Say It's Me ☾ Charles Leclerc

13 | This fine line

♪
Alex Sampson - Play Pretend:
'Don't take this the wrong way, I want you to be happy but it's hard to watch you fall again 'cause now I gotta play pretend. Spending all of my time dancing on this fine line, it's hard to watch you fall again 'cause now I gotta play pretend'

Even though it was only the end of March, the weather was lovely, the sun shining through the slightly opened window of Noelle's apartment while she was packing her bag for the day. She had been in one of the best dreams of her life, getting married to a beautiful man who was just sliding a gorgeous ring on her finger when she was woken up by the ringing of her phone, seeing it was Sophie. Noelle couldn't wait to get back to sleep this evening to continue her dream, it was just too bad that she couldn't remember the guy's face. Sophie had told her that it was going to be a pretty warm day and that she was coming over in an hour to pick her up. The girls agreed to go to the beach and Noelle was really excited for the first proper sunny day of the year.

She got dressed into a black triangle bikini and she covered herself with some black cycling shorts and a large sweatshirt until they got there, seeing it was still a bit chilly in the morning. After grabbing a large towel, some sunscreen, a book, her AirPods and her sunglasses, Noelle was ready to go. They would get some drinks and snacks on the way there and then they would be all set. While she waited for her best friend to arrive, Noelle planted herself on the seat on her window sill and she grabbed her phone to check her notifications. There weren't really any important ones, just some spam emails and messages in the school group chat.

Noelle scrolled through the messages, not wanting to answer them as it was the weekend and she sighed when she clicked on her chat with Charles. He was in Bahrain right now and today was his first qualifying of the season. Noelle wasn't really interested in Formula 1, besides her friend - or whatever he was of her now - that was driving in it but she didn't really want to complicate things by suddenly watching all the sessions and becoming really invested. Sophie would probably fill her in with what happened this afternoon anyway, so she didn't bother. However, she was going to try and watch the race tomorrow and she wanted to invite her best friend over to join her when she spoke to her today.

Noelle and Charles had seen each other once more, on Tuesday and after the sad feelings she felt when she came home a week earlier, Charles had made sure that she was all good before they said goodbye this time. The blonde girl giggled when she thought about their evening together and frankly, she couldn't wait until he was back next week so they could do it all over again. Noelle had surprised herself slightly, having suspected that she would be completely smitten with him by now, but she wasn't. The fact that they had clarified things beforehand, had definitely made it easier for her to draw that line. 

After another ten minutes of scrolling and looking out the window to spot her best friend's car, Noelle smiled down at her when she saw the brunette girl park in front of her building. She gathered her stuff and stepped out of her apartment, down the staircase to meet her friend. "I could have stayed in bed for 15 minutes longer, you know?" Noelle said, teasing Sophie with the fact that the girl was always late. "Oh piss off!" The brunette girl said while she bumped her shoulder against hers jokingly after Noelle had sat down on the passenger seat. "Ready to go?" Sophie asked and the girls smiled widely when they turned up the music, starting their journey to their first beach day of the year.

They had stopped to get food and drinks on the way and after about 45 minutes, the girls arrived at their favourite beach in the south of France. It was pretty empty as it was early in the year so the friends were able to choose their favourite spot close to the beach club but not too far from the sea. On their drive over here, Sophie had informed Noelle that Gabriel was joining them this afternoon and he was bringing some of his friends. She didn't really mind, the more people, the merrier in her opinion and she was happy for her best friend that she was finally able to see him again. "Do you want one?" Sophie asked, holding a bottle of water out for Noelle to take and she thanked her with a smile when she accepted it.