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Nick was weirdly anxious as he packed up his things into the back of his Skoda Citigo. He was picking up Charlie, Tao and Isaac at Britannia Road in twenty minutes.
Today would be the first time all their grammar school friends would be back together in the same place in nearly ten months.
He’d arrived back in Truham from his first year in Leeds over a week ago, but he and Charlie had holed up together in his bedroom for three whole days, only coming out for meals and loo breaks until Imogen had called round and forced them back to reality on day four.
The more sociable members of their group had blown up the group chat over the next couple of days as Sahar, then Christian had returned from Brighton and Manchester, on Wednesday Sai from the London School of Economics, and Otis from Bath a day later.
A message from Elle saying she was back from Germany soon followed, and then last but definitely not least a photo of Tara and Darcy at St Pancras Station appeared on instagram, both with wide smiles having just got off the Eurostar. The caption still couldn’t see any fish heralded their return to British shores.
Nick didn’t really know why he felt so anxious – or maybe he did? What if everyone had changed?
Because he had – or at least he thought he had. Nick felt a lot more confident; his counselling sessions with Katie had helped change so many of his negative thought processes. His Uni rugby team mates were so much fun, his course was challenging but inspiring, and his time with the LGBTQ+ society had made him feel like he belonged.
He was no longer the only laddish queer person he knew. He has met so many different people from different places with different views on life, sexuality and gender; apart from his current worries about how the new Nick would fit in with his old friends, he felt a lot calmer than he had for a very long time.
He climbed into the driver's seat of his car and gave himself a pep talk. It wasn't the first time he‘d felt like this - he reminded himself of how he’d worried about Charlie outgrowing him. But that hadn't been the case. Nick knew not many people had high school friendships that lasted into adulthood, but these people were more than just a friend group.
Charlie always referred to them as ‘chosen family’, but family sometimes felt like a loaded word for Nick since two of his closest relatives were absentee assholes. If your own father and brother can fuck off and leave you then so could anyone else.
Ugh, he’d been through this with Katie so many times. Why did his head always go back to people leaving? Also these friends hadn't left – well, they had and so had Nick, but now they were all back, every single one, and one of the first things they all did was organise a day together.
It was going to be so much fun.
He texted Charlie to say he was on his way and started the car.
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Isaac and Charlie were laughing at Tao as he fussed in the mirror over his hair. When your ex-girlfriend comes home from uni and sees you in real life and not on a video screen for the first time since Christmas, you have to look good.
In truth, he and Elle had slipped very easily back into being best friends after their break up. The summer before she left for art school in Berlin, they’d hung out as much as they ever had, joking about him just turning up on her doorstep there just like he did here. Which is exactly what he did the first half term holiday.
Tao wished he could have afforded to do it every half term, but he was saving all his pennies from his weekend job at the little cinema where he and Elle had had their first date for his first year at uni.
As long as Tao’s A-Level results were as expected, in October he would be off to Wales to study Film at Trinity St David. It was the top ranked film and television BA in the British Isles. He’d had an interview in January and the course leader had seemed very enthusiastic about Tao’s ideas and small portfolio of films.
Besides, Elle was thriving. She didn’t need her nerdy needy best friend/ex boyfriend hanging around every holiday.
Tao had wanted to run round to her house as soon as the message came through that she was back, and Elle would have welcomed him with hugs and enthusiasm. However, he decided to give her time with her parents. Then the messages had started coming through about going to the beach and Tao had decided maybe a group reunion would be better.
“Where are you going?” Eleven year old Oliver Spring was stood in the doorway to Charlie’s room.
“The beach,” Charlie told him, smiling.
“Can I come?” Olly asked without pause.
“Not this time, Ol,” Charlie said, trying to let the young boy down gently.
“But I miss your friends too,” Olly whined despondently.
“And you’ll see them; we’ve got nearly three months of summer left.”
“And then all of you will leave me.” Olly put on his best sad big eyed pleading look.
“Nice try kiddo, but today is for the big kids.” Tao ruffled the boy’s hair.
“Is Christian going to be there?” Olly asked, and then added “and Otis and Sai,” as an afterthought.
“Yes, do you want us to tell him you’re still his best mate?” Charlie joked.
“Are you and Elle going to get back together?” Olly both managed to change the subject and verbalise the question that everyone else was afraid to ask.
“No,” Tao said with certainty.
“So why are you spending so much time on your hair?” Isaac murmured without looking up from his book.
“Adult relationships are complicated.” Tao addressed this to Olly.
“I think adults just like to make things complicated.” Olly had obviously realised he wasn’t going to talk them into letting him come on their day trip so he turned on his heel and headed down the hallway to harass his sister instead.
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Isaac peered over the top of his book as Charlie and Tao preened in Charlie's wardrobe mirror, occasionally jostling each other out of the way to get a better view of themself.
He felt a little sorry for young Olly being dismissed from their outing so abruptly. The younger boy had come with them to the beach before and wasn’t a pain. He’d mostly played some weird beach rugby volleyball hybrid with the rugby lads, and rarely misbehaved – unless you counted occasionally being a cheeky little shit as misbehaving.
Isaac was looking forward to the day with his friends. He would set up camp on the sand and read whilst everyone came and went. Someone always said that they felt guilty leaving Isaac to guard all the stuff but he really didn’t mind; one of his favourite things was reading in the company of his friends.
He would watch them bicker, play games and splash each other in the sea; he would listen to their conversations and occasionally produce his phone and take a photo of the joy that was his friends.
For some reason both Charlie and Tao were tense about being reunited with the whole gang today, and Isaac really didn’t understand why. It wasn’t like Tao hadn't spoken to Elle at least once a week and texted with her everyday the whole time she was in Berlin, and Nick and Charlie had already spent three whole days snogging in Nick's bedroom. (Yes he knew they weren’t just snogging but he didn’t need to think about that.)
He was just going to have to put the anxiety down to allo people being weird.
Isaac was not apprehensive about the day at Herne Bay at all. His anxiety was focused on three months in the future when he would be leaving for university and would have to find a new group of people who didn’t mind him reading in a room with them. As usual, Isaac’s anxiety was quiet and mostly unnoticed by everyone.
Charlie’s phone chirped to announce that Nick was on his way.
The other two boys suddenly realised they hadn’t got any of their stuff together and started to frantically shove things they might or might not need into their bags. Isaac picked up his neatly packed rucksack and made his way down to meet Nick.
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Elle sat in the front of Darcy’s Gran’s tiny Mini Cooper - Tara had generously volunteered to sit in the back so Elle didn’t have to fold her long legs into the cramped space behind Darcy’s seat.
She had to be honest that when Darcy said they would drive them to the beach today, her first thought was that Darcy behind the wheel of a car would be terrifying, but surprisingly it turned out that Darcy was a very conscientious driver.
Elle had only been back in Truham for a few days, but she had yet to see many of her friends. She was very surprised not to have found Tao on her doorstep at some point. He had apparently been working all the hours he could, but Elle couldn’t help but think he might have been avoiding her.
She was less surprised not to have seen Charlie as she knew he and Nick would be inevitably making up for lost time. Most surprising to her was that the one person who had shown up at her house that week (before Tara and Darcy arrived this morning) was Isaac.
He had arrived shortly after she’d finished dinner with her parents and they had cuddled up together on her bed and started to watch Princess Mononoke. It struck Elle that in all their years of friendship it had rarely been just her and Isaac – not because he wasn’t one of her best friends – because Tao and Charlie had always been there too.
It had been so nice. After the Ghibli movie they watched Selma Hayek in Frida and Isaac actually put his book down for the majority of the evening as they talked through most of the film (which would have been a big no-no if Tao was there, even if they’d seen the film a dozen times). Without Tao’s dramatics and Charlie’s cheekiness Elle talked to Isaac like she never had before.
She told him about Berlin, her artwork and her new friends. About the queer scene near where she was living in Neukölln. She had missed her old friends and her parents, but at the moment couldn’t see herself moving back to Truham permanently. If she did return to the UK it would be to a big city like London or Manchester.
Isaac had told her about his university plans, how the creative writing course at the UEA was exciting and had produced incredible authors like Kazuo Ishiguro and Tracy Chevalier (after which they decided that next week they would sit and watch Remains of the Day and Girl with a Pearl Earring). Elle could tell Isaac had some anxieties about the move, but he didn’t go into detail. She was sure she would find out before the summer was over.
She would have a talk with Charlie and see what he knew.
It was probably just normal university anxiety; she had been quite scared going so far from home herself. At least going to Norfolk Isaac didn’t have to learn a whole new language. [Authors Note : Anyone who has been to certain parts of North Norfolk knows this isn’t necessarily true]. But everyone knew Isaac was a homebody; he and his mum spent most of their time at home together reading in silent company amongst big piles of books. Making friends at uni was very dependent on being sociable - all she could hope for him was that there were a couple of good book clubs on campus.
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This last year has been amazing for Tara, she’d loved the freedom of travelling with Darcy. Stopping in places that took their fancy, doing a few jobs for cash if they could get away with it, busking in the Paris metro for change, staying in hostels and camping in random fields.
Some of these were not things she had told her Mum. As far as family was concerned, all the campsites were official and work was supported by all the appropriate paperwork.
She knew she would have never done anything like that without Darcy. Tara had always been a stickler for rules, but when Darcy took her hand and said let’s go Tara’s cautious side just disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Tara’s Mum and Darcy’s Gran had been very supportive of the idea of a gap year, and had been really proud of how hard they both worked in their final year at Higgs to earn some money and get good results in their A-levels.
Tara’s problem now was that, between them, her Mum and her Granny had mentioned university 14 times in the few days she had been home from her travels. At the moment Tara really didn’t want to go. Maybe if she had a career ambition like Sahar or Sai it would be different, but right now she’d just simply to continue what she had been doing - or dance. She’d love to be able to make a career out of dancing. There were a few open auditions she was planning on going to over the next few weeks.
She had purposefully told Darcy about them straight away and not told her Mum at all, because Darcy’s enthusiasm was infectious whereas her Mum’s lack of it would burst the bubble of excitement.
Tara was also going to tell the rest of her friends today because not a single one of them would let the part of her that was her mother’s daughter make an excuse not to go and audition.
She sat in the back seat of the mini listening to Darcy talk to Elle at a million miles an hour about a farm they’d ended up staying at in Italy and a cow they’d subsequently made friends with.
Today was going to be good, all the people they loved catching up and having fun. She’d get all the Truham and Higgs gossip from their younger friends, and hear all about the university experience from the older ones.
Maybe their experiences would inspire Tara to want to go herself. However the one thing Tara knew about her future was that whatever she ended up doing and wherever it was based, she wanted Darcy there with her.
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Darcy was so very happy to be home in Truham. They’d enjoyed every moment of their time away with Tara but had missed the familiarity of home, their friends and their Gran.
For the whole of Darcy’s childhood they had wanted to be as far away from this town and the people who were supposedly her parents as soon as possible; but that was then and this was now, and as soon as they’d left they’d missed every familiar part of their small world.
If Tara hadn't been glowing more and more each day they’d been away, Darcy might have even suggested coming home sooner.
Darcy hated the idea of holding Tara back and would go wherever she went. If Tara passed an audition in London they would go with her, if she decided to go to university then Darcy would go wherever that was – they were just hoping it wasn’t very far away from home.
They of course hadn’t told Tara this because Darcy knew Tara felt the same; if Darcy said they never wanted to leave Truham then Tara would sacrifice every ambition she had and stay with them.
Darcy knew at some point they were going to have to sit down and find a compromise; there must be a way they can both do what they want and be together.
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Otis was giddy; he had been keeping a secret that he was finally going to tell his friends today. He had enjoyed his year at the University of Bath, his Sports Science degree was fascinating and his rugby team had topped the league, but he wasn’t going back in September.
In one of their first BUCS rugby matches of the year - against Durham - a scout from Leeds Badgers RFC had approached him to see if he would like to join them at a training camp over the winter break.
It had been amazing. He’d trained with the team and other potential rookies, then around Easter he’d had a call from one of the coaches and offered a contract. He, Otis Smith, was a member of a premiership rugby team.
He was both excited and terrified.
Otis knew he was good; however much Nick had been lauded as The Rugby King at school, that was mostly because he was a fly half. Fly half was a position for people who liked to show off; it was easy to be crowned king when you were the general of the team and making decisions. Nick had been a good fly half, but Otis was a great flanker.
The lads were going to go crazy when they heard the news. For a brief moment Otis had been concerned that they - especially Nick - might be jealous, but he’d given himself a good talking to. Nick was going to be hugely proud of him and so happy that Otis was going to be living in the same city as him for at least a couple of years.
Otis was wondering if Nick would like to share a place. He hoped his friend hadn't found anything for next term yet, or if he had that there would be room for one extra rugby player.
He was currently sitting on the wall at the end of his street waiting for Sai and Christian to pick him up. Sai had managed to borrow his Uncle Mahavir’s car for the day so they could meet up with the Paris Squad at the beach. He was going to find it so hard to hold his tongue about his news for nearly an hour in the car so he could tell everyone all at the same time.
The old Ford pulled up in front of him, his two friends jeering at him out of the rolled down windows with Sai’s Desi hip-hop tunes playing loudly.
Otis had missed these faces.
He pushed himself up from where he sat and climbed into the back seat.
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Sai pulled the old car away from the kerb at the end of Otis’ street and drove down the main road that left town towards Herne Bay. He was so glad to see his friends. These people who he had known for years, who knew him and his family and pretty much everything about him.
He had discovered during his first year at the London School of Economics that he was very good at maths, but not very good at making new friends. It turns out he was a maths nerd that didn’t really have anything in common with other maths nerds.
He’d tried to take the initiative and joined the rugby team, which was actually more of a pain than anything because it meant travelling out into the wilds of Surrey to the LSE sportsground. He was contemplating dropping out of the team. He was actually also contemplating not living in halls this coming year and commuting from Truham. The difference in cost between living in London and getting a season ticket on the train wasn’t that much.
Sai was enjoying his course and he had made some friends in class, but they were classroom friends not go to the pub friends. His parents were trying to persuade him to stay in London - after all, all his Truham friends were no longer there term time. But in Truham he at least had his family, he had work in Chacha’s restaurant, and he could sleep in his own bed.
Maa and Nani were worried he wasn’t going to find a nice girl to marry in Truham or Rochester. It had got to the point where Sai might just go back to halls so he didn’t have to hear them talk about when he’ll get married anymore. His family were mostly very British in their attitudes; both his parents had been born in Kent and both of their fathers were too. They still had many family links back to Jaipur and Nani went to visit for a month every year, but the only real Indian stereotype his Maa lived up to was that she wanted to marry him off.
She probably needed to adopt Christian to assuage that longing. He was currently talking ten to the dozen to Otis about a girl he had met at university in Manchester and how great she was. Apparently she liked buildings and his Lego and sat and watched Star Wars with him.
Sai had dated but he only really believed in The One because he’d watched Nick and Charlie and what they had become to one another.
Maybe that was out there somewhere for all of them
Maybe he would meet someone, but not on his Nani’s get married at the end of university schedule she’d made up for him.
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Christian had thought that he would have been homesick so far away from Kent, but so far Manchester had been incredible. He did miss his Mum, his sister Regina and his friends, but he was really happy at university.
His architecture course was inspiring; he was learning so much about design, not just about the structure of buildings but the impact of said structures on the lives of the people who lived and worked in them. His interest in architecture had now expanded into a much bigger thing, from just structure and aesthetics into an interest in its purpose and the humans who put it to use. Christian had never really had that much interest in the latter part before, but in hindsight it was obvious that the human experience should be more central to design.
He and Megan had sat and talked about this concept for hours.
Megan was his girlfriend.
He had a girlfriend now; he’d been seeing her for nearly four months. Before, he’d always felt a bit left behind. Nick always had Charlie and both Sai and Otis had dated lots of girls throughout high school, but other than a brief very chaste hand holding only relationship with Erica Donaldson in Year 13, Christian had been very much on his own in that sense.
He was sat in the passenger seat beside Sai, and he really wanted to tell Sai and Otis about building design, but he knew that they had very little interest in that, so he talked about Megan instead. They would understand that, they both liked girls. Girls were something they could talk about.
Megan was pretty and she liked him, they hadn't had full proper sex yet but they were building up to it. Christian wasn’t quite sure what he was doing but he guessed that was the case with everyone. He wished that Nick had some experience with dating girls, he would possibly feel comfortable asking him about sex stuff. More than he would Sai or Otis. Maybe he would ask him anyway.
Megan was in Australia visiting family for the whole of the summer so he would have plenty of time to hang out with his friends and try and get some advice before he saw her again in September. He wasn’t sure what being in love felt like, but he knew Megan was pretty and they laughed a lot.
Maybe she was the one.
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Sahar had got a summer job at the Café Nero in Rochester Station; she’d been working in one of the Brighton branches during term time and managed to get a transfer for the summer to cover another student. She worked from open until 11 and was now getting changed in the cramped ladies toilets so she could meet Immy and James.
Those with cars had offered to wait but Sahar and James - who was also busy until 11am - had said to go ahead and they would catch the train. Sahar wasn’t sure why Immy hadn't gone in the car with Nick and Charlie, but she hadn’t been sure of her friend's motives for doing anything over the last few years.
Sahar hadn't seen Imogen since Christmas and then she’d only seen her across the table on a night in the Green Dragon. She had been unusually quiet, Sahar had expected her to be all bubbly and full of tales about her time in Nottingham. Sahar had tried to get her alone to chat but it had felt a bit like Imogen was avoiding that.
Which is why she was very surprised when her old flame said they could meet at the station and travel together. She’d like to say she was totally over her crush, but there was still a small rush of butterflies when she heard from her. Sahar knew that they were not meant to be anything more than friends and was sensible enough to rationalise it, but that didn’t stop her body getting little tingles when Immy smiled or touched her arm.
Sahar hadn't let her crush stop her from enjoying her time at BIMM Music Institute. She had very much gone for the get over one person by getting under someone else attitude, and had enjoyed the first year of her BA very much. She’d started a new band, gone on a lot of dates, and thoroughly lived the young single bisexual student life to the full.
Being back in Truham for the summer felt a little bit like stepping back in time.
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Imogen’s first year at Nottingham had not gone as planned at all; she’d had a bad cold during the summer and feel like she had recovered by the time she moved into the halls of residence. She’d tried to join in with all the freshers' events but her usual social butterfly energy was missing and she found herself nearly falling asleep in the most awkward situations.
Even more embarrassing than that was the ridiculous amount of times she needed a wee. It seemed to her like every time she got back to her seat after emptying her bladder she needed to go again. It wasn’t ideal when sharing a space and a bathroom with strangers and trying to adjust to a new life in a new city. She was drinking a lot of water so that was possibly why.
It hadn’t occurred to her to mention any of these things to anyone. All her friends were complaining about how tired they were and how exhausting starting uni was, so Imogen thought she would start to feel better once she settled in.
In the end, settling in didn't happen. Her memory is fuzzy, but Immy remembered having stomach cramps and being sick, and one of her neighbours suggesting they call 111 and ask what to do.
Then she was in the hospital with her mum by her side and drips in her arm feeding her with fluids, electrolytes and insulin.
After a few weeks at home Imogen returned to uni with her brand new type 1 diabetes diagnosis. She tried to continue with her course, but between counting carbs, glucose monitoring, daily injections, reassuring her parents she was alright when she wasn’t sure if she actually was, and the look of panic on her hallmates faces every time she looked a little pale, by Christmas she decided to defer her degree course until the next year.
It had been the right choice, her parents had helped her adjust, and she had gradually got used to many of the challenges that came with living with an invisible illness like diabetes.
She hadn’t really wanted to tell any of her friends, she couldn’t even really say why. She didn’t want to worry them on their own adventures at university. If it wasn’t for bumping into Charlie at the doctor’s surgery one morning in January she might have not said anything.
He had been surprised to see her - she hadn’t actually told anyone she wasn’t going back when she saw them over Christmas. She didn’t know what it was about Charlie, maybe it was because he had had his own health problems, but that day they had gone for a coffee and she had told him everything that had happened.
Charlie had been amazing, he kind of became her new best friend. He invited her to movie nights with Tao and Isaac, and always had jelly babies to hand for when her blood sugar was low.
When Nick had returned for Easter (after he had his standard 3 days Charlie catch up session) she had told him what happened and received the best Nick Nelson hug she had ever had.
Today she was going to come out as diabetic to the rest of her friends. She knew they would all have empathy; they were good people.
She was glad she had taken the time out to adjust, in September she would start again as a fresher and totally ace her course this time round.
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James had been quite surprised to get an invite to the Beach Day group chat since he’d barely heard from any of the Paris Squad whilst away at university. Not that he had contacted any of them either. Just occasional messages with Isaac about books.
James was thriving in Durham, he had managed to get a place in St Aidan’s College which was very LGBTQIA+ friendly and his English Literature and History course was exactly what he wanted it to be.
And he had his first ever boyfriend, Adam. He was also everything James had wanted. Kind, patient with a beautiful smile and an infectious laugh. He was an economics student but loved reading and books as well. They had met at the LGBTQ+ society book club.
After the embarrassment of his first kiss with Isaac, James had been a little apprehensive about putting himself out there but Adam, although a little shy himself, had been very open and clear that he liked James, in a romantic way and not just a friend way.
He was a little disappointed that the others were leaving for the beach so early because he had already arranged to stop by the bookshop and find out what hours they had for him over the summer. So when Sahar and Imogen suggested they catch the 11.20 train from Rochester he was very happy.
As he approached their meeting point he could see Immy, and then Sahar appeared from the door of Café Nero. The contrast of the two friends was striking from a distance as he watched them hug. Imogen all cute and summery in a brightly coloured dress, huge sunglasses and a massive bag under her arm, Sahar mostly in black, skirts and dark hair flowing in the breeze.
It was no wonder high school friendships didn't often last. It was sad that these two women who as young girls had so much in common could easily drift apart as their lives got more and more different with age and experience.
Maybe this wouldn’t happen with this friend group, they did after all have each other in common, and the memories they had made.
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Charlie wasn’t actually anxious about anything for possibly the first time in his 18 years on the planet. Well not about any of his own stuff anyway. He was so glad his whole friend group was back in Truham. He had spent some really amazing days catching up with Nick (and catching up with the sex they hadn’t had while Nick was in Leeds). Tori was back from Scotland and settled in her room treasuring her alone time. Darcy, the girls and the rugby boys were all back, and he was looking forward to a fun packed summer before he went to UCL in the Autumn.
Charlie’s problem was that he was annoyingly empathetic and could feel the anxiety pouring off of Nick, Tao and Isaac as they drove to Herne Bay, and every single one of them was telling him they were fine.
Tao probably would be fine as soon as he and Elle were in the same space, so Charlie wasn’t too worried about him, and he was pretty sure Nick would relax as soon as he realised that everyone would show up and be as equally as ridiculous as they had this time last year.
He just didn’t quite know what to do about Isaac. He knew that sometimes the only way to get information out of his friend was to irritate him until he snapped, but he hated that process. Isaac was always the first person to ask directly what was wrong and always the last to open up about what was going on with himself.
The last time Charlie could remember Isaac casually discussing his own stuff without a great deal of pushing was three summers ago when they had a day at Herne Bay. Charlie was hoping to recreate that feeling for Isaac so that he might tell him what’s on his mind.
Charlie’s plan was that by the end of the day his best friends and his boyfriend would be smiling big relaxed smiles and laughing uproariously together.
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Nick, Charlie, Isaac and Tao were laying out their blankets on the sand when they were interrupted by a loud scream of the word Homophobia! that could only come from one person. They looked up the beach to see Darcy sprinting towards them and behind them Tara and Elle trying to pick up all the stuff Darcy cast aside as soon as they had seen their friends.
Nick also dropped what he was doing and ran to greet them; he and Darcy clashed together and Nick picked them up and swung them round almost as enthusiastically as he had Charlie every time he met him at Leeds railway station.
As Charlie had predicted he felt Tao's whole aura change as Elle greeted him with her own huge hug and then listened to the barrage of information he told her as she started to spread her own blanket out next to where Isaac had already settled cross legged with a book in his lap.
Nick was still tense until about twenty minutes later the sound of three voices shouting Oi oi Nelson! echoed from up the beach, and within seconds rugby lads were tackling him to the ground and getting sand everywhere.
The lads, Tara and Darcy decided to head into the water right away. Charlie took the opportunity to sit next to Isaac and produce his own book to read, both occasionally glancing up to watch the shenanigans. They couldn’t quite figure out what the plan was but Tara, Darcy and Christian were on Nick, Sai and Otis’ shoulders and seemed to be trying to knock each other off into the water.
Whatever it was, they were having fun and Charlie and Isaac couldn't help but laugh themselves when Darcy splashed into the water taking Sai under with them.
“Nick seems better now they’re all here, “ Isaac commented softly.
“I think he was afraid they would have changed, that they’d come back and not love him,” Charlie murmured.
“It’s going to be hard when you, me and Tao are separated in September,” Isaac contemplated quietly.
“Is that what is bothering you?” Charlie decided to be blunt about it. “Because however much you say you’re fine I’m pretty sure that’s not true.“
Isaac lay his book down beside him on the blanket. “I know you, Tao and Elle will always be there for me, however far away you physically are, but finding friends like you at uni … well, it’s gonna be a challenge, isn’t it?”
“Well, yeah, cause we’re fucking awesome,” Charlie laughed, “there isn’t more like us anywhere.”
“God, imagine if there was more of Tao.” Elle's voice interrupted.
“Ruuuude,” Tao objected comically.
“What if I don’t make friends?” Isaac suddenly found himself saying. “ I know it’s not exactly normal the way I am. Some people would see me reading in company as rude or antisocial.”
“That is very much not you at all,” Tao reassured him, “I’ve never thought of you that way.”
“That could be because you’re also rude and antisocial,” Charlie pointed out cheerfully.
Tao tried to look offended for a minute but gave up and lifted his bottle of drink to make a toast. “Borderline outcasts forever.”
All of the friends picked up their water bottles and tapped them against Tao’s.
“Every school has its book nerds,” Charlie pointed out, “and it strikes me that your creative writing course sounds like where they might hang out. Personally, I think you’re gonna be fine.”
“I’m gonna miss this. Reading while…” Isaac gestured towards their more active friends.
“… the idiots frolic.” Tao finished for him.
“Maybe we need regular zooms where they frolic while you read and I paint,” Elle said thoughtfully.
Isaac picked his book back up. “I’d like that."
It was nearly one o’clock when Imogen, Sahar and James arrived. The rugby lads had all worn themself out and they and Tao had started moaning about it being lunch time, so they were more than just a little ecstatic to see them so the picnic part of the day could commence.
Charlie knew Imogen was a little apprehensive about eating out in a big group. She hadn’t done it since her diagnosis. He knew she had packed her own personal lunch so she didn’t have to calculate the carbs in what everyone else bought with them. It was a learning curve; she was going to have to build confidence in all the new things, but it would come with time.
As they approached he made a space for her to sit between him and Isaac and she gratefully made her way to it and sat herself down cross legged between them.
“Does this mean we can eat now?” Tao groaned as if he hadn’t been snacking away all morning.
Before anyone could rummage in their bag for food, Otis spoke up. “Before we do, I have an announcement.”
They all looked around curiously then back at Otis.
He opened his mouth but then Immy's voice asked if she could possibly go first.
Charlie was so proud of her as she explained what had happened at the end of last year and her diagnosis. She took out her Accu-Chek and her injection pen to show them and did her pre lunch blood sugar test right there and then.
Everyone was of course very sympathetic, and they asked a few questions until the focus eventually turned back to Otis. “Well my news is less dramatic than ketoidosis but much more cheerful,” he started, then just blurted as fast as he could, “I got scouted by Leeds Badgers!”
All the non rugby lads were grateful they hadn’t got their food out because it would have all got very sandy and squashed when Nick, Sai and Christian leapt up and jumped around with excitement then piled on top of Otis.
“Isn’t it weird how it’s ok for straight boys to climb each other like that in public,” James mused.
“That’s bisexual erasure!” Nick's voice joked from the middle of the scrimmage.
The day really was what every single one of them hoped it could be. Those who’d been away shared stories of new friends, and new boyfriends and girlfriends. They discussed their courses and what they liked and disliked, and shared some advice for the three younger boys who would be leaving their homes for the first time after the summer.
Darcy told tales of their European adventures but was very clear about how happy they were to be home and Tara told them about her auditions and dance ambitions.
Every single one of them was excited about the future.
Charlie looked at his group of friends as they all lazed about on the beach in the sunshine.
So many people had told him that he and Nick and their friend group would drift apart, that when friends went to university they lost touch and found new adult friends that they made connections with based on something stronger than just being thrown into the same classrooms together as 11 year olds.
And yes, they would make new connections and maybe some of them would be strong, but Charlie couldn’t imagine ever not being connected to these people. They had been there for him as the lowest and highest points of his life so far, and if he had his way he would be there for them forever.