you&me {labor day fest} ft. narlie
Ever since she’d be cleared to go back to work full time, there was rarely any down time for Charlie to just… breathe. Every day went like clockwork with 8am arrivals at the office, paperwork after a 20 minute lunch break, and ending her day at 5pm. To make her days even longer, now that she was living in Brooklyn, she had over an hour commute back home. Zaya had moved out again, so she had no family around anymore. She was too busy to hang out with people, meaning she hadn’t had any time to spend with Cody in over two weeks. She was constantly tired, but could rarely sleep. This long weekend was exactly what she needed.
What could possibly be better than spending the days she had off resting and heading to the festival? She was even mulling over the possibility of getting herself a dog from the adoption booth that Myles was running. Sure, it would just be one more responsibility that she would have every day, but at least she’d have someone to come home to every evening and listen to her ramblings on. Nothing could destroy the good mood she was in as she perused through the neighborhood.
Or so she thought.
Just as she was eyeing a booth that was full of handmade costume jewelry and scarves, the dark haired girl turned around, only to see the one person she never wanted, nor thought she’d see again. Nicholas Steele. Everything seemed to freeze as the smile that had graced her lips faded quickly. Her heart began to race; what the hell was he doing here? She couldn’t let him see her; she didn’t want to talk to him. She wanted to pretend that she’d never seen him and just go find Cody. But just as these thoughts were running through her head, she focused once more, realizing he seemed to be moving and in her direction. No, no, no. Not happening.
She whipped around, ready to head straight for her apartment and not leave again ever, when she bumped into a man carrying drink samples, that subsequently ended up all over her. In the frenzy of not being able to see, she tripped over the box of scarves and with a small yell, went down, taking a second box down with her. Groaning, she buried her face in one of the scarves, resolving to remain still for a moment to attempt at regaining composure.
Moving from Manhattan to Brooklyn had been a big step for Nick, he’d been in one place for so long doing his job and fighting the world that it was almost strange to be around people he knew and loved. In his tiny little SoHo loft Nick had lived alone and gone about his business quietly, but here in Brooklyn he lived beside his sisters and good friend Beth and from there he was making new friends. It had been a long time since Nick had made new friends and trusted them enough to open up about himself. As a kid Nick hadn’t always got the best response when he told people he had two moms but here nobody seemed to care, in fact he’d met more people here in samesex relationships than he had in his life and that made him feel safe, and like coming home.
Most of the people from his youth Nick never saw again because most of them weren’t the kinds of people he wanted to spend anymore time than he had to with. The one person he didn’t expect to ever see again from that past was Charlie Weston. His stay in England during an exchange program in High School was the best part of Nick’s childhood. He was the cool American kid, they were so focused on that, that they didn’t even ask about his family they just wanted to know what it was really like in America. Charlie was the only person there who really saw him as a person as she was American too, only going to High School in England.
A loud banging brought Nick’s mind back to the present and he ran over seeing Charlie on the floor in a mess of scarves. He couldn’t help but chuckle, she hadn’t changed a bit in all the years they had been apart. “Hey, Charlie, let me help you” Nick kneeled down on the floor offering out his hands to help her up.
