'Cause I'd Find You In Any World (Nick and Charlie - Alternate Universe)

Chapter Twenty Six

Chapter Twenty Six.

Charlie:
After watching the sunrise, Nick and I decided to go back into the living room and sleep for a little until everyone else got up. I'm woken up by the sound of James yawning and stretching with his extremely loud voice. I have so many emotions going on in my mind right now. I wonder if Mum has tried to even call Dad. It's weird to feel so lucky on the one hand and so hurt on the other. My Dad has been a real superhero in all of this; it was one thing to just accept me, no questions asked, but it is a whole other thing when it comes to Mum. I always had a feeling Dad would be great with it, but I never thought I would be greeted with this level of acceptance by him.

"JAMES SHUT UP; YOU DON'T NEED TO SCREAM WHILE YOU'RE YAWNING," Mia says as she throws her pillow at his face.
"THAT'S JUST HOW I YAWN!"
"Is this also how you speak at ....9AM?!" Nick asks as he looks at his phone.

I laugh at both of them. I'm so use to everything that James does that none of this even phases me. 

"I heard James scream yawning from upstairs so figured you were all awake now," Dad says as he walks just the stairs.
"How do you guys even deal with him every single day?" Mia asks with a chuckle.
"Ear plugs," Dad says with a smirk.

Once he makes his way down the stairs, he walks into the kitchen. James looks at me and nods his head in Dad's direction, indicating that he wants us to go alone and see if there were any updates on his end.

"We'll be right back," I say as I get up with James.

We walk over into the kitchen and sit at the table with Dad. It's quiet until James, per usual, opens his mouth.

"Have you heard from Mum? Has she come to her senses?"

Dad sighs.

"She wants to come home to talk to me alone. Do you guys think you can hang out at Mia's? I know her parents would love to see you," he says looking at me.
"Mia's house means potentially running into Mum, so I think I'll go to Nick's if that's okay. I'll stop by Mia's on my way home or something, just so there's no way I'll run into Mum."
"You and Nick can go to Nick's. I'll walk Mia home. I don't mind seeing Mum and telling her she sucks again," James shrugs.

Dad sighs again.

"James --"
"I'm sorry Dad, but as long as Mum acts like this is the end of the world, I really don't have anything nice to say to her."
"I understand," he says. "You guys get ready, I'd rather have this talk with her sooner than later."

James and I go into the living room and explain everything to Nick and Mia. We all get ready and start walking. When it's time for us to split, Mia pulls me into a hug.

"I'll see you later when you stop by. But if something happens beforehand, and you need me, you just call, okay?"
"I'm pretty sure he'd call me first, but whatever," James teases.

I roll my eyes but smile as I pull away from Mia's hug and James pulls me into another one.

"You're the strongest guy I know," he says.
"You got me here," I whisper back.

Nick says bye to them both and him and I continue to walk to his house.

"So.."
"So.."
"How do you think that conversation with your parents is going to go?"

I shrug and sigh.

"I'm not too sure. Dad made it pretty clear last night that she's not welcome here if that's how she's going to act. So, obviously, I'd like to think that something happened in the last twenty four hours that made her completely change her viewpoint, but I think that's a little too optimistic."
"Maybe Mia's parents got to her. Maybe at the very least, she's ready to listen."
"But I'm not sure I have anything to say to her without her apologizing to me first. And to James for that matter, she was awful to him for no reason."
"She was awful to you for no reason too."

I grab his hand and intertwine our fingers. Nick looks at me, kind of taken back.

"Well, the one person I was really nervous to tell knows, so, I'm not really too worried about this anymore," I say as I pick up his hand and kiss it.

James:
As Mia and I reach her house, I see Mum's car pulling out of the driveway. She stops the car once she sees me and rolls down her window.

"I'll be inside," Mia says as she walks away.

I walk over to the car and just stare at her. 

"James, I'm so--"

I cut her off.

"I'm not the one you need to be apologizing to," I say sternly.
"Well, I said some things to you --"
"Mum, if you think what you said to me is worse than what you said to Charlie, or even Dad for that matter, then you're still the problem here," I say as I begin to walk away.
"This hasn't been easy for me either, you know?"

I wish there was a proper word for the anger in my body. Rage isn't even close. I turn around, walk back to the car and slam my hands onto the door.

"Really Mum? It hasn't been easy for you? How so? How did this news inconvenience your life in any fucking way? You had a family that loves you and you're willing to throw that all aside because Charlie likes boys instead of girls? Do you not hear how fucking insane you sound? How selfish you sound? Must have been a real fucking shocker when Jane and Richard were completely okay with the news, huh? Did it feel good getting called a bitch by Mia? That's how every single person is going to see you when they find out about this. So if you should be embarrassed by anything, be embarrassed by your homophobic behavior that is so disgusting it drove everyone you love away." 

I see the tears swell in her eyes, and if this was even three days ago, it would have broken my heart to see her like this, but right now I couldn't care less. I turn around and walk away without looking back as she drives off in the distance. Honestly, I hope that knocked some sense into her before she talks to Dad.