Chapter Text
Charlie hated summer. Not to say he didn't enjoy the killer opportunity to wear shorts and sunglasses and steal drinks from the lakeside bar, but that was about it. When he wasn't hanging out with Knox at the lake, summer was boring as hell.
"Knoxious! Get your ass down here!"
Typically, he started his days waltzing into Knox Overstreet’s house (although he was never ready on time) sometime in the late morning without knocking, and then waiting an often obnoxiously long time for Knox to come downstairs so they could get on with wasting their time.
"I'm gonna eat your food!"
He grabbed an apple, tossed it in the air and caught it as he slid into a stool by the kitchen island. Linda Overstreet, Knox’s mother, came down the stairs then, looking like she was ready for a day out shopping.
"Goodness, Charlie! We do have a doorbell!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air with all the dramaticism she could muster.
"Sorry, Mrs. Overstreet," Charlie winked at her as he stood and bolted for the staircase.
“Knox! Charlie’s here!” Mrs. Overstreet yelled up at Knox as she fled out the door.
When Charlie reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw Knox at the top. Charlie grinned. Knox glared at him.
"Well there she is!" Charlie proclaimed as his eyes wandered to Knox's clothing choice of bright salmon Bermuda shorts. "Nice."
"Hey, hey. Check yourself out," Knox said, pointing the red bandana Charlie had fastened in his hair to pull his bangs back.
"Whoa." Charlie pulled on the knot of the bandana and tried to look surprised. "I'll have you know, bandanas are all the rage."
"Yeah, okay." Knox brushed past him on the stairs and turned to look up at Charlie. "Come on, will ya, slow poke?" he asked as he jumped the last few steps and ran out the door..
"Hey, ouch!" Charlie said, but he laughed, and followed Knox out the door.
Despite what a pain he could be, Charlie was glad to have Knox to spend the summer with. Their fathers had been best friends when they had gone to Welton, and subsequently Yale, and had both ended up living in Vermont and sending their sons to the same private school.
"Meeks called me the other day," Knox mentioned as they rode their bikes through a small town nearby. "He asked me how you were doing. Since you haven't called him lately. Or talked to him at all."
"Oh." Charlie winced, processing the information. If only he could tell Meeks why he wasn't picking up the phone. “How is he?”
"He's good. Says he's enjoying his vacation in Europe. Lucky asshole keeps sending me pictures of the Eiffel Tower or whatever cool monument he's seeing."
"That's cool."
"You should call him, Charlie." Knox said, throwing a hand up in emphasis and letting his bike wobble.
"I know, I know. I'm still freaked about last year," Charlie said.
"You should've told him about it.” Knox shakes his head. “ I still think you should've told him."
"Maybe," Charlie said, but shook his head afterwards.
"Have you talked to Neil lately?" Knox asked.
Charlie scoffs. "Oh yeah. His summer course ends soon. He's loving it."
"Oh lord." Knox shook his head. "Poor Neil."
"He asked me if we wanted to hang out when he gets back, at your house or something."
"Yeah, totally, I'll invite Pitts too."
Besides the drag of being at home, the thing Charlie hated the most about summer was not being able to see his best friends every day. With Meeks in Europe, and Neil visiting family in Washington, he and Knox and occasionally Pitts found themselves routinely doing anything that got them out of the house. Not that he didn't enjoy their escapades, but doing the same things over and over again for three months in Welton, Vermont could give you some serious cabin fever.
After loading up on pistachio ice cream and bottles of iced tea at the convenience store, Knox and Charlie headed back towards the lake to cool off and hang out. Charlie was still shaken up from hearing that Meeks was thinking about him.
"You should call him, " Knox said again as if he’d read Charlie’s mind while digging into the half gallon of ice cream.
"I don't want to ruin the friend group. That's the last thing I want."
"I'm not saying to tell him," Knox said, and then under his breath, "at least, not over the phone."
"You're right." Charlie sighed, and ran a hand through his now-wet hair. "I hate that you're right."
Knox laughed. "You wanna take another dip?" He said, putting the ice cream back in their cooler and tipping his sunglasses on top of his head.
"Yeah, sure." Charlie said, stretching before standing up.
"You're different, talking about him, you know," Knox said, getting up and following Charlie.
The music being played over speakers got louder, and Charlie turned around at the edge of the dock.
"What'd ya mean?" He said, raising an eyebrow and smirking, attempting to mask any differences.
Knox licked his lips and darted his eyes away in frustration. "That. You don't do THAT talking about him."
Charlie's smile faltered, and he looked at the water. "Shit, Knox, you don't know what it's like."
"Yeah...I'm sorry."
Both then looked at the water, and for a moment, Charlie almost forgot where he was. All he could think of was Meeks, and his ginger-colored hair and honey brown eyes and the spray of dark freckles coasting his nose and cheeks and forehead. He thought of all the nights Charlie had spent admiring Meeks when he came over late at night to work on math or essays or just to play video games or lay on the couch or talk. And then there was every time Charlie’s vision wandered to Meeks’ dark red, chapped lips, and thought of what it would feel like to kiss him, to hold their lips together and to put his hands on Meeks’ waist and chest and -
"You never told Neil, either, did you." Knox said, interrupting Charlie’s train of thought.
Charlie looked up at Knox for a moment, startled. “Is that a question or an accusation?”
“You know what it is.”
Charlie’s heart pounded. Of course, he hadn’t told Neil, and Knox knew it. Knox was the only person who knew about Meeks, and he’d only found out on accident one night when Charlie was a little too upset.
So when Knox asked again, Charlie just shook his head, and though he wasn’t looking at Knox, he could already read his facial expression.
Knox sighed, and a rush of adrenaline came through Charlie as he turned, ran, and dove into the lake.
He heard the splash, and then the muted pounding of the music, and then just the swish of the water as his body floated through it in what felt like slow-motion. Summer had three weeks on the end of it, and just when he thought he might have let go of Meeks, Knox had brought it out of him. Over two months Charlie had spent working to get Meeks out of his mind, and yet now he realized he'd really been thinking about him the whole time. Charlie's stomach flipped at the thought of seeing him again and getting to spend late nights working though Latin together or poking at each other during lunch.
When his air ran out, Charlie kicked to the surface and out of the water to see Knox take a leap into the lake. The boombox and the chatter of families having picnics and children playing games suddenly became too loud, and Charlie closed his eyes, leaving his heart pounding along to the beat of the music.