ma chérie | cl16

chapter eighteen

Montreal was a beautiful city, and Adeline loved the atmosphere of the whole race weekend. She also got to practice her French skills a little, which was way better than her lessons on Duolingo to refresh her memory. She was determined to improve in French—after all, Pierre would love to speak French with her again. However, there was still a long journey to get there.

Adeline was missing Lily and Isa in Montreal; the girls had grown on her a lot. It was nice to have some female friends around. On the other hand, she'd met George's girlfriend Carmen on Friday. Adeline had immediately remembered the night in Barcelona; the way drunken George had been talking so nicely about her (and he had described her perfectly—Carmen had been very bubbly and friendly).

Unfortunately for Pierre, there had been no points to celebrate. The car hadn't performed well the whole weekend—Yuki's car hadn't even finished the race. Adeline had noticed a while ago that Pierre hadn't been himself; he had lost motivation and passion.

Adeline agreed to come to an after-race celebration. Thankfully, it wasn't a party (Adeline was glad that she didn't have to go to another sweaty and loud place), it was rather a get-together in a bar with a few drivers—Pierre, Yuki, Lando, and Alex. Charles and Carlos were having some kind of an after-race meeting, which Adeline found really sad—Carlos had ended up second, Charles had made it from the back of the grid to fifth place; and they couldn't even celebrate properly.

Adeline felt a little disappointed that she couldn't see Charles. She had barely seen him throughout the weekend; she had been spending time with Pierre and Yuki, and Charles had been concentrating on the race.

She wanted to see Charles today, though. And that was scary.

There was a terrible mess in her head now. Adeline knew she cared for Charles in some way, and she also knew that the feeling wasn't one-sided. She could feel it. Plus, Pierre had told her. However, she had no idea what she wanted to do about her feelings.

Adeline was too scared to move forward or to tell Charles anything—after all, she didn't date guys she cared about deeply. That would mean that she would get way too vulnerable. And that was something she couldn't do. Not again. Not after what had happened to her; she had gone through enough pain.

She couldn't risk going through something like that ever again.

"Addy! There you are!" A familiar voice with a British accent interrupted Adeline's thoughts. "We were wondering where you went!"

Adeline turned her head to a blue-eyed Brit with brown curly hair. She realized she was probably standing at the bar for more than a few minutes. She had promised to bring the group sitting at a reserved table upstairs a round of shots, but she completely zoned out for a moment.

"I completely forgot about you guys!" Adeline slapped her forehead, leaning against the bar counter to get some bartender's attention. A tall man in a tight shirt noticed Adeline, and he walked toward her to get her order.

"It's okay, we already ordered," Lando grinned, but then he pointed his finger at the blonde woman. "You're not drinking! We're changing that. Four shots of gin, please, " he said to the bartender.

"Four? Are you joking?" Adeline widened her eyes at Lando, watching him sit on a wooden bar stool.

"Two for me, two for you," Lando explained, nodding his head in the direction of the bar stool next to him.

"Fine," Adeline growled after she had sat down, watching the bartender bringing them four gin shots. There was a hint of disgust on Adeline's face. She wasn't really in the mood for drinking. The last time she had been doing shots in Barcelona, it had ended up badly.