- 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍 !

23. 𝘉𝘜𝘓𝘓𝘠.

" chapter twenty—three. "
.BULLY.

☆•. 23. | HENRY stared at his own reflection, fixing his hair before tilting his head as his fashion choice. It was what he would usually wear — jeans, band t-Shirt and a flannel over top but now he was rethinking it. An unsure hum let his lips as he looked down at his top. "You Look Fine." A voice spoke.

"Fucking hell, Tori!" Henry practically screamed, jumping out of freight as he turned to see his older sister who was standing in the door way. "How the fuck do you do that?!"

"Older sister magic." She shrugged, looking at his outfit. "Where are you going?"

"Oh, uh," Henry sighed, running a hand through his hair as he took off his flannel, throwing it somewhere while grabbing a pair of Red converse. "Nick's invited me To the cinema, it's with a bunch of his asshole friends though."

"Oh, okay." She answered.

Henry paused, slowly turning around as he let go of the zip-up hoodie he was just about to grab. He narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"No, nothing." Henry hummed at her answer before grabbing the grey zip-up hoodie and shoving it over his shoulders before, once again, removing it and replacing it with the flannel. "Glad Nick's such a nice... friend."

"Well, obviously. He is, yeah. But, in total honesty, me and him may be, just a little bit, going... out. Like, you know, together." Henry explained as he looked down at his outfit once more. "Is this alright?"

"Called it." Tori smiled. "You Look Fine."

"Yeah, but... ugh!" Henry groaned, ripping off the flannel before turning back to his closet. "You can't tell a soul. Not even your closest friends or any family. He's not out to his mum yet."

"I know, I know." Tori said. "I'm happy for you. You've liked him for ages."

Henry chuckled slightly. "Thanks. Should I change anything about this...?"

"No, you look fine, Henry." Tori repeated. "You're hanging out with his mates now?" Henry nodded as he turned back to his mirror. "I've seen them at parties and stuff. They don't seem that nice compared to Nick."

"That's cause they're not. But I'll be fine... hopefully. Plus, I'm only going there because Nick asked me to." The brunette boy answered with a shrug as he picked up his black beanie hat before shaking his head and putting it down again.

"None of them know about you and Nick?"

"Duh. They're assholes, of course they don't." Henry replied in a "well, obviously" type tone.

"Okay." Tori nodded before smirking slightly. "So is he your boyfriend?"

"We.. aren't really labelling it at the moment." Henry smiled, trying to hide the small blush that appeared on his face. "We are just... you know , you know?"

"You know?" Tori repeated.

"Oh, shush!" Henry looked at her with a smile.

"Well done. Your crush on him was super embarrassing."

"How?" Henry snapped his head to her. "Did someone notice? Was it publicly embarrassing? Or—"

"I'm kidding." The girl reassured allowing Henry to sigh out of relief. "I'm leaving now."

Henry let out another sigh, turning back to his mirror. A shaky breath left his lips as his overthinking thought process started taking over. Endless embarrassing possibilities sticking to the back of his mind. He snapped his eyes shut, twirling the ring on his finger as he tried to get them to shut up. It wasn't long before he had to leave for the Cinema.

"Pickup at 10:00, okay?" His dad said, snapping Henry out of a small daydream. They were parked, just outside where Henry needed to be.

"Mhm. Thanks, dad." As Henry's hand caught hold of the handle to the door, he heard his father speak once more.

"Henry." He looked at him. "If any of those boys says anything, does anything nasty, don't take it to heart and just call me, okay?"

"Nick is gonna be there. I will be... Fine. I just have to walk into the building first..." his eyes went back to the building, fully expecting to have to walk inside by himself before spotting Nick waiting for him. "Oh, there's Nick! Bye, dad!"

"Bye." His dad smiled, watching as the brunette instantly left the car, walking to the boy with his backpack on his back. He never went anywhere without that backpack.

"Hello!" Henry greeted, walking toward Nick who was walking toward him.

"Hi." Nick smiled, instantly hugging the brunette boy tightly before saying another word. This was a normal thing now — Nick would always greet the boy with a tight, long hug which Henry would return with just as much happiness. "You Okay?"

"Yeah, now that your here." Henry smiled slightly before he and Nick walked inside the building — a large shopping mall where the cinema was located. Henry couldn't lie, he was almost terrified by the fact he was meeting up with a group of boys who were known for picking on his friend group especially. His heart was beating inside his chest, trying to reassure himself but did it work? Barely.

"Quick question..." He spoke up, looking at the rugby player beside him as they went down the escalator. "Are you 100% sure that your friends are okay with me joining?"

"Yeah, of course. You'll be fine. Ben, Harry and Aaron aren't coming." Nick reassured, looking back at him. "What, are you nervous?"

"Nah, totally not." Henry muttered. "They're probably gonna think that I'm some... weirdo or something."

"Well, you kind of are a weirdo."

"Oh, shut up, rugby boy."

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