Flores :: Carlos Sainz

Dieciséis

"Klaar is Kees," Bibi said and submitted her test answers.

Eleanor looked next to her and looked back at her own test, she just had two questions left. Sadly, they were making different tests, so they couldn't share answers. Eleanor squeezed her eyebrows together and selected the right answer. There was just one question left. She looked up, looking outside. An airplane flew over, it was a blue KLM aircraft, close to landing. A smile curved on her lips, an airplane from home. One more question, El. She looked at her laptop screen again. After reading the last question, she picked the right answer and submitted the test without checking all her answers. "Oh, I submitted it without checking," she said and her eyes widened. She covered her mouth with her hand and looked at Bibi. "Ah, whatever, it is what it is."

The two girls began to laugh. Eleanor took out her earphones and took a deep breath. Today was the day they had to take the last parts of their Spanish exam. They were sitting in a cafe, drinking coffee, stressing about their Spanish knowledge and gambling on the right answers.

"But how did it go?" Eleanor asked.

"I felt like I knew many things, but also not... I will see. How about you?"

Eleanor shrugged. "I don't know. It's like: you pass or fail it. In other words: it's a waste of money or not," she said.

"Bro, you are almost fluent. If you don't pass it, I don't know it anymore," Bibi breathed and shook her head. She grabbed her phone. "You know I have been watching F1 for over twenty years now. God, I'm old. Anyway, I don't watch it because of the looks of the drivers, but look at the pictures of Charles freaking Leclerc at the Ferrari showroom yesterday." She opened her photo app and showed some pictures of the Ferrari driver.

Eleanor looked at the phone. It was Charles Leclerc. He was a good-looking bloke. That's all Eleanor had to say about him. "Did you make those?"

"No, I got them from Twitter. You didn't want to be near that store when they were here yesterday. You had luck that you were at the parliament and not the showroom. It was insane out there. It was almost One Direction-busy."

"Oh, yeah, those drivers are celebs these days."

"Yup, times are changing," Bibi breathed. She stopped swiping through the photos and looked at Eleanor. A grin grew on her face. "Okay, but now. We had Leclerc, lekkerding. Did you know Carlos Sainz Junior is... He looked fucking good."

The eyes of Eleanor fell on the phone again. She swallowed hard and felt her heart flutter. Carlos had a haircut, but it looked so good on him. He was wearing a white shirt, making his skin more tanned.

"You know what I like about this man? He is always so confused, yet he knows what he is doing," Bibi snorted. "Not gonna lie, he is a pretty man."

The corners of Eleanor's mouth curled up, he is a pretty man. She could look at him for hours, the way a photo of him made her smile... Her face straightened; the way a photo of him made her smile. "Yeah, he is. I don't look at them in that way, though," she said. "I mean, they are Leclerc and Sainz."

"Why are you blushing?" Bibi said and poked her friend.

Eleanor gasped for air and placed her hands on her cheeks. "No, I'm not," she said. Her cheeks even got warmer now she realised it. The way a photo of him made her blush.

"You are!" Bibi's jaw dropped and she put away her phone. "Meid, je bloost keihard," she whispered, saying Eleanor was blushing a lot. "Don't say that you fell in love with a photo of Sainz. You just said that you don't look at him in that way," she smirked. 

"I don't."

"But?"

A deep sigh left Eleanor's mouth and she closed her laptop. There was no way she could deny it any longer. She wanted to keep it private, but there was so much going on that she had to share it with someone. "Promise me that you don't tell it to someone." Bibi nodded. "I know Carlos."