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Charley’s had a lot of years to think about all the “if onlys”; the first, obviously, being if only he’d chosen to drown his sorrows in anything but fries, if he’d remembered the possibility of the fries having been cooked in peanut oil, if only he’d had his epi pen on him that day so that he could have been saved, got the hell out of Split River, lived his life instead of being stuck in his high school as a ghost for the long haul.
He also thinks about what could have happened if he’d never written that angry letter to Emilio, or even ripped it up before Emilio had the chance to see it, or if he’d just told his parents sooner that he was gay, so Emilio couldn’t accidentally out him thinking they already knew.
As happy as Emilio is with his husband, he still can’t go in the cafeteria without flashbacks to Charley, thinking to himself if only he’d just kept his mouth shut, let Charley handle his parents’ question about not dating himself, Charley would still be alive today.