You’re what people would call a hippie, you’re different. You couldn’t care less about how you looked. Bed hair? Cool, tease it some more and you’ll look like an 80s rockstar. Creased clothes? Cool, you’re stuck in a phase anyway. Charlie, wouldn’t be called anything, people liked him, he had friends, but he wasn’t popular, that was fine. You were both friends, either way, you lived in the house across from his, and you were over at his almost every day. You had a cold, intense personality, he was more cheerful, and bright. Opposites attracted, (not in that way).

You were at his house, sat on the couch, headphones on, ‘Safe in your skin’ playing at full volume, you couldn’t hear a thing going on around you. Until you saw Charlie in the reflection of your screen, standing behind you. You paused the music took your headphones off and looked at him.

”Yeah?” “I need your help with some homework.” “M’kay.”

Few minutes later, you were up in his bedroom, sat at his desk, legs crossed, pencil in your left hand, seemingly in thought, before you asked, looking at the sheet, which was half-finished.

”Which part?” “The rest of it.” “There’s one question left, you really don’t know the difference between a red and a white blood cell?” “Not at all.”

After you finished helping him answer the last question, you were back downstairs, sat in the same spot on the couch, headphones blasting ‘Safe in your skin’ again. It was a calming tune, you fell asleep to it, and about after an hour, you woke up again, the song was still playing, and you smiled.

You took your phone and opened messages, Charlie was at the top of the screen, so you opened it and started typing, he was quick to read and respond to you.

”Char, can we go to the skate park and listen to music?” “Sure.” “Thanks.”

Sooner or later, now in the present, you were both at the skate park, the sky was a dusty blue, it was around 7pm and you were both sat on the edge of a ramp, feet dangling off the side. Your shoulders touched, sharing the same pair of earbuds in between you. ‘Safe in your skin’ was playing, and the guitar was soft. You both gazed at the sky.

You were calm, he was too. He might not be friends with a model of a teenager, but in that moment, he knew he would never be friends with anyone but you.