Say It's Me ☾ Charles Leclerc

2 | At the right time

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Gracie Abrams - Feels Like:
'Oh, we almost got away, we cut it close. The city's getting loud, if I choke, it's only 'cause I'm scared to be alone. Been tryna work it out, you should know'

While Noelle was walking back towards her apartment, her mind was filled with even more thoughts than on the way to the cafeteria this morning. They were of a different nature though and it felt lovely to know she had finished her designs and caught up with an old friend all in the space of one morning. She thought back to the last time she had seen Charles, over two years ago. They were both attending his cousin and her best friend Sophie's party, having a blast and at the end of the evening, Charles and some of his friends had dropped her off home again. He had always taken care of her like he would for his cousin and Noelle smiled thinking back to the times they spent together.

Seeing him today was a surprise though because she had been coming to that cafeteria for years now and she had never seen him there before, although he told her he always stopped on his way home from a run to get a cup of coffee there. She was probably too invested in her drawings to have noticed him. It was nice to catch up though and talk about the things that were going on in her head. It was a very needed escape from reality for a moment and even though she would have been happy with the result of just finishing her sketches, the chat with Charles had made her morning even better. They had gotten along just as well as they did years ago and it was nice to see he was still the same person as she knew him as.

After a short walk, Noelle arrived back home and placed her sketch pad on the desk that stood in the living room. She lived in a tiny apartment that her dad had bought her as a 'gift' before he randomly told her he was moving to the United States for work. He had always been a workaholic and that was also the reason her mom decided to divorce him. Noelle hadn't seen her dad much since the day her parents split when she was 7, but she didn't really feel the need to anyway. She was grateful she had a place to live when she started university and left her mom's house. She couldn't take seeing her come home with a different man every few weeks anymore.

Her parents had never been really hands-on with her. There was always a nanny to take care of her and she felt like more of her mom to her than her real mother had ever done. Until this day, Noelle visited Julie regularly, but she was the one taking care of her now because the woman was getting quite old. Noelle made a mental note to visit her this weekend before she headed towards her bedroom to change her jeans into a pair of joggers. She grabbed her laptop and sat down on her bed, excited to give her best friend a video call. They hadn't spoken in a few days because of how busy Noelle had been, so they would probably have lots to talk about.

"Bonjour, ma chérie!" Noelle heard a split second before Sophie's smiling face appeared on the screen. The brunette girl was sitting on her bed as well, her face was bare from makeup but she looked gorgeous as always. "Hey, how have you been?" Noelle asked before she listened to her best friend talk about her previous days at Atélier Sophie, the gallery she had just opened which showcased her beautiful artwork. She looked over at the painting on the wall of two young women enjoying the nightlife of Monaco, that her friend had given to her for her birthday last year and smiled. She was really proud of the girl on the other side of the screen.

"How was your morning? Did you finish your sketches?" Sophie asked and Noelle nodded enthusiastically, taking her laptop with her to the living room to grab the drawing pad from the desk. She opened it and held the final sketch in front of the screen, seeing Sophie clap in her hands of excitement. "They turned out better than I ever imagined!" She said after the girls had spent long evenings brainstorming for the designs together. "I'm really happy with them, it suddenly just came to me when I was at the coffee shop this morning". Noelle told about the idea of the tulle layer and Sophie confirmed it added something special to the dress.