Still Learning [C.L]

Studying and Separation

The week leading up to Spa felt particularly lonely due to spending most of the summer break with Charles and now we had to resort to texting and FaceTime as our main form of contact.

Em and I tried to occupy ourselves with some retail therapy and writing up lectures to prepare for the upcoming semester. Thursday came around and I had Charles' driver's media conference on in the background as I studied about root canal treatments.

"Charles, I hope you had a good summer break and got to relax with your girlfriend?" A reported asked, piquing my interest as Charles smiled and nodded "Are you concerned her friendship with Max Verstappen's girlfriend and the other drivers will affect your determination for the rest of the season?"
Charles shook his head before responding "I've grown up with some of the drivers on the grid, I'm good friends with them and it's never affected my performance. When I'm on track, the friendship is gone"

I couldn't believe Emma and I were a topic of conversation in the media, enough to merit a question in the press conference. Once it had finished, I switched off the TV and spent the next few hours focusing on uni coursework.

- -

Spa was a tough watch that weekend, the Ferrari strategy screwing Charles once again and dropping a place on the very last lap. I had begun to take Charles' losses almost as hard as he did, retiring to my bedroom for the night, only leaving to eat the dinner Emma had made for us.

- -

We were back at university on the Monday morning so Emma and I set up our laptops on the balcony, taking in the summer sun whilst we attended our online lectures throughout the day.

Aimée had messaged me at lunchtime to organise a meet up so we invited her and Sharon over for dinner at our apartment to get some of the gossip from their summer holidays.

I decided to make carbonara for the four of us, having flashbacks to Charles' disaster of a cooking attempt the first time I stayed at his

Jen
I'm in charge of the carbonara from now on 😉

Charles
I would need to taste it to make my decision

Jen
You'll be desperate to wife me once you try it 💍

Charles
I already am

I blushed at my phone before locking it and placing it back in my pocket and stirring the cheese in to the sauce

"Is Charles sending you saucy messages?" Emma asked and my face flushed even more
"What? No!" I laughed, embarrassed
"What? Max and I do it all the time" she laughed
"I really don't want to know what you and Max get up to" I shook my head and poured the sauce on to the pasta

I served the pasta and we all sat at the dining table to eat and catch up

"So how's things going with Arthur?" Em asked Aimée
"Yeah we're really happy, he's just bought his own apartment so we'll be able to spend more time together once he's got that all organised" she smiled
"I feel left out of the group, being the only one without a racing driver boyfriend" Sharon huffed jokingly
"I heard Lando Norris is recently single" Aimée eyed Emma and I from across the table for confirmation
"Too soon Aimée" I held my palm to my chest "I'm still hurting from that one"