Work Text:
Charlie’s POV:
Nick had said he would only be a couple minutes. Which does make sense, seeing as he literally showed up in a suit and tie. I was sitting on the lifeguard tower waiting for him when he literally came sprinting back with nothing but a pair of swim trunks on. I’d thought that he'd just come help me down, but instead he jumped in the water. His cannonball soaked me from head to toe, and I giggled at his childishness. It was impossible to keep a grin off my face when he was around.
“Come on! Let’s swim!” He said, since he was already in the water. I smiled at him.
“You know that’s against the rules, employees aren’t allowed in the pool!” I told him, tilting my head to one side. He smirked, and then sank under the water. I couldn’t help but laugh at his awful attempt at drowning, his hands in the air all over the place until I gave in. I stood up and walked down to the pool deck.
“Here I come!” I yelled, before jumping in right next to him. I came up for air the second I was in the water, and once I was up, I was being moved against my will.
“Hey! I thought I was supposed to be the one saving you!” I said, poking his arm, before wrapping my arms around his neck.
“Yea? Well I think that it’s pretty clear I’m not the one who needs saving.” He said, smirking once again. I rolled my eyes playfully. Through all this, he was slowly pushing us to the edge of the pool, and I was now against the pool wall.
“Yea, I think you might be right. You and your strong rugby arms can do more than me and my sticks you call arms.” I joked, before his face became serious. He ran his hands up my arms, slowly.
“You actually have really nice arms. So lean, and perfect, and…” His sentence ran off, his eyes making their way to my lips. He leaned closer and my eyes flickered closed. He leaned toward me as I leaned back, he got so close that I could feel his breathing, and his lips brushed against mine.
Then we heard someone clear his throat. We both froze, I tensed. The hand on my waist tightened, so I opened my eyes to see that Nick had his eyes squeezed shut.
“Well Mr. Spring, I graciously let your being late go, but first it was the golf course frolicking, and now it’s swimming after hours and against employee policy. That’s two strikes.” He said, making a note in his book. He looked at me as if he was expecting a response, so I went to leave Nick's arms, but he wasn’t having that.
“Mr. Henderson, this wasn’t Charlie’s fault, nor was it his fault on the golf course. Both were my fault, so if you’re going to punish anyone it should be me, not him.” Nick said, and I was about to defend him when Mr. Henderson responded.
“Mr. Nelson, you don’t need to take the blame for someone that’s going to ruin your future. You know that it was Mr. Spring’s fault that you’re both here, and-”
“Mr. Henderson, with all due respect, Charlie is not ruining my future. In fact he’s making it all the better. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again. It is not his fault, it’s mine. Listen. I know that Imogen likes me, she has for years, but I don’t like her like that and I never will. You can drag me off to watch her ‘performances’, you can give me a better pay, and you can promote me all you want, but I will never feel that way about Imogen. I know her parents own the place, so she has a say in everything, but she can’t ruin my summer, and I sure as hell won’t let her ruin either my team’s, or my boyfriend’s. So guess what? I want my old job back, and I want my old pay back. I won’t be seeing the Red Hawks again, and I don’t care if that ruins my career, but I miss being able to play with everyone. I won’t be treated like a fucking prince while everyone else has to await orders, it’s not right.” Nick interrupted him, and I stared in shock. I could feel my face heat up at Nick’s tone of voice, because I found it hot, but what made it better was that he didn’t raise his voice once. He defended me, his team, he asked for his everything back, and he basically told him that he wants Imogen to fuck off. That’s pretty fucking hot. But I couldn’t let him just drop everything he has.
“Nick,” I said, touching his arm, he looked over at me, confused, and before I could open my mouth, he knew exactly what I was going to say.
“No, Charlie. I want to do this. I don’t want to be treated like royalty whilst you and the team act like you’re all fucking servants to the crown. Besides, if you get another fucking write up, I’m quitting. Nothing is your fault, and I know that you think it is, but it’s not.” He said, sounding desperate, so then I only had one thing to say, and it wasn’t going to be in front of Mr. Henderson.
“So, you may go now. Write me up, I don’t care. I’m going to spend some time out here with my beautiful boyfriend and treat him like he’s a fucking angel, because he is. Bye bye now.” Nick said, and Mr. Henderson then had no further statements. He turned and walked away, and the body that separated itself from mine came back.
“I fucking love you, Nick Nelson.” I told him, and I saw his grin.
“I fucking love you too, Charlie Spring.” He said, and then he moved in closer and he kissed me. It wasn’t like our others, though. This time was different. The hand on my waist gripped tight, and then loosened, and then moved around my back, my hips, and my neck. My hands moved to wrap themselves once again around Nick’s neck, and then Nick had moved his hands to the back of my thighs and signaled for me to jump. So I did.
I listened to the splashing as I wrapped my legs around Nick’s waist, and his hands moved to hold my back. He deepened the kiss, and pushed me harder against the pool's end. When I pulled away to breathe, his lips had moved down to my neck. I sighed and tilted my head back, to give him more access, which he took advantage of. My hand threaded itself into his hair, and pulled, and I heard a sound that I’ve never heard him make before. Then we heard the flip flops of none other than the queen herself.
“Nick? Nick, are you still out here?” She said. I felt Nick laugh before he pulled away, my legs releasing him from their grip. I was flustered, and Nick was completely normal, I found it strange.
“Yes, Imogen. I am. Did you need something?” He said, and when she came over and saw us in the pool, she gasped.
“What?! What is he doing out here with you? You’re supposed to be with me to rehearse for the talent show! You promised!” She said, and I almost yelled at her to go away, but Nick had another idea.
“No, I did not promise that I would sing in the talent show with you, I promised under pressure, I might add, that I would sing with you sometime. We did not specify when. We aren’t an item, Imogen. Please get that through your head. I don’t like you like that, I love Charlie. So you can either fire us, or you can let us be. And if you fire Charlie, or anyone else here working for a summer job, I quit. Got it?” He said, and I very much liked this ultimatum. She looked exasperated, and that was when she turned around, and Harry showed up out of nowhere.
“Hi Imogen. I just wanted to let you know that even though Nick won’t do the talent show with you, I won’t either. I’m tired of being your pawn when you need me. Your a self righteous bitch and I can’t stand it anymore.” He said, and then looked at me and Nick.
“Can’t wait to see your guy’s duet, it’s gonna be awesome!” He said, and then walked away. The last thing I heard was Imogen crying as she ran away.
The second everyone was gone, Nick and I looked at each other, and just laughed. I had my head in his chest and his arms were around my shoulders as we both laughed until we were too tired to continue. Nick took me home in his new truck, and walked me to the door, holding my hand the entire time. When we got to the door, I turned around to face him.
“Thank you for tonight. I know it didn’t go as you planned, I’m sure, but it was fun. I’m sorry that everyone is trying to tear both us and our friends apart. I’ll try to stand up for myself more, so that you don’t have to strain to stick up for me.” I said, a joke playing at the end of my sentence.
“Hey! Be nice to my boyfriend, please, I don’t strain myself when I stick up for him. I actually very much enjoy getting to brag about how amazing you are to everyone. But you’re welcome. I’m sorry you had to witness me being mean.” He responded, and I couldn’t help but giggle.
“If that’s you being mean then I’m terrified to see you angry. What’ll you do then? Threaten to kill a kitten?” I mocked, jokingly, smiling through it all. He smiled back and rubbed his hand in my hair.
“Alright alright I think it’s time you went inside Mr. I’ll see you tomorrow, and hey, maybe we can actually have lunch together without getting in trouble?” He said.
“Yea, maybe! See you tomorrow!” I replied, and Nick started to walk back to his car. If I didn’t know better, I would have walked inside. But this is Nick. He stopped, and turned around and took three large strides before pulling my face toward his for a goodbye kiss. When he pulled away I let out another giggle.
“You must be obsessed with me or something!” I joked, and he laughed once more.
“Yea yea, goodnight love of my life!” He said, starting back to his car.
“Goodnight, love of my life!” I replied, before he got in the car, and drove away.
There was so much to unwind with myself tonight, but I think the main idea is that Nick and I? We’re going to be alright.