Say It's Me ☾ Charles Leclerc

17 | Just a friend

♪
Etham - I Wish It Was Me:
'You look at me like I'm someone you only need when it goes wrong but you look at him like he's your missing piece and, darling, I wish it was me, I wish it was me'

"This one is for you. Congratulations, Soph". Charles said when he handed his cousin one of the bouquets before he kissed her cheek. Noelle had just finished greeting Charles' friends when he made his way over to her. "And this one is for you. Congratulations on finally pursuing your dream, Elle". He said, his eyes linked with hers while he leaned in to place a kiss on her cheek too, his hand finding its way to her waist. "You look gorgeous". He whispered in her ear while he softly squeezed her hip before he pulled back slowly. "Thank you so much, Charles". Noelle said, feeling her cheeks heat up at the sight of him and the touch of his fingers on her clothed skin. He walked over towards his seat at the head of the table when Noelle placed her bouquet on the small table in the corner of the room.

The waiter poured the boys their glass of champagne when Sophie lifted hers and stood up to give a speech since she was the one who had organized the event. "Good evening, everyone! First of all, thank you for coming to this very special dinner. This week has been a rollercoaster as it all went pretty quickly, but I'm so proud to announce to you all that Noelle and I will be launching our own clothing line sometime this year.." Sophie said and Noelle smiled when she heard all of her friends clap. She decided to stand up and join her best friend in her speech. "As a few of you might know, it has always been my dream to start a fashion range and since Sophie is the most amazing artist I know, I asked her to become my business partner and before we knew it, we had an entire collection planned out already".

The crowd laughed a little at the two girls who they all knew were very passionate about their project before Sophie continued. "We wanted to get you all here to celebrate this with us since you all are very important people in our lives and we couldn't think of anyone better to start this journey with. So thank you. And thank you, Elle, for asking me to do this with you". Sophie said when she clinked her glass against Noelle's again. "Je t'aime, ma chérie". The brunette girl answered before she said: "Santé" and everyone took a sip of their champagne. Noelle sat back down on her seat and looked around the table for a moment, admiring her friends and the fact she was so lucky to share them all with Sophie. Her eyes linked with Charles and he had a small smile on his face when Noelle suddenly felt a hand on her knee under the table.

She looked to her right to see Stephan lean closer towards her. "That was a beautiful speech. The two of you really seem to complement each other.." He whispered in her ear and Noelle gave him a little nod. She could tell that Charles was still looking at her while she spoke to Stephan and it made her feel a little nervous. "When do you think your collection will be out?" The blonde boy next to her asked and Noelle shrugged her shoulders a bit. "I don't really know. I still have school to finish so we can't really start until that's done. But knowing Sophie and me, things will go pretty quickly after that". Noelle said and she let out a giggle while she accepted the menu for dinner from the waiter.

Charles thanked the same waiter as he made his way around the table and handed him the menu and he tried to focus his gaze on the object in front of him, reading through the dishes to pick one out to eat. But his ears kept perking up every time Noelle let out a giggle, which made his eyes follow the sound back to her. She looked absolutely gorgeous, the black dress fitted her body so nicely and his mouth had nearly watered when he saw her long legs in those thigh-high boots. He didn't know the boy she was talking to that was sitting next to her so it was a surprise to see she was so comfortable around him. Charles knew he had no right to be upset about it, but there was a slight twitch in his eye every time he saw the blonde guy lean closer towards her to whisper in her ear.