d never talked to him. He also left 2 days later, so he was happy to see the back of him.
Not /every/ guy was like Ben, obviously and he can see that clearly in the guy’s eyes as they watch eachother, his shirt wrapping around the rather Adonis-like arms the boy is sporting in comparison to Charlie’s lanky form in its pathetic looking yellow and black striped top.
Anyway, the moment (and magical wondrous torture he’s putting himself through) is over as the guy turns to an older woman calling a name of some kind he can’t hear from all the way over here and takes the opportunity to run as he’s distracted, ducking back inside before he can do something stupid, like walk over there and /talk/ to him as he’s embarrassing as hell and clearly not worthy. He needs to get over himself.
Of course, this doesn’t happen as the boy turns up on the doorstep 15 minutes later and introduces himself as Nick and sheepishly asks if they have a spare Switch charger he can borrow, leading to an originally awkward conversation before an invite and uplifting afternoon unexpectedly battling eachother in Mario Kart at the holiday house with a collie at their feet and Charlie winning every single time, Nick completely aghast that someone was better than him at first, but then slowly becoming besotted with his new friend (his words) and giving Charlie reason to smile wider than he ever had, heart beating faster the more he became consumed in the Nick bubble.
Maybe the next 3 months wouldn’t be so bad for either of them.
She (He) was the one that got away
The one that wrecked my heart
I should've never let her (him) go
I should've begged her (him) to stay
If Charlie had known however that it would work out to be one incredible summer that would eventually leave him aching and stranded on the beach looking at the sun in tears as it set, alone and unable to cope, perhaps he would have regretted talking to Nick in the first place and just never answered the door.
Perhaps he could have been fine for another summer alone as Charlie Spring, gay weirdo, without getting to know Nick Nelson, the boy from out of won staying down the lane.
She (He) was the one that got away
Yeah, the one that got away
The only problem was he’d kill himself in a heartbeat if he did that. Regretted it. If he ever found a point to regret Nick Nelson as a whole, that would be the day Charlie Spring ended his entire life and ceased to exist. For Nick Nelson was unforgettable.
Well she (I) kissed my (his) lips
Down on Ocean Drive
She (He) set my world on fire
On the Fourth of July
Charlie hadn’t intended to get into something so deep with Nick, but his crush just digs it’s proverbial heels in over the days and weeks and before he knows it, they are hanging out on Ocean Drive at the pier on one of the honest days of the year, just having /fun/.
On the spur of the moment, Charlie accidentally kisses the other boy during a mock play fight with their chips and in his horror and embarrassment, runs off to hide under one of the boardwalks in shame before the other rather startled boy can react, curling up in a ball with his back against one of the stakes and crying to himself before leaving, not knowing that Nick’s searching for him like a man in the desert looking for water.
They don’t see eachother again till the 4th of July when there’s an American style street party happening outside Charlie’s front door and he can’t /not/ come outside, the other boy spotting him over the other side of a table and zigzagging through the crowd just to catch him before he can run off again, pulling him to just behind a fence to kiss him before he can utter an apology, a lot more following after that as fireworks sprinkled the sky in blazing colour.
We wrote our names in the sand
Under the star-soaked sky
But it washed away like she (he) did
With the rising tide
The days are spent after that more together than Charlie’s whole life has ever been. Nick is there every waking moment, from sunshine to dusk and even beyond that.
There was even one night, near the tail end when Charlie’s heart was heavy due to knowing Nick would be leaving soon, when Nick snuck up to his bedroom window and scooped him up out of bed to take him out to the beach in pitch-black darkness, the only light coming from their phones as they danced around on the sand and wrote their names in it as well, laughing as the tide washed them out soon after and watching as the slowing blooming sunrise brightened their surroundings as they hot-footed it home, a searing kiss shared afterwards.
She (He) was the one that got away
The one that wrecked my heart
I should've never let her (him) go
I should've begged her (him) to stay
Charlie thanks his past self for taking so many pictures of those days and writing things down as well as making Nick Airdrop him some of his own photos that he’s caught candidly because he might have never survived the rest of the coming school year knowing he’d like something like that slip when it finally returned for the semester before Winter Holidays.
She (He) was the one that got away, yeah
Nick Nelson now takes up a space of his mind that he didn’t expect to be so open.
It’s been empty for so long, but now it’s filled now with the sight of dogs and rugby balls, bubblegum milkshakes, cinnamon coloured freckles and shades of blue that entwine into a song that makes Charlie’s heart beat faster than any of the drum kits he’s destroyed, but it also pulses under his skin like a throbbing pain that may never leave as the realization Nick’s only a temporary fixture in his life continues to hit home a lot more than he‘d like.
Now, every summer that rolls around
I'm looking over my shoulder
Wishing I could see her (his) face
Wishing I could hold her (him)
The day Nick leaves is the hardest of his entire life and that’s saying a lot between the anxiety, the eating disorder and his parents constantly fighting.
Of course, it’s not like it isn’t hard for the other as well. Having come into his feelings and his orientation as bisexual, it’s just as hard for Nick to accept he won’t be seeing Charlie every day either. Charlie’s just trying to exist for the moment so he can save himself from when Nick does actually leave and in doing so, he’s not done very well as he’s already cried with the other on his single bed the afternoon and night before, already kissed him goodbye about a million times and even one more time after that before Charlie has to walk home with his feet like they are knee-deep in treacle, sticky and unwilling to go forward.
He doesn’t know that’s how he’s going to feel for the next two Summers either.
She (He) was the one that got away
(yeah, the one that got away)
The one who wrecked my heart
(yeah, she (he) wrecked my heart)
They’ve exchanged Instagrams and phone numbers and everything so they can to ensure they don’t lose contact, but even that’s not enough to stop Charlie from leaping out and almost chasing after the car as it goes past with Nick waving like it’s the last time they’ll see each other with Tori hot on his heels to grab and hold him back as he breaks down in the middle of the street on his knees.
Luckily, his parents are inside and don’t see him falling apart.
I should've never let her (him) go
I should've begged her (him) to stay
He pretends that he’s gotten over it, as the months pass and school comes back into the priority list. It’s only in private does he let it completely envelop him, like clouds crowding over the small hole of blue in a dark grey sky.
She (He) was the one that got away, yeah
He and Nick text every so often, having conversations that go deep into the night for hours, but it’s not the same as when they were in person. He misses Nick’s smile and laugh and just…everything about him. He knows it’s more than a silly little crush now.
He’s been in love since the first time he saw him and Nick’s the one that got away.
She (He) was the one that got away
(yeah, the one that got away)
Yeah, she (he) wrecked my heart
(yeah, she (he) wrecked my heart)
He doesn’t pretend to be disappointed when a new family moves into the house for the Winter or even the next rounds of Summer holidays and despite his parents trying to encourage him, he never goes back over to introduce himself.
He’s not interested if it isn’t Nick standing there waiting for him.
So instead, he just floats through life, doing his best to cope. Yes, at one point, he did storm out of the house and end up on the beach weeping like a girl who’d had her heart broken, but those episodes become less frequent as he sees his friends again and school and GCSE’s take over to keep him from finding Nick Nelson sized holes in everything.
I should've never let her (him) go
I should've begged her (him) to stay
She (He) was the one that got away
She (He) was the one that got away
It’s almost two and a half years after Nick Nelson breezed through his life and left him in shambles for a long while before he’s okay that Charlie Spring finds himself at Leeds University, almost 4 hours from home with all his belongings in boxes.
His dorm mate that he’s sharing his halls with isn’t home so Charlie has to mostly get them up there himself, but whoever he is, his own boxes are all over and his dog, a pug named Henry, is all too happy to see someone else, judging by the amount of slobber all over his face as it licks the tears off his face from his parents leaving him be. He’s almost grateful.
He’s just eyeballing where he can put his MUSIC neon sign in the tiny place (his dorm mate can put up with a little colour at least, can’t he?) when there is an opening of the door followed by a clatter of several things falling to the ground, the pug jumping up to some long legs surrounded by shopping bags that lead to a very familiar, very emotional freckled face, covered in strawberry blonde hair that Charlie knows very well, but can’t comprehend.
Nick, beautiful, unforgettable, here in person Nick, just stands that as Charlie breathes, the stunned silence between them feeling like drum beats, 1, 2, 3, 4, before each is flying across the room to collide in the middle of the chaos around, happy tears falling down their faces and being wiped away by the other’s fingers as they look like a couple of idiots waist deep in boxes staring at each other when they are just two boys that were in love and somehow, someway, had fate bring them back together again.
She (He) rolled in
My little sandy town
She (He) spent the summer there
A couple houses down
Nick’s desperate kisses feel like heaven and they taste like saltwater taffy, reminding Charlie of the Summer they’d met and he can’t help but laugh as the other pulls away, beaming up at him as he does, speaking through his giggles. “H-H-Hi, I’m Ch-Charlie. I’m your dorm mate.”
“Hi Charlie-” Nick grins, elated as electricity still flows like it hasn’t been two years since that last day between them. “I’m Nick, the other dorm mate. It’s so very nice to finally meet you.”