then you flashed your green eyes at me || Charles Leclerc

chapter twelve

*author's note*
This chapter is very short and it's kind of bothering me but I'll just let it be, I'll try to double update though :)
Enjoy!

-§-

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I was supposed to pick up Arthur at the airport" he sighed. "I guess he was just a cover for me to pick you up"

"Sound more disappointed, please" she said sarcastic.

"I'm sorry" 

"Yeah sure" she said bitterly. "I'm going to kill Lando"

"And I'm going to kill Charles" he echoed her. 

"I'm gonna call a cab" she said, starting to walk away.

"No!" he blurted out. She stopped and turned to look at him, while he got surprised by himself. "I mean, I'm already here. I might as well give you a ride"

"So that you can ignore me more? Yeah, no thanks" she said.

"I'm sorry about that" he said sincerely. "I just didn't know what to say"

"And it didn't even cross your mind that, maybe, I had something to say to you?" she asked, exasperated. "I woke up not remembering anything and I wanted to apologize and know what happened from you, instead of that dickhead that Charles is. And I've tried. I left you calls, messages, I even texted you on Instagram. I had to ask Lando how you were doing! I cried because I couldn't understand how to fix it, and I really wanted to. I wanted to make it up to you somehow, but you didn't even let me try!" tears were starting to fall from her eyes.

"You are one of my closest friends" she said, her voice trembling. "And I can't imagine a life without you in it. And I don't know what to do, because it's like you don't want me in yours anymore" her voice cracked completely.

He didn't know what to say. He silently pulled her close, hugging her. He held her while she cried, feeling her tears through the shirt and on his skin. His eyes started to water, his heart breaking in front of her.

"I am so sorry" he tried. "I have been so confused lately and I was so afraid of what you might think of me. I don't know why, where it came from. I didn't know how to handle the situation and I just decided to avoid it"

"Friends don't avoid situations. They try to solve them, they fight for each other!" she said, trying to pull away. 

He kept her close. 

"I know, and I am sorry. I made a mistake" he said. "Let me fix it, please. It's my turn now" he added. Then he pulled away to look at her in the eyes. "Get in the car with me and let's work this out."

She nodded. She didn't really have the energy to do anything else.

They got in his car and he started driving away from the airport. They got some coffee to go, then Carlos drove to her favorite spot in Monaco. It was an open space from where you could see the whole city, and it wasn't well known so it wasn't crowded. It was the perfect place.

She had found it a few years before, when Lando had had one of his first races in Monaco. Since then, she would go there any chance she got. She had shown it only to Carlos, it was where they had talked properly for the first time and had started getting closer.

Being back there was weird, after all the time they had spent apart and the last few days in which they hadn't had contact at all. But they talked. For hours.

They talked about what happened, about what they wished had happened. They talked about their feelings, how they were feeling in that moment. It was hard.

He was afraid of telling her his doubts, she was scared of opening up. For a minute they discussed what it would've been like if they weren't just friends. Waking up together in the morning and being in a relationship. Alya tried to laugh it off, she couldn't see it happen. He didn't say anything, he laughed with her, but he was hurt. He saw it. 

He could see himself waking up with her every morning, growing old together, builing a family. But she couldn't, and there was now no way he would've told her. 

His doubts got cleared, but his heart got wrecked.

He decided to ignore it. And they stayed friends. They shook hands over a finished coffee and a chicken sandwich, promising to be friends and not let drunken nights separate them. 

Then he drove her to the hotel and said goodbye.

She got off the car, got her suitcase and walked away from him with a smile on her face.

He watched her walking away, starting the engine when she got in the hall and drove off, a tear sliding down his cheek. 

Was he not enough, or was there something else? Someone else, maybe? She was the only one who believed in him always, no matter for what, no matter how, she did. So the second option was the most possible. But who? Did he know him? Could it be Charles? He had been acting weird. But she despised him, didn't she? It couldn't be. 

Or maybe it wasn't anything at all. Maybe it was just the whole thing, maybe in the future it would be different. Maybe. 

Until then, he could only hope.