apocalypse | charles leclerc ✓

chapter 13 | father knows best

«When did it end? All the enjoyment. I'm sad again, don't tell my boyfriend.»

---

Nowhere in her list of preferred activities spending time with her family — which included extended members as well — was included, but she'd skipped the same dinner the year before and doing so two times in a row would be rude and impolite, her mother would say, and it'd be seen with bad eyes because, at the end of the day, they were there to commemorate her late grandfather so she understood, really, it didn't mean she wouldn't dread every second of being there.

Sloane hadn't bothered to invite Charles, not only because it was race weekend, but also she promised herself to keep him as far away from her family as possible. Lest he found out how little she truly enjoyed her time with all of them. Plus, they could survive some time apart. Like it was good. Though she should've known Charles Leclerc would be a topic of conversation during the day.

Even with his absence in the flesh.

"We never imagined your parents would let you date a racing driver." Her cousin finally succeeded in drifting the conversation to that specific point.

Her other cousin, sitting next to the one who decided to speak her mind first, raised her eyebrows, seemingly intrigued with the new development. Sloane set her drink down. It didn't impress her that the two nineteen-year-old girls, or eighteen-year-old — whatever age they were —, would want to dig and know. That was just how Lara and Elke were for the most part.

Playing with the rim of her glass, she quirked an eyebrow. "What is that supposed to mean?"

The girls exchanged a look, a mischievous one, and the last thing she needed was to get bullied by her younger cousins. No way. "Sloane, your mum is allergic to the possibility of your image getting tainted, and I mean...we're on Twitter. We know people say stuff." Lara, the one who'd instigated first, mentioned with a meaningful tone. Right. "And your dad would have a heart attack if he found out people call you WAG all the time."

"I won't discuss my relationship with you two of all people. Don't you have homework to do? Have you even graduated high school yet?"

"We're in university, Sloane." This time Elke decided to chime in. She rolled her eyes and dismissed it with a hand gesture, lips curved into a smile. "Could you sneak us into one of their parties? Maybe we can hook up with one of them too!"

Lara grabbed Elke's arm and squealed in excitement like her sister just discovered the next big thing. "The one from here is kind of cute."

"Or her boyfriend's teammate, he's so fine," Elke added. "Or Lando! The cute accent!"

She heaved a sigh, loud enough for both girls to pin their attention on her. She wouldn't let her very-much-yet-to-be-functional-adults cousins anywhere near those guys. "That's not happening anytime soon, so don't even dream about it. I don't want to have your parents in my ear accusing me of corrupting your minds, or whatever."

Both girls huffed on cue, and Sloane never understood how they behaved like twins without actually being ones. They were very close in age, nobody could blame her for the confusion. Lara narrowed her eyes, and leaned against her seat, folding her arms over her chest. It was a bit depressing, and embarrassing considering those were her younger cousins of barely legal age, that this was the closest thing to girl talk she'd had in months. Surely there was Aurora, but Sloane didn't feel like speaking about relationship stuff with her was an attainable thing anymore. She never lied about not wanting her best friend to have problems at work because out of everybody, she decided to get involved with Ferrari's finest.