It was about 14:30 when Nick left his dorm room. A bit too early, but he didn't want to stay any longer than necessary. He'd already spent way too much time between those four walls lately.
When he walked outside, he suddenly felt calm and relieved, which freaked him out a bit. Mainly because this was something he hadn't felt in a long time. He felt like he shouldn't be allowed to feel this way. Like he was obligated to feel stressed because he still had so much left to do.
But for the coming two weeks, he didn't have to worry about anything. He didn't even have to think about graduating or studying. He was going home. He would see his mum, Nellie and Henry, and of course, Charlie again. Something he'd missed a lot lately: seeing people he loved and cared about.
-
While walking towards the station, Nick passed a little pop-up flower shop. He went inside and was greeted by an elderly lady and what Nick presumed to be her grandson. "Hello, sweetheart. Can I help you?" The elderly lady asked. "Yeah! I wanted to buy some flowers. But I don't really have any knowledge about them, so..." Nick said. "We can help you!" The little boy exclaimed. Nick couldn't help but smile at how excited he was to help his grandma. "Okay love. You know what, you can ask this gentleman what kind of flowers he'd like, and I'll help this next customer." The elderly lady said.
The boy, probably not older than 7, walked up to Nick. "Hi, my name is Elijah." "Hi Elijah, what a lovely name. I'm Nick. Can you help me pick out some flowers?" Nick asked. Elijah's face lit up. He was smiling ear to ear. "YES! What kind of flowers do you like? And what colours? And what about smells?...Or wait, maybe they're not even for yourself," There was a pause. Then Elijah proceeded: "Who are you buying flowers for?"
Nick was kinda startled by this question. He knew exactly who he was buying flowers for. But he still felt a bit uneasy answering. "Uh well, they're for my boyfriend," Nick said. "You have a boyfriend?" Elijah asked. "But you're a boy." "Um well..." Nick stuttered. He didn't really know how to handle this situation.
Elijah didn't seem to notice that Nick was getting uncomfortable. He was too busy thinking about the discovery that he'd just made. "So that means boys can have boyfriends too?" He asked, looking Nick in the eyes. "Yes, they can," Nick said, a lot more confident and comfortable this time. "That's so cool! I want to have a boyfriend too!!" Elijah said, which made Nick smile.
"So what kind of flowers does your boyfriend like?" "I don't know," Nick said. They never really talked about it, so he didn't know. "What kind of flowers do you like?" He asked Elijah. "I'm sure Char would love them as well." Elijah smiled and showed Nick all his favourite flowers. They picked out a couple of them and walked towards the cash register.
"Did you two find everything you need?" The elderly lady asked. "Yes, we did!" Elijah said proudly. He looked at Nick with a big smile on his face and looked back at his grandma. "Could you perhaps make a bouquet out of it?" Nick asked. "Of course." Elijah walked up to his grandma, put his little hand on her ear and whispered: "You have to make it extra special grandma Lina. They're for his boyfriend."
Lina looked up at Nick. "It's so sweet of you to buy these for your boyfriend. I'm sure he'll love them," She said and smiled. Nick smiled too. He felt his cheeks go red.
-
"Here we go. All finished." Lina said. "Eli love, do you want to give this bouquet to the lovely gentleman?" Elijah got up and gave the bouquet to Nick. Nick thanked him and gave him some cash to pay for the flowers. "Oh no, you don't have to." Lina interrupted. Nick looked up. "It's on the house. And there will be no arguing. I won't let you pay for the flowers," Lina said. "Are you sure?" Nick asked. "Yes, there's no changing my mind." "Oh wow, thank you so much miss," Nick said. He turned around and looked at Elijah. "You can keep the cash. You did a great job helping me pick out these flowers." Nick said. Elijah smiled and thanked Nick before they said goodbye and Nick continued his walk to the train station.
YOU ARE READING
When I Look Into Your Eyes (An AU Heartstopper Story)
RomanceNick and Charlie are both in university. Nick is in his last year and is about to graduate, while Charlie still has 1,5 years of uni left. Even though they're attending different schools in different cities, their relationship is still as strong as...
