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“Charlie! Hi!” Charlie blushed as he walked over to the shoe stand at the bowling alley.
“Hi, Nick,” he mumbled shyly.
“Where’s the rest of your gaggle of friends?” Nick leaned his elbows on the counter, inadvertently flexing his forearms, increasing Charlie’s blush.
“I’m here with my family tonight.” Charlie pointed over to their lane, his parents and siblings already cueing up the game. “I went to the loo, and they got their shoes already.”
“They should have mentioned you, I could have given them your shoes too.” Nick reached down, pulling out a pair of shoes. “Although, then I wouldn’t get to see you. So this is better.”
Nick was always so nice to Charlie, maybe too nice because Charlie couldn’t stop the voice in the back of his head that insisted Nick was flirting. He obviously wasn’t though. Because Nick was older and so cool and really fit and also probably straight so there was absolutely no way he was into Charlie.
“I’m not sure any of them know my shoe size.” Charlie shrugged, fiddling with the edge of his jumper.
Nick waved him off. “Size 13, I didn’t need them to tell.”
“Wow, I must be here more often than I thought,” Charlie mumbled. Nick probably thought Charlie was so lame, spending all his time at the bowling alley with the same three people instead of having an actual social life.
“You’re very memorable.”
Translation: You’re weird and uncool and I remember you so I can laugh about you later with my friends, who are all really cool and attractive like me.
No, that wasn’t fair. Nick had never given Charlie any reason to think he was like that. He wasn’t like the boys at Charlie’s school who bullied him relentlessly and wouldn’t even pretend to be nice to him as a prank.
Nick went to St. John’s Sports Academy for rugby, which he had told Charlie and his friends when Elle commented on never having seen him around Truham. Tao had scowled at the mention of rugby, despite Nick never seeming like the crass and offensive rugby boys at Truham. Oblivious to Tao’s newfound contempt, Nick had smiled just as jovially as ever and handed over their shoes, asking Charlie about what he was going to do the rest of the weekend.
He always seemed to single out Charlie more than anyone else in the group, always interested in his plans or his favourite things or what he wanted to do with his life. Charlie didn’t really understand why he was so much more interesting than his friends, but Elle and Isaac would always smirk knowingly when Charlie would ask about it as they played.
“Um, thanks for the shoes, Nick.” Charlie grabbed them from the counter and ducked his head, speed-walking to his family’s lane.
“You’re welcome!” Nick called from behind him, voice so bright and warm that Charlie almost turned back.
🍂🎳🍂
The Springs were not really a bowling family. Charlie went bowling with his friends most weekends, but no one else in his family seemed all that interested in the activity.
That was until Ollie had become fascinated with Wii Bowling, insisting that they play every night. He’d begged to tag along on Charlie’s outings with his friends, but Charlie refused, not wanting to spend his time babysitting more than playing. Eventually, Ollie had complained enough that their father decided the whole family would be going bowling that Friday night.
Charlie and his friends usually went on Saturdays, so he was hopeful that Nick maybe didn’t work on Fridays. He was a popular high school boy, so it would make sense for him to request Fridays off so he could go to parties or on dates or something.
But no, Nick had been behind the shoe counter, looking far more handsome than anyone in dim neon lighting had any right to look. The drive to the bowling alley was only about ten minutes, Charlie definitely hadn’t come down with the need to pee on that short ride; he just couldn’t take trying to act like Nick was some normal employee around his family. Not when Nick’s hair was doing that swoopy thing that meant he was constantly running his hands through it to push it back.
Even though Charlie bowled every week, he was not a gifted bowler, rarely knocking down more than half of the pins each frame. His father was surprisingly good, getting at least a spare every frame, but no one else seemed to be at his level. Tori put in such little effort that the ball often lost so much momentum that even hitting the pins straight on did almost nothing. His mum used too much force, sending the ball careening wildly down the lane. And Ollie, for all his enthusiasm and excitement, couldn’t seem to understand how to keep the ball moving straight down the lane.
In the end, Julio won handily, with Charlie coming in a very far second place, not even breaking one hundred.
Julio clapped his hands and turned to his family. “Okay, who’s up for another game?”
“Me! Me!” Ollie, despite only bowling a twenty-eight, was eager to go again, already going to grab the ball.
Julio caught him around the waist. “Whoa, there. Let’s take a quick break. Loo, snacks, just a breather. Then we can start another one, yeah?”
Ollie nodded wildly, already dragging his dad over to the concession stand.
Jane motioned towards the bathroom, leaving Charlie and Tori alone in the lane.
“You have a fan.” Tori pointed to the shoe stand. Charlie turned to look, catching Nick’s head swivelling away quickly.
“He probably gets bored just standing there. He’s allowed to look around.” Charlie’s cheeks flamed anyway.
“Mhm. So that explains why he was watching you play the whole time?”
“He definitely wasn’t.”
“What’s his name?” Tori tilted her head in question. Charlie remained silent. “I could just go ask him.” She made to walk over, but Charlie caught her arm.
“No! No.” He took a deep breath. “His name’s Nick. He’s just… here when I come here with my friends.”
“And does he always look at you with those puppy eyes?”
Charlie scoffed. “He definitely doesn’t do that.”
“Whatever you say.” Tori turned her attention to her phone, seemingly done making fun of Charlie.
Nick cautiously looked back towards Charlie, catching his eye. He waved sheepishly, realising he’d been caught. Charlie took a deep breath, steeling himself, and walked over to Nick.
“You’d think me coming here every week would give me some advantage.” Charlie’s voice shook just slightly, not used to making conversation with Nick outside the pretence of getting his bowling shoes. Nick seemed overjoyed, a wide smile on his face, which certainly did help with Charlie’s confidence.
“To be fair, Elle’s the only one of your friends who seems to know what she’s doing.”
Charlie gave an affronted gasp. “Hey! We try hard!”
Nick shook with laughter. “I’m not sure you try hard, but you always seem to have fun. Which does seem more important, I think.”
Charlie leaned up against the counter. Nick leaned forward to match his position. “Is that your professional opinion?”
“Yes, as a bowling shoe connoisseur, I do think that is my professional opinion.” Nick pronounced ‘connoisseur’ in a perfect French accent, making Charlie just a bit lightheaded.
“Do you get to bowl much? Or are you strictly a shoe guy?”
Charlie didn’t think he could ever tire of Nick’s boyish laugh. “Sometimes we get employee nights where we can bowl for free. I’ve been a bit with friends, but it’s weird hanging out at my place of work. On my breaks, I usually just mess around in the arcade.”
“Ah, so you’re a pro at the claw machine?”
“No, definitely not. I do play a mean game of Mario Kart though.”
“Oh yeah?” Nick nodded smugly. “I’m something of a Mario Kart champ myself. I bet I could give you a run for your money.”
Nick smirked. “You’re on, Spring.”
Before Charlie could formulate some witty and subtly flirty response, his father yelled for him to come over so they could start the new game. “Duty calls. We’ll have to battle another time.”
“Any time, Charlie,” Nick breathed out.
Maybe it was the thrill of having an actual conversation with Nick or wanting to impress him if he was watching, but Charlie ended up having a much better game this time around, just cracking one hundred. It was the best he’d ever bowled, and he couldn’t help but feel a bit impressed with himself.
He almost resisted looking to see if Nick had been watching, wanting to act like it didn’t matter, but he failed. Except Nick wasn’t at the shoe counter anymore. Oh. Okay.
“He just left like five minutes ago. I think he’s on a break. He was watching from over there.” Tori covertly pointed towards the arcade, where, sure enough, Nick was hovering by a pinball machine, eyes focused on the lanes. “It’s like you’ve put some kind of spell on him.”
“Your mom and I are going to take a rest, but you kids can go to the arcade, if you want.”
Ollie cheered, grabbing Tori’s hand and pulling her to the arcade before she could put up any protest. Their dad hastily handed her some money as they zoomed past.
“Charlie, here’s some for you too.” He took the money, smiling in thanks and walking over to the arcade.
Nick was no longer at the pinball machine, so Charlie decided to do a lap or two before settling on anything. Purely to see what his options were, no other reason at all.
As he neared the claw machines, Charlie heard voices, prompting him to duck behind a machine, wanting to make sure they weren’t anyone who might give him trouble.
“You really think he’ll like a plushy donut?” A girl’s judgmental voice rang out. Her question elicited a sigh from whoever she had asked.
“I don’t know, I’m desperate here!” Oh. That was Nick’s voice. “He joked about it before. When he—”
“When he came over and talked to you, I know, you won’t shut up about it.”
“I just think he may be more susceptible to me awkwardly asking him out if I had something to give him.” Wait, what? Nick wanted to ask someone out? He wanted to ask a he out?
“Yeah, because he’d definitely only say yes to get a cheap arcade prize, not to go out with a great guy he obviously likes.” Charlie could hear the eye roll in the girl’s voice.
“Sahar, you can’t just say stuff like that. You can’t get my hopes up when he’s so far out of my league.” Nick groaned, and Charlie heard what sounded like a head hitting hard plastic. “I just think me going ‘hey Charlie, I think you’re incredible and want to take you out even though you’re way too good for me’ would go over better if I got him a gift.”
Sahar laughed. “You’re ridiculous.”
Charlie.
Nick wanted to ask out Charlie?
No, Charlie was a common name, he probably wanted to ask out some other Charlie who was really hot and suave and cool and could bowl a two eighty or something.
“I just… he’s the best part of my week. And we had a conversation earlier that was not just during the few minutes I got his shoes.” Charlie heard Nick sigh. “You go to Higgs. What do you know about him?”
“Not much. His sister’s in my year, but we don’t hang out or anything. I know he got outed last year and bullied pretty relentlessly by some of the rugby boys.”
“Ah, that explains why his friend seemed really put off when I mentioned I was at St. Johns for rugby.” Nick blew out a raspberry. “He’s just so cute! And funny and sweet and his friends love him so he must be a great person in general.”
Charlie could no longer deny that Nick was talking about him, not when he seemed to be hitting on such specific aspects of his life. But why was he so nervous about it? He’s Nick! Nick should never have to be nervous about someone liking him back, not when he was the most captivating person Charlie had ever met.
“I think you should just ask him out.”
“Okay, but what if he says no? Then I have to see him every week knowing that he turned me down and is still basically the guy of my dreams. Or what if he and his friends start going somewhere else and I never see him again?! I’m not sure which would be worse, honestly.” Nick sounded pained.
“Or he says yes, and you live happily ever after, and I don’t have to hear you complain about it anymore.”
“Charlie! Why are you hiding?” Ollie, in all his tiny, enthusiastic glory, barreled into Charlie’s leg. His yell was definitely loud enough to alert Nick and Sahar, and Charlie was suddenly terrified to even breathe.
“Ollie, leave me alone!” Charlie whispered, trying to shove his little brother off of him.
“Charlie?” Nick’s voice was shaky and much closer than it had been a moment ago.
“He’s over here!”
“Ollie!” Charlie admonished, but Ollie just smiled and ran back in the direction he came from.
Nick rounded the corner, eyes wide as they fell on Charlie. “H–hi.”
“Hi,” Charlie breathed out. This was not the time to be overcome with how handsome Nick was.
“Did you— did you hear all of that?”
“Most of it.”
Nick groaned in frustration and hid his head in hands for a moment. When he emerged, he took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be such a weirdo. God, you must think I’m so out of line.”
“No, no! Nick, I—”
“I can just be professional with you. Get you your shoes and leave you be.”
“Why would I want that?!”
“Because… because I’m just some weird guy who you heard obsessing over you to a friend?”
“I obsess over you too.” Charlie flushed, heat flowing into his cheeks.
Nick furrowed his brows. “What?”
“I was talking about you with my sister earlier, right before I came over to talk to you. And my friends hear about you all the time. And— and I think about you all the time.” He wasn’t sure where all the confidence was coming from, but something about knowing Nick liked him back made it easier for Charlie to admit these things, however mortifying it may have seemed previously.
“You like me?”
Charlie bit his lip and nodded, eyes wide and hope abundant. “And you like me?”
Nick replied through a disbelieving chuckle, “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”
“Do you want to go out sometime? Not here or anything. But… maybe…”
“Yes! Yes, I really, really would love that.” Nick’s smile was radiant, large and bright and enchanting. “We could see a movie? But I think I want to be able to talk to you. Oh, there’s a park near me that I go to walk my dog, but it’s a really lovely place, and we could have a picnic or just sit around talking or I could bring Nellie — she’s my dog — and we could spend time with her—”
“Give me your phone.” Charlie held out his hand. Nick unlocked his phone and passed it over. “You probably need to get back to work soon, and I should at least pretend to spend time with my siblings. But… you can text me tonight, and we can make a plan?”
Nick nodded enthusiastically, excitedly taking his phone back and sending Charlie a text so he could have his number.
“Oh gosh, my break is just about up. I have to go back, but, um, I’ll text you. I promise.” Nick grabbed his hand and squeezed it, running off before Charlie could respond.
Pretending to spend time with his siblings quickly devolved into slyly texting Nick, who probably should have been focusing on actually doing his job. But Charlie wasn’t going to tell him that, too enchanted by every message he received from him.
So even though Charlie had begun the night dreading his forced family fun outing at his crush’s place of work, he was now ending it with said crush’s phone number and a date planned for the next afternoon. And he’d bowled his best game yet. All in all, a strike of a night.