"Oh, Imogen." Romeos Mum smiled as she opened the door to see her on the other side. "Come in, come in."

"Thank you." she walked in with a smile. "I was just passing by and figured I could say hello to Romeo?"

She sighed, placing a hand on her back and leading her to the window. Imogen was confused until she pointed to a tree house. "Good luck."

Imogen gave an odd look, walking outside as she pulled her skirt up a little bit better. She looked up at the tree house steps. "Romeo?"

Nothing. The blue eyed girl adjusted her backpack strap, latching onto the latter and crawling up. Once she made it to the top, she gave a little push as the door on the floor popped open. Romeo was in the process of doing painful sit-ups, pausing when he saw her head poke in. He yanked his ear buds from his ears with wide eyes. "Imogen."

Hers widened too at his lack of shirt and the painfully loud music he was listening to, traveling through the buds. He reached over and paused it, hurrying to jump to his feet as she climbed all the way up. He cleared his throat as she shut the floor-door back. "Sorry, your Mum sent me out here."

"She's good at the unexpected visit thing." he looked for a shirt, realizing he came out here without one. "Is everything..."

"You were being kinda weird in our messages." she dropped her bag. "I figured i'd come check on you."

"Because I was being weird in my messages?" he wanted to laugh, her face fell. He realized it came off like he was making fun of her. "Cute."

Imogen reddened in the face just slightly. "So, why were your messages so short and lacked the smily face you always put?"

He exhaled, sitting on the little workout bench. "Charlie and I had a fight."

"Your little friend that joined the rugby team?" she walked over with curios eyes, sitting next to him but turning her body fully to face him.

"That's the one." he exhaled, hanging his head to the side to look over at her. "We've never argued before, like, genuinely never."

"What did you guys fight about?" she asked curiosity.

Romeo looked away. "He's been....involved in something but didn't tell me because he assumed I knew."

Imogen blinked, Romeo realized she was confused. "But, he told the rest of our friends about the thing he's involved in but didn't tell me. And, I get he thought I knew, but why not at least tell me? With words, you know? I mean, this thing seems extremely important to him. It would be like if I went off and joined the rugby team and told all my friends but didn't bother to tell him because I thought he knew."

"I see." Imogen braced herself. "It honestly sounds like a big misunderstanding. Maybe he was afraid to admit it out loud to you?"

"But what is there to be afraid of? I've supported him in literally everything he's done." Romeo turned his body to her like she had him. "Once he talked about wanting to stick his head in a bee hive to see the inside and I literally supported him through the entire thing."

Imogen gave a horrified look. "Please tell me there were no bees?"

He sighed and hung his head low. "We didn't know there were."

Imogen smiled, reaching forward to rub his shoulder slightly. "I don't know why he didn't want to tell you, even if he thought you knew, if it was that important it seems like he would have said it out loud no matter what. But, there's probably a reason it was difficult to talk about to you. Maybe it has nothing to do with support."

Romeo frowned his eyebrows, thinking hard. "Well, there was-"

He stopped himself, his eyes widened. "Imogen, you've just saved the day!"

"I have?" she asked with wide eyes.

"You have!" he hurried to stand up and find his phone, pulling a pair of shoes on.

"Where are you going?" she frowned her eyebrows from the bench.

"Charlie's." he hurried toward the floor-door, pausing as he turned back. He hurried back to her, leaning down and kissing her on the cheek. "Thank you!"

Imogen gapped, laughing to herself as be jumped down from the tree rather then climbing down. "You're welcome?"

Romeo ran from the gate, passing his Dad as he was bringing groceries in. He frowned his eyebrows, watching Romeo run down the street. "Put some clothes on, Hijo!"

Charlie gasped in fear when his bedroom door was violently pushed open, hitting the wall. He stared at Romeo as he caught his breath. "Did you not tell me about Nick because of your grandparents?"

Charlie sat up with a little sigh. "You figured it out then?"

"I had a little help." he collapsed onto the rug with an exhale. "Give me a minute, I ran all the way here."

Charlie rolled off his bed to sit on the rug next to him. "I really did think you knew."

Romeo groaned slightly as he sat up with an exhale. "So?"

"Yes." Charlie admitted with a squinted face. "I know it's dumb!"

"A tad." Romeo had to agree, leaning back on his palms. "Explain your train of thoughts to me right now."

"So, Nick and I got together." Charlie nodded his head. "And I told Elle, and Tara and Darcy knew, Issac knew, and then I thought to tell you, I knew I needed to, I wanted to. And when I went to I just...froze."

"But why?" Romeo shook his head.

"Because it felt different after my grandparents." he exhaled with a long and dramatic exhale. "You were..."

"Your first boy kiss!" Romeo yelled as he smacked him with the top of his foot.

"Exactly, so it was different!" the Spring boy threw his hands up. "It was just weird looking at you and being like "Hello one of my biggest past crushes ever, i've got a boyfriend now. Thanks for being my first kiss to I can kiss Nick Nelson like a pro. " It just didn't seem...right to say it out loud."

"Charlie." Romeo shook his head. "When I volunteered to be your first kiss a few years ago, I obviously didn't mean it should ever affect you if you got into a relationship. I was gonna be happy for you no matter what. It's not like I felt like I owned you or anything just because of that."

"I know. I'm the issue." Charlie pointed at himself. "I guess I....you played a big part in the whole gay awakening thing and i'm glad you did because you stayed my friend no matter what. Nothing was ever weird between us. So, telling you about Nick made me feel....like I was replacing the part of me you helped me with."

Romeo thought about it. "That makes sense."

Charlie waited as Romeo sat up more. "No matter how many boyfriends you ever get, i'll always be your very first kiss and your very first crush that wasn't a celebrity. I take pride in that, massive pride. And, i'm probably gonna remind Nick every chance I get, too."

Charlie rolled his eyes slightly as Romeo moved to sit next to him, looking over knowingly. "I know you get scared of change sometimes. But, this is a good change. Nick is a good person and you like him, I can see it. Doesn't mean I wasn't the lucky guy that got you to this point somehow. Because i'm always gonna be here, by your side to support you through everything."

Charlie accepted the arm tossed around him. "Are you really gonna tell Nick that you were my first in real life crush?"

"Absolutely." he nodded.

•

kylie speaks

every time i've seen past
crushes being portrayed it's
always in a more negative or
uncomfortable way and being
able to show how romeo still
loves charlie regardless of this
massive boy crush he use to have is genuinely the most
important storyline in this
entire book.