MIDNIGHT RAIN | nick nelson [on hold]

Twenty Eight

I'D LEAVE THEM ALL FOR YOU, CHAR

YEAH. ME TOO.

[2.08]

The King household was extremely full and chaotic the next morning. Darcy had left the house sometime in the morning, leaving only a note to thank Venus for giving her somewhere to sleep, but wasn't replying to any of her texts. Shawn left the house a little later so he could get his house ready for his father's early return as well as ensure his suit for Prom was ready. Michael was humming in the kitchen while making some toast for Venus, Charlie and Lucy, the three awkwardly sitting at the table together. Charlie was glaring at Lucy while Venus pretended not to notice his glare set on her mother.

"Shawn seems nice," Lucy broke the silence. On his way out, Shawn sleepily planted kisses on top of Charlie and Venus' head. Out of habit, he did the same to Lucy King.

"He is," Charlie said plainly, reminding Venus a lot of herself.

"I'm gonna get ready at Charlie's for the prom," Venus told her mother, hoping to ease some of the tension in the room. "Nick and his mum are gonna come by. You should come too."

Lucy's eyebrows raised in surprise, "Oh? I'd like that."

"Okay," Venus smiled before turning to Charlie, "You have to tell your parents to play nice."

"I will not," Charlie crossed his arms over his chest.

Venus rolled her eyes as Michael entered the room and placed plates of toast in front of everyone. Charlie picked up a piece and nibbled on it softly, giving Venus a dramatic look. She smiled before biting into her own toast while Michael took a seat at the table.

"Thanks for letting me stay here," Michael told her, "I know Venus didn't actually tell you but it's nice that you didn't kick me out."

"Well, you're not the boyfriend so I don't totally mind that you're here," Lucy replied, "It's a little weird though."

"I get that a lot," Michael shrugged before sitting down and eating his toast.

They didn't say much after that. The tension was still awkward but it was getting better. Venus didn't know where this sudden change of heart from her mother was coming from but she felt her nerves creeping up on her. Last time Venus had gotten her hopes up just for it to end in disappointment.

Michael glanced down at his phone before looking at the curly haired boy, "Looks like Shawn went public with you."

Venus grabbed her phone and pulled up Shawn's Instagram immediately, Charlie resting his chin on her shoulder to watch. She clicked on his most recent post, a fond smile growing on her face. It was a dumb photo of him and Charlie, both of them poking their tongues out at each other and pretending to touch the others. Charlie's hickeys were fresh in the photo, meaning it had been taking when they arrived back to Kent. Shawn had captioned the photo 'Marking my territory <3' which Venus thought was a dumb caption but the photo was still cute.