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The first time Charlie saw him, he was bathed in blue light.
He couldn’t tell much about him; he was far away, and the sapphire hue masked most of his features. What he could see was his carefree dancing as he moved alongside two girls, presumably his friends.
Of course he wanted a closer look; he wanted to find out if, once his features came into focus, he was as attractive as he imagined. He wouldn’t normally interrupt friends on a night out, but on this night, he was feeling brave.
Even if the seemingly handsome guy, dancing with two girls, at one of the rugby lads’ house party, was straight, which he more than likely was, Charlie wasn’t going to let the opportunity to speak to him, and get a closer look, pass him by.
He made his way over to the trio, ignoring Tao’s incredibly annoying, loud scoffing behind him, and slowly, but confidently, danced his way into their circle.
The girls looked at him with giant grins, but he wasn’t there for them. He turned to the object of his attention and was thankful for the sudden strobe as the crowd’s cheers masked his own rather audible gasp. Up close, his features, sharpened and defined, were even more good looking than he first thought.
“Hi.” He introduced himself to all three but paid particular attention to the one who had now stopped dancing.
“Hi! I’m Darcy! And this is my girlfriend, Tara!”
Charlie received the first confirmations that the girls were not romantically entangled to the gorgeous stranger. Darcy’s message was clear; they were not interested in being hit on by men. But that was fine, he wasn’t interested in Darcy or her girlfriend.
“I’m Charlie!” He projected his voice loud enough they could all hear and waited for the introduction he really wanted.
Darcy and Tara continued to dance, while Charlie’s dancing had turned to a slight bopping, somewhere between the energy the girls continued to emit and the statuesque rigidity of the boy who was now starting to drive him mad.
“And you are?” He directed his question clearly.
“Uhhh…” was the only reply, before the red-faced Prince Cinderella turned and bolted as if he were about to turn into a pumpkin.
Damn.
It wasn’t his night. Never mind. Handsome boys were plentiful, and strikeouts happened more than they didn’t. Straight boys often freaked out when being hit on by guys. He shrugged at the girls, who were now making out under rainbows reflected from a cheap but effective disco ball.
As he turned and walked to return to his friends, he heard Darcy call out behind him, “His name’s Nick!” He didn’t turn back to acknowledge her, but he smiled.
He wasn’t sure why she provided the information, but it might have given him just enough hope that there could be an opportunity to try again.
🍂🍂🍂
The second time Charlie saw him, he was sitting under the neon glow of the campus cafe sign. He sat in the most perfect spot, the pink light emanating down, flushing him in the warm tones.
Charlie had to double take to make sure it was the same guy, the very same Nick, who had ditched him without a word at the laddish house party the previous week. But he was unmistakable. The same wide, round eyes, freckled cheeks, kissable lips, framed perfectly by blonde locks draping over his forehead. There was absolutely no doubt.
Carrying the confidence instilled in him by Darcy, he made his way over to the table where he was sitting alone.
“Hi.” This time he didn’t have to yell; the café was peaceful and quiet.
Nick was mid-sip of his disturbingly blue milkshake, which Charlie may have found rather cute and endearing, when he looked up to see Charlie now sitting across from him.
Adrenaline shot through Charlie’s body as Nick gagged, seemingly inhaling his milkshake rather than swallowing it, resulting in a fit of coughing and spluttering, and a definite increase in the intensity of the hue in his cheeks. The pink neon could not hide the mortified blush that swept across his face.
“Oops. Are you okay?” Charlie passed over several napkins to help clean the minor milkshake explosion.
Nick took the napkins and ran them across the table, soaking up the droplets, all the while never breaking eye contact with him. Charlie couldn’t read him. He still didn’t speak.
“Charlie.” He raised his hand in a shy wave. “We met… well, kind of met… at the party last week.”
More silence. Nick just stared at him.
“Darcy told me your name is Nick. It’s nice to meet you, Nick.”
Fawn in the headlights would have been an apt description for the once again statued Nick sitting across the table from him. He couldn’t help it; he let out a bit of a giggle. Even straight guys who didn’t like being hit on by men would usually have something to say. This guy had nothing. Charlie had never had this effect on anyone before. He hoped it was a positive effect.
“Interesting milkshake choice. Judging by the colour, I’m assuming radioactive bubblegum?” He raised his eyebrows, questioning, daring Nick to respond. Still, he got nothing.
“In my opinion, bubblegum is a crime. I strongly recommend the chocolate shake next time. You won’t be sorry.”
Before he could say anything else, Nick stood and ran out of the café. Charlie felt bad. He didn’t mean to keep scaring him away, and he’d barely had a chance to finish his milkshake.
But perhaps he was actually saving him from the awful concoction he’d chosen.
🍂🍂🍂
The third time Charlie saw him, was under the purple blacklight at the bowling alley while he waited for Tao to finish ordering food. He didn’t mean to stare, but three times in three weeks…
He was determined. This time, he would not freak him out. He would find some way to talk to him and have him talk back. The fact he was there with the same two girls from the party seemed promising. There were no potential dates around, that Charlie could see, and if he was mid-game, hopefully he wouldn’t run away and hide.
Charlie enjoyed puzzles. He enjoyed mysteries and clues. He enjoyed solving riddles. So, whilst he had never heard Nick speak, the visions of each time he saw him merged in his brain, forming together like three individual puzzle pieces to complete a full picture. He wouldn’t normally be so frivolous, but the combined compilation of memories of Nick flashing under blue, pink and purple, he took it as a sign from the universe that perhaps there was a slight chance the timing and placement of these intersections were not coincidental.
He wondered what he might say that would help Nick reply. He wasn’t sure if he struggled to speak, couldn’t speak, or just didn’t want to speak. So far, ‘hi’ had not been successful. How could he make it simpler than ‘hi’?
Perhaps he needed to make it more complicated.
He took a napkin from the counter and scrawled a message.
By the time Tao was finished asking about the various chip seasoning options and complaining about the price increase on the large size of slushie, Charlie had finished his note. He beamed down at the black letters on white and smiled as he heard Tao behind him say, “I don’t get it.”
🍂🍂🍂
Nick was dumbfounded. He wasn’t sure what he expected but the beautiful Charlie wordlessly handing him a folded napkin, with smirk and wink, was not it.
He watched Charlie as he walked away until he was out of sight. He could hear Tara cooing and feel Darcy elbowing him in the ribs, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to know what secret the napkin held.
He took a seat and opened the napkin, excited for what he hoped might be Charlie’s number, a time and place to meet, or just a witty pickup line, however, to his dismay, the words that stared back at him were illegible. At least they were to him.
Disappointment flooded him as he stared at the foreign language. He was usually pretty good at recognising languages, but this was not one he was familiar with. He sighed and put the napkin in his pocket as Tara pulled him to his feet so he could take his turn.
Nick had never lost a round of bowling to Darcy. He had never rolled so many gutterballs. His eyes weren’t focused on the lane in front of him, rather, his mind was only picturing the cryptic message handed to him by one cute boy named Charlie.
By the time he made it home that night, the napkin was back out of his pocket and into his hands before his arse hit the mattress. He would read it all night if he had to. He needed to know.
What the hell was Charlie trying to say to him?
I htinr cea’ko mkohhc upubinv.
Cea tugo hto uziqihc he fekr eah htij ycmtok, je cea tugo hto uziqihc he jmour he po.
Yepo winx po unx juc ti. I funh he huro cea eah.