Charley (Nick Pugliese), Maddie’s most trusted friend in the group, ultimately reveals how he died in an attempt to empathise with her sentiments about having unfinished business in the living world. Charley had began a relationship with a foreign exchange student named Emilio when he was alive, but covered the romance because he was not yet out to his peers or family.
Because Emilio was unaware of the secret, he inadvertently betrayed the condition of their connection to Charley’s parents, and in a fit of wrath, Charley had written a caustic letter to his partner, declaring that he would never see him again. After sending the letter (which he later regretted), Charley buried his sorrows in french fries cooked with peanut oil, which killed him due to his peanut allergy.