Still Learning [C.L]

Boat trips and making friends

"Nice to meet you Jennifer" Pierre smirked noticing the effect his friend had on me "feeling okay?"
"Yeah absolutely fine, no problems" I shook my head in response, embarrassed at being caught out swooning over his friend
"Okay who's for tequila?!" Arthur shouted holding a bottle of Patrón in one hand and shot glasses in the other

Everyone eventually agreed, some more enthusiastic than others *Emma*, and Arthur poured out six shots for the group. Charles, Pierre and Arthur were quick to pick up their shots before I stopped them abruptly
"Are you mad? You need to cheers before it and you know what they say about cheersing?"
The three boys looked puzzled as Alex and Emma nodded along
"Seven years bad sex if you break eye contact" I said matter of factly as Alex and Emma continued nodding "Must be a British thing"
"Well I'm not risking that" Pierre laughed looking Emma in the eyes as they swallowed their drink
I turned to Charles locking eyes as we clinked shot glasses
"Cheers to the next seven years" he winked throwing his head back to consume his shot, my eyes slowly trailing over the defined muscles in his neck before snapping back to reality and quickly downing the alcohol in my glass, scrunching my eyes at the burning sensation as it travelled down my throat.
"Guess that just leaves us two mate" Arthur laughed as him and Alex cheersed and quickly took their shots

Soon after, the yacht left the dock and we settled in for a day at sea with more shots. We were taken about 30 minutes from shore before anchoring and the crew began unloading the water toys and jet skis from the boat.
The boys had gone through to the back of the boat to get beers whilst Emma and I set ourselves up on the sun loungers on the front deck

"So who do you have your eye on?" I turned to face Emma for a gossip
She sighed "I mean they're all cute but I think they're too soft for me. You know I like them a bit rough round the edges"
"That's true" I agreed, maybe Charles knew some guys she would get along with
"But enough about me, let's talk about that tension" she squealed wriggling excitedly on the bed
"Shh" I tried to quieten her "I don't know what you're talking about" I tried to deny
"Oh come on, it's clear as day" she rolled her eyes, flinging her hands in the air frustratedly

"What's clear as day?" someone interrupted our conversation. We both turned to see Charles standing with his beer and a bottle of rosé before facing each other to try find an excuse
"Oh, eh, we were.. we were saying-" I stammered
"Jennifer doesn't want to go in the sea and I was trying to convince her" Em rushed
"Well we can change that" he smirked putting down the drinks racing over to pick me up from the bed and throwing me over his shoulder
"No Charles" I warned through laughter "put me down"
"It's too late" he laughed before I felt myself falling through the air and hitting the cold water below

I quickly resurfaced wiping the water from my face hearing a splash next to me. I narrowed in on him as I watched his head pop above the water line
"You're so dead" I called out as I swam over to meet him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders trying to keep myself afloat in the choppy water

He snaked his hands around my waist pulling me towards him and closing the gap between us as we both panted for breath, our bodies still adjusting to the temperature of the water. His hand only leaving my waist to move a small piece of hair covering my eye before returning to its previous position

"And how will you do that?" he broke the silence as our eyes scanned the other's face taking in every millimetre 

Before I could answer we heard a body crashing into the water, then another, followed by Emma's shriek as her and Pierre jumped together. Charles released his grip from my waist, winking before diving under the water to swim to the rest of the group, leaving me longing for the feeling again that had been cut short just moments earlier.

We had spent most of the afternoon in the sea, taking turns on the jet skis and the slide, and the boys practicing their back flips off the side of the boat, cringing as each of them slapped the water when landing. 6/10 maximum for all of them. The group gathered on the padded seats on the front deck when we had become tired from the activities and the boys asked us about our lives back in the UK and why we had picked Monte Carlo to study abroad

"My family have always loved travelling to Nice for holidays so we would come through to Monaco for a few days. In the last couple of years Emma's become part of the family so she's been tagging along as well and we both fell in love with the place"

"How did you all meet each other?" Emma asked

"We all did karting together when we were younger" Alex answered "and I think with spending so much time with each other doing that we just sort of stuck together"

"Aw that's so cute, I can just imagine you all driving your little cars with your little helmets on" Emma giggled as she imitated what looked like something out of MarioKart and the boys all laughed

"So what's your plans for next week" Pierre asked laying back on the bed to enjoy the last of the sun

"We start uni a week tomorrow so we'll probably just be getting organised for that I guess. What about all of you?" I replied

"Out to Spain on Wednesday until Monday probably" Charles answered adjusting his position on the seat next to mine and subtly moving himself closer so that his hand could be in contact with my arm, lightly tracing his fingers along the few inches he could now reach giving me goosebumps 

"Oh nice, is it a holiday?" Emma asked 

"No it's for work" Alex laughed "We work in Formula 1"

"Aw that's cool" I replied "It must be amazing to see those cars up close, my dad's a massive Formula 1 fan so he'll be jealous" I smiled. My dad had always wanted my brother to go into mechanical engineering and motorsport so I couldn't wait to tell him we had made friends with some of the engineering team.

A member of the crew then informed us we were 5 minutes from the dock so we gathered up our belongings and began getting ready to depart. We finally docked and Charles and I were last to leave, thanking the crew on our way off.

"I am a big believer in fate" Charles started "But, can I have your number so I don't need to rely on anymore run ins to see you again" he chuckled holding out the empty contact form on his phone

"Since you asked so nicely" I laughed, inputting my name and number before calling it to save his number on my phone

"I'll see you soon" he kissed me on the cheek before jogging to join his friends again

"I'll keep an eye out for all of you on the TV next week" Emma shouted as the groups headed our separate directions

~ Author's note ~

Something tells me we're in for a shock when we find out the boys aren't F1 engineers

Hope you're enjoying, thank you for the reads so far :)