Never Be The Same - A Charlie and Nick Story

Chapter 22 - Playing Dirty

❗️Triggers: Anxiety

Charlie's POV

The rest of the week went by really fast which I am grateful for. I have been kind of excited about this weekend for all the Halloween parties, especially since Nick and I have matching outfits. Right now the Squad is waiting in the Chat while we let time pass before Nick's rugby match. Apparently they are facing a really good team and Nick has been quite nervous about it for the past few days. I have been supportive as best as I can since I still don't understand the rules of the game and I know he appreciates me trying to help.

"Should we get going?" Elle asks, her hand in Tao's as the two of them stand up. I nod my head and stand up, swinging mine and Nick's school bags around each of my shoulders. I nod my head and lead the way with Isaac, who just started reading a new book while we were at the Chat. The walk to the field isn't too far from the Chat building so in a few minutes we are walking up the tiny hill to the bleachers.

As we start to sit down, the Leed's team start their warmup. Nick is leading them in their routine and I can't help but smile as I watch. When they finish their stretches, they start to run around the field and when the team starts to run in front of us, Nick stops while everyone runs past him. "Hi." He laughs while he's a little out of breath. Before I could say anything, he comes up to me. He squats down, wrapping his arms under mine and lifts me up into a tight hug. "Nick you are so sweaty." I laugh as he spins me around once. He giggles and pulls me into a long kiss and I immediately blush when our lips separate. He places me down before his eyes widen.

"Oh. Oh god. I should have-" His words picking up speed and his tone shifting. "Nick," I pause to place my hand on his shoulder softly. "I do not mind you kissing me whenever you want or doing things like this." I add. He looks at me and smiles. I lower my hand and step closer to him. I lean up to him and press my lips close to ear. "I love PDA so you never have to worry about me." I whisper and when I lean back, his face is red and he has a goofy smile on his lips. "Now go, you have a game to win." I wink as I sit back down with the Squad. He places his hand to his chest over his heart lovingly before he turns to run back to the team.

Eventually the other team's bus arrives and when they walk past the stands everyone starts gossiping and gasping. These players literally look like adult men. Juiced up adult men. When they place their stuff on the visitor bench, I look over at Nick on the field with the team. His arms are wrapped around his chest, his index finger tracing on his bicep. A few moments later, he looks over at me with a worried face. I place my hand over my chest and take an over exaggerated breath in through my nose and out through my mouth before smiling at him. He nods his head and copies my actions for a few breaths until he smiles at me.

"You got this." I mouth to him and smile brightly. He smiles at me before turning to the team who start to huddle up.

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There is only a few minutes left of the game and Leed's is down by one point and the other team have definitely not been playing fair. All the Leed's fans in the stands agree that the opposing team is playing dirty, so dirty that four members of Leed's were injured and benched. I have never taken my eyes off of Nick, the other team is definitely intimidated by how fast and strong Nick is which, right now, is not good for him.

He has noticeable bruises on his bicep and both of his legs. He also had a pretty large cut on his thigh from the other play "accidentally" stepping over him in a pileup, his cleat scraping up his leg. My stomach is in knots. I don't want him to get hurt and this other team truly wants him out to have a larger win margin. When Nick gets the ball back and he quickly throws it to Otis who starts running. Nick starts to sprint to be parallel with him but when he is only a few strides behind him, one of the other team's players tackles Nick so hard that we can hear Nick gasp loudly as the two boys fall to the ground, Nick's head hitting the grass hard.