Is your sister okay? Nick asked. Sorry it just seemed like she didn’t feel well?
She gets migraines, Charlie replied. It’s okay. Thanks for asking.
“You texting Charlie?” Diane asked as she sat down in the living room with him.
Nick felt overly aware of how he did not actually have Charlie’s number, but nevertheless answered, “Yeah…I wanted to ask if his sister was okay. Charlie says she got a migraine at the panel.”
“Ooph,” she commiserated. “Nasty things. It’s good of you to check on them. Does Charlie get them as well?”
Nick shook his head, a hand absentmindedly in Nellie’s fur while she snored. “I don’t think so, but he hasn’t said. Why? Is that common for resonators?”
Her head tipped to the side in thought. “I don’t know about common. I developed the impression that his sister is as strong as he is, but perhaps handles it differently.”
Nick typed into his phone, Do you also get migraines?
Nick read from Charlie, No, the same time Richard joined them.
“I like Charlie. He seems like a sweet kid, though a bit on the nervous side. What did you think?” he directed at his wife.
Nick didn’t think Charlie was overly nervous at all. In fact, he found Charlie’s confidence incredibly sexy and his anxious moments endearing. But then again, he usually saw Charlie in his element. Diane’s lower lip puffed out with indifference. “There’s nothing wrong with a bit of nerves. I was more intrigued by his Bond with his sister. That is rare to see.”
Nick frowned. He agreed that Charlie was clearly close and dear with Tori, but that couldn’t be such a rare thing. All of this saturated his tone when he asked, “What?”
Sarah came in from the kitchen with a platter of appetizers while they waited on dinner to cook. Diane reached for one as she asked, “Does he know about Bonds and Ties?”
Sarah sat down and pondered aloud, “The last we spoke of them must’ve been when you were a child.”
“I remember,” Nick voiced, “but I thought you just meant, like, another word for friendship.”
Diane held a hand under her chin to catch crumbs. After a moment, she was able to explain, “It’s difficult to understand as a human but you’re not wrong. Friendships make Ties, but vampires can feel them like a physical sensory connection. Hence, why we call them Ties.”
Nick asked, “What’s the difference between a Tie and a Bond?”
Diane smirked at him, like he’d arrived at a question she enjoyed very much. “Legend tells it, that if a human swallows the blood of a vampire, they are Bonded.”
He stopped chewing to remark, “That doesn’t turn them into a vampire, though.”
“No, but the fiction came from fact.”
He swallowed thickly and croaked, “Humans drink vampire blood?”
Diane laughed but Sarah intercepted, “It’s more of a practice in stories, my love. People figured out early on the dangers of blood contamination in medical practice. You know Henry Fox that Charlie mentioned, he publishes research articles now and then. Progress chapters of a bigger book he’s probably working on. It has to do with King Arthur. The running theory is that Arthur shared his blood with the members of his round table, binding them as his family and leaders of his unified nation.”
Nellie sat up, awake now that she smelled food and heard chewing. Nick, however, sat quite still. “But…King Arthur was betrayed, wasn’t he? By, like, his own wife and best friend, or something.”
“I didn’t say it was a happy story,” she confirmed.
He turned back to Diane. “But it’s real? If Charlie and Tori are Bonded?”
Diane reached for her glass of water, rinsing her mouth before she said, “I highly, highly doubt they’ve exchanged blood with each other. They wouldn’t need to. They’re already blood related, so a Tie on top of that would suffice, I think. This is all conjecture, as vampires make themselves very difficult to study.”
“Hold on,” Nick recoiled. “Exchanging blood makes you related? ”
Richard empathized, “I had the same question when I learned all this.”
Diane laughed, “No, you won’t show up as family on any DNA tests. Symbolically, though, you wouldn’t do such a thing unless you were ready to be family.”
“How do you see a Bond?” Nick asked. “I mean, how would you know it’s different than a Tie?”
“Well,” Diane paused for dramatic effect, “When a human gains a Bond, they resonate like a vampire. We know the difference. From the Bonded vampire’s perspective, they can know things about their partner. For instance, I reckon Charlie experiences a milder headache or distracted thoughts whenever Tori is in the midst of a migraine. Some cases of Bonds or very, very strong Ties result in Dracula-like symptoms: sleep-walking, insomnia, fitful dreams, among others.”
Nick’s head swiveled between his mother and aunt. “The two of you aren’t Bonded, are you?”
“No,” Diane sighed, “not since the summer of my thirteenth year.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Sarah scoffed into her glass.
“Sarah was home visiting from uni. I had a date. I went to use my hairdryer,” Diane ticked off like a list she kept close to heart, “and the thing wouldn’t even turn on.”
“I am not the one who cut your hair into that absurd style,” Sarah defended.
“No, but you knew straightening my hair with the dryer was the only salvage I had until it grew out. I had very poor self-esteem back then. I had to cancel the date.”
Richard’s brows lifted and he said to Sarah, “Thanks for leaving me a chance.”
Diane coughed into her glass, sending a harmless smack at him. He caught her hand against his diaphragm before he lifted it to kiss her skin. They shared a smile with each other, and Nick wondered if a person didn’t need a vampire’s sixth sense to see a Bond or Tie at all.
Their moment faded and Diane clarified, “It’s believed that Bonds are permanent. Ties can be unmade, but it’s often an excruciating ordeal.”
Nick’s hand drew slow circles around Nellie’s ear. She blinked drunkenly as he asked, “How so?”
Diane’s eyes turned sympathetic. Her tone changed and Nick knew he was probably getting her professional psychologist voice. “Break-ups, both romantic and with dear friends, can be very hard. As painful as a physical injury. That’s the Tie breaking.”
Nick’s gaze drifted over the coffee table. He had lost friends, sure, but not out of any arguments or falling out. People drifted apart, went to different schools, or moved away. He’d had people he missed for a while, and he wondered if they were doing well, but he had not experienced a painful, concise end the way Diane described.
Well. Unless his father leaving their home counted. But Nick had seen him during the summers ever since. Did a Tie continue if time was spent together? Nick supposed not, if the emotions weren’t there. Nick thought he would always have love and longing for his father, but…he couldn’t say exactly when he had stopped waiting to receive it back.
The timer in the kitchen went off and Diane stood up, shooing her sister back down. “I got it. I got this one.”
Richard picked up the conversation, “Are you caught up on films? Our daughter’s guilty pleasure is staying up late watching horror films with me after her mum goes to bed.”
“I can hear you,” Diane droned.
While he and Sarah talked movies, Nick picked up his phone again. He typed, Would you be angry if I came by Cecelia tomorrow?
Charlie replied, No? But I’ll be busy with students. You won’t be allowed in the class, sorry.
That’s okay. I want to see you. How do you feel about the class? Teacher era?
Currently trying not to freak out. Thanks.
Don’t freak out. You’ll be amazing.
* * *
Don’t come today.
Nick squinted at his phone and inhaled sleepily in the dark, English morning. Nellie stretched her legs on the bed while he typed, Why not??
The schedule changed. I have to do two workshops because too many people signed up. Kill me.
You realize this is a big win right? Teacher era incoming.
Nooooo.
Yes.
I just want to visit museums and write my silly little essays!
Nerd.
I’ll see you in the next lifetime.
Nick scoffed and typed, You’re not dying. It might be more fun than you think.
Nick rubbed Nellie’s fur, gently waking her up before he said, “Outside?”
She hopped down and they went downstairs, where Sarah was finishing her breakfast before work. “Good morning. Any plans today?”
He opened the door for Nellie to go out and turned the kettle on. “I was gonna try and visit the Cecelia school for moral support. Charlie’s kinda freaking out.”
“Why?” she frowned over her coffee.
“So many people signed up for his class that he has to do two workshops.”
“That rather sounds like a great success,” she relaxed.
“I said so, but he doesn’t agree.”
She rinsed her mug in the sink and set her dishes inside the dishwasher. “Whatever you do, be mindful of the weather. It’s supposed to be drizzly all day. Don’t catch a cold.”
“Okay. Love you.”
“I love you, darling.” She rubbed his back in passing. “Be safe.”
“You too.”
Nick made himself breakfast and lay in bed for the duration of the morning since he had a while until he would be allowed anywhere close to Charlie. He checked the school’s website and found its updated schedule. He remembered Charlie saying that workshops tended to run long, but he still looked up the bus routes and made sure Nellie went outside again before he left.
Nick realized he should have asked where the class was being held. He walked from the bus stop through the Cecelia campus toward where the most cars were parked. This led him back to the concert hall, where he found people and asked where Dr. Geryon’s class might be.
“The black box,” a woman answered. She gave the impression of being another teacher and explained, “It’s the rehearsal room below us. Take the stairs all the way down.”
“Thank you,” he said, a little surprised that no one stopped him from finding the class. Not out of any security issue, but because the course was supposed to be available to Cecelia students only.
He reached the bottom floor of the building and learned he was not the only person waiting for the class to finish. The deep belly of the building had backstage theatre storage, toilets, and dressing rooms on one side of the stairs, and loads of people waiting and chatting animatedly on the other. What’s more, Nick heard music. He knew the door of the so-called “black box” from the music coming out of it. Nick could not begin to guess who the people were that waited outside the room. Parents, certainly, but also other Cecelia students, either waiting for the next class or drawn there by the commotion.
Plenty of people swayed with the music or bobbed their heads as they scrolled their phones. The people nearest to Nick offered him conversation. A woman who looked like someone’s mother asked, “Are you waiting for someone or for the next class?”
Nick stood with his arms crossed but he answered congenially, “I’m here for Charlie, the guest teacher. I thought he could use a pick-me-up in between classes.”
“I bet. I can’t imagine the toll a resonance chamber takes.”
Nick couldn’t either. He didn’t even know what a resonance chamber was.
The music started to turn down in volume. Nick’s brows pinched at the contrasting sound of a bell chime. After a few more minutes, the black box’s door opened and a flood of sound came out of laughter and conversation. Students gradually trickled out, slightly shiny with sweat or mirth, but they seemed all the happier for it.
Dr. Geryon’s voice heralded, “Blindfolds, people, blindfolds. Thank you. See you Monday.”
Some of the students had to double back inside to dump their blindfolds into a bin. Nick used their momentum to get close and peek inside. He understood why faculty and students called it the “black box,” since the walls were black from heavy curtains. The lights overhead and the light wooded floors helped it not be a claustrophobic room. In the center of the class stood Charlie surrounded by students, like he was the sun of their solar system. The people closer to the door used the dimmer classroom to adjust their eyes, blinking through the fog of having a blindfold on. In the center, though, Charlie laughed and conversed with the students still bobbing and swaying with the music. His arms were up, his hands gesturing like a maestro while he spoke.
“…can’t be a dickhead about it. You’re not controlling anybody. They will retaliate if you’re just showing off. Got it?”
Students seemed to be agreeing with the discussion while also swinging wide tangentially.
“Where do you do this in the city?”
“I bet you know some sick spots in London.”
Charlie retaliated while gently navigating backwards out of the huddle, still wearing his blindfold, “Thanks for asking such harmless questions while the door’s open for all of your parents to hear, guys.”
They laughed while said parents took that as their cue to come inside and personally collect their teenagers. As for Nick, he approached Charlie, confused and worried at how he walked with his eyes covered…
Charlie halted and rotated right at Nick as if he could see him. He uttered, “…Nick?” and lifted up his blindfold only to grimace like he were being woken up. “Ugh. I can’t see anything.”
His curls flopped with the removal of the blindfold and he rubbed his forehead and eyes. He squinted up, though, as people left with cheery, “Thanks, Charlie!”
“Cheers, Charlie!”
“You’re welcome, guys,” he smiled. “Thanks for coming. Thanks for trusting me.”
He fiddled with his hair, ultimately arriving back to Nick beside him. Their eyes connected and Nick teased, “You’re so in your teaching arc.”
“I’m not in a teaching arc,” he whined.
Nick laughed but asked sincerely, “How’d you know I was here?”
Charlie waved a hand, gesturing at all of him. “I know how you sound.”
“Excuse me, Charlie?”
They both turned to face the mother who had spoken. Charlie voiced, “Yes?” and Nick stepped back to give them room. It also gave him time to appreciate Charlie’s black t-shirt and blue jeans. And socked feet? Nick peered at the wall of shoes that explained the reason for students taking their time leaving.
“I have a question about resonance since I married into all of this,” she laughed nervously.
Charlie nodded his understanding. “My dad did too.”
Nick took this to mean Julio was the human of the family. The woman seemed to have a bit more confidence as she said, “What do you recommend for resonance practice? The relatives keep saying our girl’s strong, and they’re rather obtuse about it, but I’m useless in helping her control it.”
Charlie stood up straight, like he knew exactly what to answer for this. He held his fingers as he counted, “First, the relatives are jealous. Don’t let them bother you. Secondly, two things, and they’re both expensive, I’m so sorry.”
“I’m listening, regardless,” she encouraged.
Charlie proceeded, “Vampire doctors usually advise you to get a pet. Dog, cat, whatever. They are very sensitive to us and, like when an animal hates heavy feet or shoes or the floor vibrating, people naturally start to lighten their steps whether they realize it or not. A vampire will do the same with their resonance. The animal is a friend and a merciless gauge to what’s going on. They really help with learning to manage outbursts.
“The second thing, and this is a bit of a top secret, is marble. It doesn’t have to be much—a marble tile from the flooring store, a statuette, a marble mortar and pestle. It’s one of the only substances that echoes when vampire resonance touches it. It sounds stupid or fantastical, but it’s true. You don’t need her to carry it with her because having resonance, like, out here is fine,” he held his arms around himself, “but if she’s in her bedroom and the marble in the kitchen starts to sing, maybe check that she hasn’t just gotten a text full of bad news. That sort of thing.”
The mother absorbed this with rapt attention. Then she sighed through a long blink. “Her brother has been begging for a dog for years. Thank you very much, Charlie.”
“You’re welcome. She’ll do great.”
They separated and Charlie looked around for anyone else wanting to speak with him. Dr. Geryon stood outside of the class for questions there, so Charlie retreated to stand with Nick. The latter said, “It must be nice, a co-ed school.”
Charlie nodded but eyed Nick’s coat, “It is…Did you pass through rain to get here?”
“Yeah, it’s supposed to rain all day.”
Charlie’s cheeks inflated at the news of that, but they just as quickly deflated at the sound of a whistled tune. Their attention drew to Robbie, the alumnus singer, strolling in with a coffee in hand. He promptly stopped and complained, “Why does it smell like my year ten gym class in here?”
Charlie smiled and went to him for a hug. Robbie’s cheek smushed to Charlie’s neck, where he observed, “You’re damp. When you told me to help you, I agreed to a class, not exercise.”
“You knew exactly what you were signing up for,” Charlie countered as they separated. “How was your class?”
“It was good,” he chimed, taking a sip of coffee. “Melony’s on her way. I told her you sent out the SOS and then we’ll go eat and gallivant.”
Charlie pivoted to glance at Nick and introduced, “Robbie, this is Nick.”
Robbie’s brows flicked up and he offered a hand. “Hey, Nick. Did I see you here yesterday?”
“I was, yeah. Your show was amazing.”
For all of Robbie’s confidence, he answered humbly, “Thank you. Are you here for the class too?”
“No, I, um, wanted to visit Charlie since he was surprised by the schedule change.”
Robbie lifted his cup again for a sip and crooned at Charlie, “Everyone wants to hang out in a resonance chamber. I hope you’re making them work for it.”
Charlie rolled his eyes but did not respond. Robbie did not need one as he rounded on Nick again. “What are you doing later?”
He shook his head a little over a shrug. “I have no plans.”
“You’ll have to wait a couple hours, or you could meet us there, but we’re going to eat and have some screams at our favourite arcade once Charlie’s done here.”
Nick processed this and squinted a little at him. “Screams?”
“You know the dance game with the arrows?”
“Yeah, ‘course.”
“There’s a room where the floor is entirely squares that light up. You have to follow the music and run around to the safe squares. It’s loads of fun.”
A month ago, if anyone had offered a musical or dance-based game to Nick, he would have nervously passed on it. Now, his brain honed in on the simple desire to spend more time with Charlie and to see more of his world. He looked at Charlie and asked, “Is that okay?”
The new round of students was already coming into the room, but Charlie replied, “It’s up to you. There’s not really anything to do while you wait.”
“I don’t mind. Food and arcade sound fun. I’m really not a musical person, though.”
Charlie shook his head and consoled, “That doesn’t matter. The person who is the fittest is usually who wins.”
Nick tipped his head to that. “So, I stand a chance.”
Charlie laughed bashfully. “Yes, you very much do.”
“Robbie!” Melony interrupted as she entered the room. “You promised me a coffee.”
He peered guiltily at the cup in his hands. “I’m not sure I remember that.”
He shuffled deeper into the room with Melony on his trail, leaving Nick and Charlie together. Charlie said, “Thanks for coming. You didn’t have to.”
“Just because I don’t have to, doesn’t mean I don’t want to,” Nick corrected with a glance at Robbie and Melony. “Are you gonna be okay for another workshop? I can grab you something to eat really fast.”
Charlie held his forearm as he shook his head. “I’m not hungry. Thank you, though. You should probably go. Before Dr. Geryon gives you a task.”
Nick smiled crookedly. “Would that be the worst thing?”
Charlie’s eyes widened at him and Nick took the warning and jogged out. Since he had time to kill, he moved with the exodus of people leaving and overheard students talking to each other and their parents about some sort of exhibit. For alumni weekend, a corridor had been set up with displays for the alumni guests, as well as alumni weekends in the past. Nick walked behind the groups that had just finished the first rounds of classes with the graduates. They talked excitedly and pointed at their teachers as they found them in photos.
“Oh my god! Baby Charlie and Robbie.”
“They’ve grown so much.”
“How was your vocal course with Robbie?”
“Amazing. I’ve never felt less embarrassed. He’s so unserious while still being super passionate about music, you know?”
Nick peered at the class photos paired side by side, showing the start and end of each school year. The physical growth in the student body made sense, but what really stood out was everyone’s confidence and personalities by the springtime. Nick found Charlie in the first photograph, amongst the lines of red blazers, friendly faces, but rigid body language. Charlie wore a closed smile and one eye closed as he squinted in the sun. He looked thinner in his face and neck. The photo next to it, months later, featured a bigger, toothier grin. He stood next to Robbie, their friendship established by that point, and they both wore rose pins on their lapels.
Nick found Charlie in the next round as well, but the candid pictures further down riveted him. Charlie drumming in what Nick guessed were the talent shows or exam performances. Charlie with his head down on his arms at a library table while Robbie outright laid on the table to sleep. Charlie standing in a recording room the size of a closet, headset on and the microphone in front of his face while he made notes on a sheet of music. Nick could guess the window of time when Charlie pierced his ears, based on the debut of his earrings in the pictures.
Nick easily burned an hour in the exhibit hall. He indulged in a few pictures on his phone, especially the one from Charlie’s graduation day. He wore the red robe with accomplishment ropes and his bouquet of pins while he clutched Robbie tightly. The camera somehow stood above them while they actively collapsed in a huddle of graduates, like one big human rose. Charlie’s smile beamed as bright as the sun.
Nick made his way slowly back to the black box. Just…taking it all in. Charlie’s final year at Truham would have been Nick’s first. Would they have known each other if Charlie had stayed? Probably not. Their classes would have been too separated and older kids did not typically associate with anyone past a certain age. Not to mention, if Nick was on his way towards joining the rugby team, Charlie probably would have stayed far away. But the music block was right next to the sports block. Nick liked to think, while Charlie was prepping his application and portfolio for his sixth form, that they could have bumped into each other at some point.
Nick found a sign on the stairs as he descended to the black box. CLASS IN PROGRESS. SILENCE PLEASE. Nick lightened his steps and discovered why: the door stood open with a fan blowing fresh air into the rehearsal room. This deep in the building, the room did not have windows, but based on the music and commotion coming out of it, the class was in full swing regardless. Nick tread lightly in view of the inside, wanting just a glimpse…
Nick frowned, uncertain what he was looking at. The class moved in a slouched huddle around Charlie in the middle, like a great skirt swirling around him. Melony and Robbie stood an arm’s length on either side of him, standing upright to hold his hands above everyone else’s heads, holding Charlie for stability while everyone moved like one mass.
Blindfolded. Charlie was blindfolded. Nick realized they all were as music played and they moved in unison like a school of fish, or a forest of kelp in the ocean’s current. Robbie and Melony slowly let go, the mass of people holding Charlie up as he smiled. Something was going well, even if Nick did not fully understand it.
Nick carefully stepped out of view of the class, feeling like he might be seeing something he shouldn’t. He couldn’t be sure if it was a special musician thing or a vampire thing, and either way, he did not to ruin whatever concentration Charlie had on the class. Even if it looked like they were on their way to teaching how to crowd surf.
Nick sat on the stairs until people arriving to pick up their friends or kids made him stand up and wait for the class to dismiss. Melony was the first to step out to handle the big fan ventilating the room, but students soon filed out in the same way the first class had. Sweaty, smiling, and thanking the professor, Charlie, Robbie, and Melony for the class.
Nick walked in and found Charlie sitting down to put his shoes on. He looked at Nick’s Vans and smiled up at him, “Hi.”
“Hi,” Nick said as he knelt down and folded Charlie’s jacket over his arm. “How’d it go? As well as the first?”
“Yeah, I think so,” he sighed, relieved. He held a hand out for the jacket, but Nick took it and leveraged him up to standing. He pushed his arms into the denim jacket with its sherpa collar as he said a breathy, “Thanks.”
Robbie came over, pulling on his shirt to cool off. “Are we ready to get out of here?”
Melony joined them and pointed, “Let Jacob and Rosie go and then we’ll take the lift.”
“Good idea,” Robbie approved.
Nick exclaimed, “There’s a lift?”
Like a secret, he had to be shown where the skinny elevator was, amidst the narrow theatre corridors. Two students who used mobility aids went up first, and then Nick squished into it with the alumni. The ride was slow and the fluorescent tube above them prompted Nick to utter, “So, is this building haunted?”
“Yes,” the three said in unison before their laughter ricocheted in the small space.
Melony said optimistically, “It’s not a real theatre unless it’s haunted.”
Robbie explained, “The only people more superstitious than performers are athletes.”
The doors opened, and they faced the fresh deluge of rain outside. Charlie found his car keys and they sprinted through the rain. Nobody shouted for what seat they wanted, but Robbie and Melony both went for the back seat of Charlie’s car, leaving the front for Nick—
Charlie shook his head, curls splashing water at him. As much as it startled him, Nick liked that for some reason. Charlie laughed, “Sorry,” and then, “Has anyone told you who will be there?”
“At the arcade?”
Robbie intercepted, “The other alumni are waiting for us at the restaurant. I doubt any of them will come with us to the arcade.”
Charlie locked eyes with Nick. “Is that okay? I don’t want you to feel overwhelmed by people you don’t know.”
“I’ll be okay,” he assured, but couldn’t help but confront, “Do you not want me to go?”
Charlie shocked him with, “Please come. Otherwise, it’ll be me against him and his brother.”
Robbie leaned in between the front seats. “What’s wrong with me and my brother?”
“What’s right with you?” Melony retaliated.
Robbie screeched, which, from a professional singer, made the entire car flinch.
At the restaurant, Nick learned that all the former Cecilia students had essentially brought a plus one. Robbie and Melony had their siblings, the others brought their partners, and Charlie brought Nick. Nick tried not to overthink this. He failed.
The early dinner with everyone went well. He liked Charlie’s old friends and classmates. They got along well with him; they were interested in his rugby and his movie tastes. They never excluded him from conversations. But all Nick could hope for was that everyone else took their own cars home.
They did. Charlie’s slower eating pace meant he had to get up twice to hug and say goodbye to people, but Nick, Robbie, and his brother, Rupert, stayed put until he was ready to go. At the front counter to pay, Rupert remarked, “Bummer that Melony and her sister have to leave.”
“They have to travel,” Charlie empathized and then said to the cashier, “Mine and his.”
Nick paused in reaching for his wallet. He watched the cashier ring up both of their receipts before he said, “You don’t have to do that.”
“I don’t mind,” Charlie insisted. “My treat.”
They followed Robbie and Rupert in their car to the arcade, giving Nick the privacy and time to say, “Thank you for the food.”
Charlie glanced at him with his pinched smile. “You’re welcome.”
Nick’s throat went dry as the car slipped into silence. He didn’t want to stay in this awkward place with Charlie. At the risk of making the arcade a tough time, he braved, “I’m sorry I walked in on you the other night.”
Charlie’s eyes stayed on the road for a long moment. Then they relaxed and drifted down for a soft blink. “I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Scared? Had Nick been scared?
He contemplated this alongside his ruminations over the past week. “I wasn’t scared of you. I was shocked, but afterwards I was scared for you.”
Charlie tried to sound light-hearted as he said, “You don’t need to worry about me.”
Nick’s deadpan stare wiped Charlie’s expression as he turned back to the road. But he heard, “I’m going to worry…I think about you all the time.”
They stopped at a red light. Charlie’s hands slid off the wheel to his lap. “Really?”
Nick could only nod, the weight of his bleeding heart in his voice. “Yeah. Is…that okay?”
Charlie’s chest heaved with his inhalation. “I’m not an easy person to be with.”
He froze in the gentle force of Nick snorting softly in his nose. “I liked you the night I met you. It hasn’t been difficult to be with you at all.”
Charlie looked torn; like Nick’s words buoyed his heart even as he said, “We don’t have a lot of time before I move.”
He had to focus on the yellow light flashing and more driving. Nick had the time to gaze at Charlie…like he was trying to memorize him. But Nick didn’t want to have to safeguard details of the curl pattern of Charlie’s hair, the swoop of his nose, the lines of his mouth and his jawline, or the way his hands moved. He wanted to live alongside them. The reality that Nick wanted to be in this car more than his own house presented a learning curve that Nick wanted to face. If he could face it with Charlie.
“Is there a quarantine in London I don’t know about?”
Charlie glanced at him. “What?”
“Am I not allowed to see you after you move?”
He’d caught Charlie with that one. Nick hadn’t realized he hit a nail square-on until Charlie said, “Maybe? I’m not sure Sarah will want you in London with who knows what sort of people.”
He smirked, taunting, “What sort of people, then?”
Charlie rolled his eyes at him. “Nobody evil, but a city is a city. I’m a boring person but London can be chaotic. You’ll be the one with more liberty since I’ll have work and school.”
Charlie turned into a car park, so Nick resigned to talking more about this later. “Can we get there when we get there together, though? That is, if I don’t utterly embarrass myself here first.”
Charlie parked and smiled at him. “I don’t think you’re the one who’s about to be embarrassed.”
Nick removed his seatbelt as he asked, “Why are you nervous about the arcade with Robbie and Rupert?”
“They’re twins.”
“Oh! Wow, I didn’t notice. So they’re, like, perfect team mates with each other.”
“Yep,” Charlie said as he watched said twins get out of their own car. Robbie waved his arms in the air like an inflatable, heralding them to hurry up. Charlie lifted his shirt to smell himself. “I’m going to be so disgusting by the end of this.”
* * *
Nick strode into his house, arriving to the kitchen with his hair still sticking in random directions from sweat. Sarah blurted a laugh and, “Goodness, do I want to know?”
He went to the case of large water bottles and withdrew two for his bedroom. Nellie sniffed him all over while he said, “There’s an arcade down by the Cecelia school. Charlie and his friends took me to dinner and then we used this room that has a floor made of those dance squares. Like, you have to run around and stand on the right squares at the correct time. It was a mess.”
“You sound like you had a great time,” she observed, returning to whatever she did on her tablet.
“Yeah,” he sighed contently, coming to the table. From his jacket pockets, he pulled spare game tickets out, along with the lollypops he claimed as his victory spoils. “I’m gonna shower.”
“All right, darling. Did you get enough to eat?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m good,” he said and went with Nellie upstairs. He did not get in the shower immediately. He fell backwards onto his bed first, phone in hand so he could find his favourite photo that he’d taken that day: Charlie wearing a plastic metallic crown. Not because he’d won at the dancing game, because that victory had gone to Rupert and Robbie. Charlie had demolished all of them in a Mario Kart tournament that earned him enough tickets for the crown. Nick very much liked the photo of Charlie with his lips puckered, dimple showing at how chuffed he was with his new crown.
Nick also liked the selfie the four of them took together, sweaty and red-cheeked from sprinting and yelling around the dance room. It hadn’t taken them long to shuck their jackets onto the center pad in the floor that was unplayable. More than once, Nick had caught Charlie about the waist, keeping him from falling onto live squares before the beat changed. Charlie’s precision in the game was unmatched, but his endurance simply did not match Nick’s or the twins’. Not that Nick minded. He didn’t go there to win, and having the freedom to touch Charlie nearly as much as he liked made him wish to go back.
They did not have immediate plans, however. After the arcade, Robbie and Rupert had hugged them goodbye. Nick liked being included in one of Charlie’s circle of friends. His curiosity got the better of him, though, after Robbie said, “Charlie, check your phone in a couple of weeks.”
“Thanks for the warning,” he teased, before collapsing down into the driver’s seat.
“What’s happening in two weeks?”
Charlie hummed as he gulped water first. He handed it to Nick and replied, “There’s a Jane Austen festival in Bath.” That caused an idea to spring into his head and he slumped in his seat. “I have to figure out a costume.”
Nick’s brows swooped up. “A regency party?”
Charlie waved a hand in the air and started the car. “I don’t want to think about it, please. A day in a Roman bathhouse is what I need right now.”
Nick laughed and asked, “Can I ask about your classes today?”
“Sure.”
Nick licked his lips, figuring out what he wanted to ask or how to phrase it. “What exactly is a resonance chamber?”
Charlie did not sound bothered as he responded, “It’s basically when vampires resonate together. Like when singers harmonize.”
Nick took a moment to absorb that before he confessed, “I came back down an hour or so in and took a peek. It looked…I dunno. Like something that shouldn’t be interrupted.”
Charlie nodded at him. “It’s considered quite intimate for us. Vampires get to let go of their resonance instead of holding it in for polite manners.”
“What were the blindfolds for?”
Charlie gestured around his head like horse blinders. “Teenagers are so stuck in their own heads and worried about what the others are thinking of them. Dr. Geryon agreed with me that we had to turn that off. The entire first half of the class is an exercise in controlling their resonance, but really, it’s a process to get them to trust me. Letting a person be a focal point in the room helps them truly see around them with their resonance. So much of the time, we’re clamming up to not bother anybody, but the class was a chance for them to let it out and use it.”
The memory came back to Nick all at once. “Wait, that’s how you knew I was there when you had your blindfold on? You could see me?”
“Not, like, literally see you. It’s an extra sense like sight and sound, but we don’t have an additional word for it. So, seeing or hearing you is how we phrase it.”
I know how you sound, he’d said. Something about that moved Nick’s insides. If he thought about it too much, he became self-conscious, but he liked being known by Charlie a whole lot.
“Is that what it means to be a resonator?”
Charlie shrugged. “I guess so.”
Conversation came and went with comfortable interludes of silence. When Charlie pulled into Nick’s driveway, the latter asked, “Are you working tomorrow?”
“No,” Charlie heaved like he could hardly wait. “No, I’m nesting tomorrow.”
Nick frowned. “I know you mentioned this before, but what do you mean this time?”
Charlie obliged, “A den or nesting is how vampires recover and recuperate. Not to be overly Dracula about it, but it’ll be me in my crypt, with Belle, basically sleeping the whole day with the sensory of the world far, far away. It’s a really personal period of time for us.”
Nick readied himself to get out of the car, not wanting to hold Charlie up from relaxing after what he knew had been a very stressful weekend for him. “Am I allowed to text you?”
Charlie giggled, “Yes, you’re allowed. Just don’t panic if I don’t respond till Monday.”
I’ll do my best, Nick said inwardly, but he didn’t think that would go over well out loud. Instead, he voiced, “Are you okay to take care of Belle during that?”
“My sister and her partner are at the house, so I won’t be alone.”
“Okay,” Nick nodded, “Good.”
Charlie smiled. “Good.”
Nick reached for the door handle…but a soft…something touched his brain. A familiar darkness, a flutter on the edge of his vision. He turned back to Charlie, who looked like he wanted to say something. He took a breath and said, “Thank you for going to the school today.”
Nick asked hopefully, “I wasn’t in the way, was I?”
He shook his head. “No. I was really sweet.”
“From what I saw, it looked like everyone enjoyed your class. You could really do this teacher thing.”
Charlie laughed tiredly and shook his head. “I don’t have the stamina. Nellie’s waiting for you at the door.”
Nick glanced at his house, a smile flashing at the usefulness of Charlie’s resonance. It just as quickly compressed into a nervous line. “Can I hug you first?”
Charlie’s features opened, mildly surprised before he rankled, “Have we never hugged? ”
Nick laughed, “I don’t think so.”
Charlie caught his face in his hands, rubbing his eyes as he moaned, “Nick, you could do so much better than me, my god.”
Nick pivoted and reached for him. “Shush and come here.”
Charlie looked up and mirrored him, meeting halfway with their arms interlocking around each other. Nick wished they didn’t have their jackets on. He wanted to feel the warmth of Charlie’s body, but he did have the side of Charlie’s neck on his cheek and his soft ear pressing into his own.
“I don’t want to hear a word about my stink.”
A little puff of a laugh came out of Nick’s nose. “I love how you smell.”
Unfortunately, he had to let go sometime. His hands dragged across Charlie’s back as he eased back and said, “Bye.”
“Bye,” Charlie rescinded quietly, out of breath. He waited for Nick to leave the car and unlock his house. Then he exhaled raggedly and reversed out of the driveway. The zing! of Nick’s stubble still tingled throughout his body. The drag of it across his skin almost made something ferocious leap out of him. If Nellie were not waiting for him, Charlie was certain he would have grabbed Nick for a kiss and more. Much more.
He rubbed his chest while his other hand drove home. For now, he just felt grateful that Nick’s vampire aunt had not been at the house to witness his resonance geyser out of him like a lightning bolt.