Unbreakable Ties: An Arthur Leclerc Story

Chapter 2

I had spent the next hour trying to refocus on my physics text book, but all I could see was shining blue eyes and eventually gave up. I was packing up my bag when my phone beeped with a text from my roommate, Sophia.

When will you be back?! Some of my friends invited us to Jimmy'z and I have NO IDEA what to wear!!

I chuckled as I read the text. Sophia and I had been assigned roommates in the dorms, but she had grown up in Monaco. We had clicked immediately, and Sophia had been so excited to introduce me to all her friends and inviting me to Sunday dinner with her family. But I was still getting used to the glitz of life in Monaco, it being so different than my hometown in England. We had been going to Jimmy'z, one of the most well-known night clubs in the world, almost every weekend. We'd already met several footballers and other celebs. My friends at home were so jealous of my Instagram stories.

I quickly texted Sophia that I was on my way back and would help her pick an outfit, before leaving the coffee shop.

When I got back to my dorm room, it honestly looked like a bomb had gone off. Sophia had taken just about everything out of her closet, and several items from mine, and was trying them on. Ultimately she had decided on a short black dress that had long sleeves made of lace - and she had chosen my outfit too, a deep red bodycon dress with spaghetti straps.

As we were walking to the bar, Sophia started talking about our plans for the weekend. "Emmy, did you finish all your reading? I want to go to the beach tomorrow."

I blushed thinking about the afternoon at the coffee shop and Arthur. I hadn't been able to stop thinking about him if I was being honest.

"Uh, not really," I said.

"Why not? You were gone for ages!" Sophia complained. I hesitated a second before answering her.

"Well, I kind of got distracted. There was this boy..."

Before I could finish my sentence, Sophia interrupted, "A boy?! What boy?! You met a boy?!"

"I didn't MEET a boy," I clarified. "He bumped into me and I spilled my coffee. He bought me a new one and we chatted for a few minutes. That's all."

"Did you get his number? What's his name?"

"No, no. I'm not getting into this. I'm probably never going to see him again. Let's forget about it, yah?"

Sophia sighed deeply, but didn't prod any further. "Okay, okay. Let's find a fun new boy tonight!"

+++

When we arrived at Jimmy'z, we went straight back to the VIP area where Sophia's friends had a table. We had all gotten a drink and were sitting chatting for a few minutes.

"Oh! Look!" One of the other girls suddenly said. "The Leclerc brothers are here!"

"Oh! Where!?" Another stood up to look.

I didn't move, but asked "Who are the Leclerc brothers?"

I swear one by one they turned to me with looks of horror on their faces.

"The Leclerc bothers might as well be Monaco royalty," said Sophia. "Charles, the middle one, is a Formula 1 driver. For Ferrari. And is one of the most handsome men I've literally ever seen."

"Oh, I don't know anything about Formula 1. My dad watches, but never my thing," I said.

"I'm going to talk to Charles, rumor has it he's single these days," one of the girls said and got up.

"We all went to school with his younger brother. I've always had a thing for the oldest brother, Lorenzo, though," Sophia continued and I just nodded.

"Oh! I love this song! Let's go dance Emmy!" Sophia said as she grabbed my arm and pulled me to the dance floor.