when worlds collide [george russell]

Chapter 9

Willow was already waiting on the court impatiently throwing a ball into the air and catching it again.

He better only be late. If he doesn't show up....I'm so done with this already, Willow thought to herself.

She let the ball bounce of the floor a few times before a familiar figure approached the court.

"Sorry, I'm late. I drove here straight from Brackley and there was a bit of traffic, I didn't expect."

At least he apologized, she thought. Willow was still annoyed but she couldn't help but wonder what he was doing in her home town again. Did he grow up there too and their paths never crossed?

She said nothing in response and waited for him to be ready so she could play the first ball at him. They played silently back and forth, both of them not missing a single shot. After a few minutes, Willow go frustrated with herself. She had beat him once already when they played against each other at the club event, but this time it was hard to even get him just the tiniest bit out of his zone. He made zero mistakes. The thought that he had let her win that one time on purpose came into her head and although this was just a hypothesis, anger filled her whole body.

She proceeded to fire one ball after another at him until he finally couldn't keep up anymore. After that she gained more confidence in her abilities and it got easier and easier for her to beat him each time they started again.

The only thing was, that she looked like she had just run a marathon, with her hair all messy and sweat drop running down the side of her face, and he looked like he just had a cup of tea on a cold winter morning, freshly energized and not out of breath at all.

They met in the middle and both reached their hands out over the net to show their mutual respect, as it was common.

"You should really play at Wimbledon" George complimented her while a small smile formed on his lips as he looked the exhausted brown haired girl up and down.

She sighed and gave him a look and shook her head in disagreement.

"I really mean it, I tried to keep up but you're way too good." he got a little more serious as he didn't like how she downplayed herself.

"Well, I'd hope the years of training were worth something." she joked and found his eyes as they both chuckled.

She froze for a second, his piercing blue eyes looked straight into hers. They were just casually talking but at this moment it felt like she would blurt out her deepest secret if he glanced into her eyes a second longer.

As she realized what was happening to her she immediately shook it off and forced herself to go back to hating him. She couldn't throw everything overboard just because he charmed her with his eyes.

"If you're ok with it, I'd love to bring you home." he offered. There he was again, the charming gentleman. When he acted like this, hating him seemed like the most impossible thing in the world.

Willow would have said no, but it was already 4:50 and she remembered she had agreed to meet with Carmen at 5:30 at Kensington palace for some reason. She couldn't recall why she would have agreed to meet at this time when she knew she would play tennis right before. She must have had forgotten. There was no way she would be able to take the tube home and then to Kensington Palace in time, so she agreed to let George take her, although she knew she shouldn't for several reasons.

George opened the door to the passenger seat of what seemed to be his Mercedes for her and got into the driver seat after she was settled. 

Willow had her bag and her racket between her legs since the undeniably beautiful sports car didn't offer much space for anything else besides the two passengers.

As he started the car it was already roaring. Willow had a sudden boost of adrenalin which she tried not to make obvious to George. She didn't want to give him that satisfaction but ever since her brother talked about cars all the time, Willow knew her fair share and hearing the sound of such a powerful engine made her excited, no doubt.

"Nice car. Yours?" she said with a sarcastic tone, hinting at the fact she couldn't believe a guy his age already owned a car like this. He seemed quite posh, but not that he would be gifted such an expensive car.

George cleared his throat before speaking, he truly didn't want to seem like some spoiled rich kid with daddy's car but she still didn't know about him being a Formula One driver and this 5 minute car ride wasn't exactly the best place to explain something big like this.

"Yeah...kinda." he answered reluctantly. 

Before Willow could get to the bottom of his unclear response, her phone started vibrating. It was Carmen who was calling to tell she wouldn't make it today because her and her boyfriends dog seemed to be unwell and since she didn't want to leave the little dachshund at home alone in his state she would have to cancel.

"Yeah sure, no problem at all. I hope Chili is feeling better soon. Bye" was all that George heard from Willows side of the phone call before she hung up and let out a breath.

"Something serious?" George asked curiously, not knowing who had called and who Chili was.

"Nothing world changing, just the friend I was supposed to meet right now had to cancel because her dog is sick." Willow explained.

George nodded and they were both quiet for a second as they were not far from Willows flat anymore.

"Sooooo... you're free then?" he asked eventually.

She would have lied if she said no. He knew she was free. She had not choice but to answer "Seems like it."

"What would have you done with the friend of yours?" he now asked.

Willow didn't expect that question and she didn't know where we wanted to go with this either.

"We would have had a stroll through Hyde Park, with her dog but obviously...."

"I'd like to take you on that stroll then." George said confidently. 

They were waiting at a red light so George took that opportunity to turn his head towards her and give her an almost begging look.

"We can do that..." the words left her mouth without hesitation. Only when she had said them out loud she realized what she just said. Willow had no clue what had come over her but she didn't exactly regret saying it either. She was actually curious, they had gotten along quite well that one time and maybe he wasn't such a dick afterall. Willow still swore to herself tho that she would under no circumstance let it end up in her bed or any bed fro that matter.