haunted by the past

Pierre's pov

Pierre's pov:

The whole weekend after Friday had been tense between me and the team, but I was also sure Eliza was avoiding me, which made me even more frustrated. Only thing making me feel better was the call I had gotten earlier today from Daniel asking if Eliza could be my plus one to the Red Bull party. I had instantly said yes. I wasn't going to miss a chance to spend time with her or to even see her. I was surprised that she had agreed to that after going through so much trouble avoiding me.

So here I was driving myself to the Red Bull afterparty just because I was in love with my best friend's little sister. I hadn't been planning to go, I mean I had a reason to celebrate after an amazing race, resulting a best of the rest finish for me. And I liked to party that was for sure, but I was also tired, and the plan had been to get Eliza to spend the evening with me. So if this was the way, I could manage a one party.

I knew what she had said to me about not wanting us to be anything but friends and I had come to terms with it. I respected her decision. I knew better than anyone what she went through losing her best friend like that and I needed to give her time. I was confident that in some point she would give in to me on her own terms.

I was still beating myself up for leaving her like that before everything had went terribly wrong and it had been too late. I had had no idea about her sickness and all the stuff she had had to go through before last Thursday night when she had told me everything. About the eating disorder to the hospital visits and her still on-going medication and nightmares. It had been hard to hear and even harder not to cry and throw myself under the car knowing I should've been there.

But little by little I had also started to see her again. The girl I used to know, of course in a little darker shade after everything she had lost. I had heard her laugh again the laugh I knew and that was sincere. I had seen her with Yuki and Mick with that gorgeous smile on her face that made her look even more beautiful that she was. She felt freer than she had for the past years. I knew it, I may have made her hate my guts but I never stopped looking at her.

Parking my car a little away I needed to walk to the hotel. As I closed on it a small smile played on my lips knowing I got to see her soon and when I turned my head, I could feel the smile growing even bigger. There she was, her eyes already looking at me, with a beautiful red dress on that made me groan inside, she looked stunning which would mean trouble for me. I needed to keep her away from the creeps, but also control myself around her.

"Hey Gasman" I turned my gaze next to the girl and found smiling Daniel. I quickly gave him a hug and he thanked me for coming, but I couldn't care less as I turned my attention to the girl next to her.

She was smiling but I could tell she was nervous, maybe to be going into a big party like this or maybe just because I was standing next to her. I wasn't sure if I had done something wrong to make her avoid me the whole weekend, but the way she smiled at me now made me think that we were good.

"Shall we?" I grinned not being able to stop smiling and offered her my hand more as a joke, but I couldn't get enough of her touching me. The way it made my skin light up and every part of my body wake up was something I had never felt before.

To my surprise the smile on her face turned into a playful grin that made my knees week and she took a hold of the hand I was offering her. We followed Danny in giving our invitations to the guy on the door before passing through the lobby and stepping into a loud room full of people.

My head turned to watch Eliza like a reflex and at the same time I could feel her tightening her grip on me making sure that she was safe. It was just like in the first party of the season when it was Carlos she was leaning on, but I had made a promise then that it would be me every time after that. So being able to walk into this party knowing that I was the one she was counting on to keep her safe, made me feel like I had won in the lottery.