Nora's POV
It was the day I would finally get to meet Kalle. I have been looking forward to it ever since I received Jari-Matti's call. This job was my dream ever since I was a little kid, and that dream was about to come true. I would be driving beside the youngest ever world rally champion. Knew those finnish lessons will pay off. If you're wondering how I got the job, it's actually quite simple. I have co-driven for Sebastien Ogier on a few different occasions. He told me I was a very good and calm co-driver, and that it's impressive for my young age. We stayed in contact and once Jari-Matti started looking for Kalle's new co-driver, he called me and asked me if I was interested. Of course I was, and with the help of Seb, I was now a WRC co-driver.
Today I had lunch with Kalle and Jari-Matti, where we would discuss plans for the following season. I was nervous because I wanted to leave a good first impression. I decided to wear something that's professional and casual in the same time. I put on some jeans and a jumper on top. It wasn't that cold here in Monaco so I didn't need to wear too many layers. I grew up here and I always liked the weather because it was never too cold, and I didn't like to freeze. I finished my look by putting on some boots. Grabbing my purse and keys, I got out of my building and went to my car. I made my way to the restaurant and saw Jari-Matti in front. He was probably waiting for us.
"Hello, you must be Nora Boucher. I'm Jari-Matti Latvala, the team principal of Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, and , of course, your new boss. Nice to meet you", he said with a big smile on his face. He seemed really nice.
"Yes, I'm Nora. It's nice to finally meet you. I can't say I haven't been looking forward to it", I was trying to sound not too excited, but that task would be too difficult.
"So Kalle just called me and told me he got stuck in traffic so he'll be here in a few minutes. Why don't we go inside and sit down while we wait for him", he just said, and I nodded.
He held the door for me, and let me enter the restaurant first, which I thought was really nice. Now even though I'm from Monaco and I have been living here my whole life, I had never once came to this restaurant. Cool, I guess.
It didn't take him too long to arrive. He came in wearing jeans and a hoodie, and he had a beanie on his head. He looked around trying to find our table for a moment and then shortly after, he made his way over to us. He first greeted his boss, and then, he turned to me.
"I'm Kalle Rovanpera, nice to meet you", he said with a subtle smile. His expression not revealing too much emotion.
"Nora Boucher, nice to meet you too", I said with a smile. It felt like I was trying a bit too hard to leave a good first impression, but it was important to do it that way, and not screw this up.
We talked quite a lot, Kalle and I shared some basic information about each other and the lunch was going quite well. It seemed like everything will be running quite smoothly between us. Or that's what I at least thought. At the end of lunch, Kalle and I exchanged our phone numbers so we could communicate easier. Things started going in the wrong direction when Jari-Matti received a call, and had to leave us because of a personal issue. It was then, that I realised that he was the one keeping the conversation going, and with him leaving, the only thing that stayed was the awkward silence between us.
"So are you from Monaco, or did you just move here like me?" Kalle finally broke the silence with this question.
"I'm a born and raised Monegasque, never lived anywhere else".
"So how do you know finnish then. Not that it's important, but just out of curiosity", he said trying to sound like he's interested in what I'm about to say. It seemed like he didn't really like me, but maybe the change was hard on him so he was trying his best to be nice.
"I took finnish lessons throughout middle school and high school. And one of my aunts is from Finland so this way it's easier to communicate since she doesn't speak french, and her english isn't very good either", I never knew why, but i liked finnish. It definitely sounds funky, but in a good way.
"Interesting. I would ask you something else but I ran out of questions so... Is there anything you'd like to ask me?" at this point he really wasn't giving two shits about this conversation.
"Not that I can think of right now. I think I know everything I've wanted to".
"Good, how about we leave then?" Was he really that desperate to get rid of me? Was I being that boring? Like, c'mon... at least at try to sound like you care.
"Sure", I just mumbled. I wanted to go home after this, so called, fiasco.
"Well, I'll see you in 2 days for Monte test, right?" he said just as he was about to leave.
"Yes, it was nice to meet you", I said with a smile on my face hoping he'd smile back at me.
"Nice to meet you too, I guess", he mumbled the last part of the sentence so I couldn't hear what he said. I hoped it was nothing too bad.
Things got real awkward when we were finally parting ways. I went for a hug, he went for a handshake and all of that caused some unnecessary cringe. We parted ways, and went back home. During my drive back home, I started overthinking the possible reasons for him to not like me. I decided to not bother myself with that bullshit, because it was to early to try and guess what he's thinking about me.
After coming home, I took a shower and changed into some more comfortable clothes. I decided to watch my comfort TV show, Friends. It's such a classic and I could watch it a million times and I still wouldn't get bored. I chopped up some fruit and mixed it into a salad. I popped myself up on the couch and played the episode I stopped on. It was that episode where Rachel finds out that Monica and Chandler are together. Such a classic. I wasted my whole afternoon watching Friends.
Before going to bed, I decided to stalk Kalle's instagram for a bit. The curiosity had gotten the better of me after all. I scrolled through his photos. It was mostly cars and rally videos, so nothing too interesting, if you know what I mean. Then one of his more recent photos caught my eye. It was taken when he was in Japan. He had a black t-shirt and a black beanie on. What caught my eye were the tattoos on his arms. I wasn't aware that he had any. He automatically seemed cooler, just because of that.
After finishing my stalking session, I decided to go to sleep because I didn't want to start overthinking anything again. It went the way it did, and there's nothing I can do or change about it. The only thing I can hope for is that he doesn't hate me. If that's the case, we will be just fine. I turned off the light on my bedside table and quickly drifted off to sleep.
______________________
hope you liked chapter 2, if you did, please vote and/or comment because your support means everything to me. i will try to update as much as i can. i'm currently full of new ideas so that's why the chapters are coming more often than they usually would.
ly, xo nika <3
أنت تقرأ
Sweet Dreams • Kalle Rovanperä
أدب الهواةᴛᴀᴛᴛᴏᴏ ʏᴏᴜʀ ɴᴀᴍᴇ ᴀᴄʀᴏꜱꜱ ᴍʏ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ ꜱᴏ ɪᴛ ᴡɪʟʟ ʀᴇᴍᴀɪɴ... Kalle Rovanperä, a young, successful rally driver and the current world champion has to switch his co-driver, which causes a lot of chaos and it turns his rally world upside down. Nora Boucher, a...
