Love in thirds

1.2 Carlos & Marie

"Hola, mi linda" you sigh while turning around. Walking towards you is no other than Carlos Sainz jr. you've been working with him for 4 years, and even though you've rejected him more than anyone ever did, he never stops flirting with you or bragging about how amazing he is in the bedroom department. "Good morning, Carlos" you say, "what can I get you?" He looks on the board behind you, as if he's not here every morning for his coffee.

"Can I have an espresso?" he asks with a wink. You really don't understand why he keeps doing this, you've flat out rejected him so many times. Maybe it's more of a joke nowadays? You figured that asking him might make him stop.

"Why do you keep doing that?" "Doing what?"

You put the cup under the machine and select the right program while turning around to face him. "Why do you keep flirting with me?" he chuckles and shrugs, "just waiting until I finally get the chance to show you how good I can treat you mi guapa."

You roll your eyes at him, "you clearly need help, I've said no so many times, when will you stop?" you sigh. "I will stop when I've had you" he says before taking the hot espresso from your soft hands. "Have a good day mi cariño" he walks away with a satisfied smile on his face, knowing that he managed to make you flustered and annoyed again.

When you first started working for Ferrari's hospitality, you had a tiny crush on Carlos from seeing him walking around. Especially during the race weekends when he'd stroll around in the tight fireproof shirt with the overalls hanging low on his hips. But as soon as he started talking, you weren't that interested anymore. He probably picked up that you would stare at him when he was looking like that, so he started flirting with you. That itself wasn't the worst thing ever, but the rumours about him that seemed to reach you ever since he started flirting with you weren't that pretty. A lot of women had been talking about how good he was, that wasn't bad to hear obviously, but the fact that it were a LOT of women was what made you unattracted to him. You weren't interested in being another one on the list, so after a few months of you reciprocating his flirty remarks, you stopped doing so and tried to create a bit more distance between the two of you.

Carlos didn't understand why you went all cold out of nowhere, because even though he had been flirting and enjoyed making you flustered, he liked it even more when he also managed to make you laugh. He thought that you were at least becoming friends, and he hoped that he might be able to go a level further if you were a bit more comfortable with him. He never got the chance to find out if that would be possible, and it upset him quite a bit. At first, he thought you were just in a bad mood, but when it had been 3 race weekends and you still didn't respond like you used to, he figured that he should give you some space. He stopped getting his espressos at the Ferrari hospitality, asking Lando if he could get him one from the McLaren side, but when he returned to the Ferrari hospitality you hadn't changed your attitude towards him. He really wanted you to talk to him again, because he missed your silly conversations with each other, so he wrecked his brain thinking about how he could get you to talk to him again. That's why he started joking around with flirty remarks and bedroom talk, trying to get a reaction out of you. It worked in the beginning, but now 4 years down the road, he starts to wonder if it's worth chasing you around when you will probably never reciprocate his feelings.

You're cleaning the coffee machine, making sure everything is finished and stacked for a busy day tomorrow. It's Thursday tomorrow, media day, and you have to work the 9-5 shift. It's better to make sure everything is ready and done now, because you plan on going out for dinner with your friend who lives in Milan. You guys see each other at least every year during Monza race weekend, and you're excited to catch up and see what's been going on in her life ever since the last time you saw her. When you finished getting ready for the next day, you grab your stuff and wave goodbye to your colleagues. "See you tomorrow guys! Have a good evening" you smile at them and make your way to the car with some colleagues in it. You always try to drive together with a group of colleagues, that way it's much more entertaining on the drive back to the hotel. After arriving and entering your hotel room you get into the shower, washing the workday off you, and get ready for your dinner. Your friend already texted you that she would pick you up in 45 minutes, so you had enough time to make sure you look decent enough. After brushing out your strawberry blonde hair and making sure it falls off your shoulders softly, you apply some simple make-up and walk over to your suitcase. You had packed one of your favourite sundresses for this evening especially, loving how it complimented your hair and body. After getting dressed, you put on some perfume and make sure that you have your key card, phone and wallet ready. You check the time and decide that you can wait in the lobby for your friend to show up.