Celine Dion questioned it best -- how does a moment last forever? Could a moment ever last longer than it should? Juniper had seen so many films where lingering hugs between pairs on the cusp of love lasted too many moments too long, the cringe factor forcing her to look away.
She wasn't sure why she was expecting some particularly extended moment between herself and Alex. They found each other in the water again, the momentum pushing their hands apart when they had jumped before they rejoined with a laugh. He pushed the hair out of her face, calling the two of them crazy as the cold engulfed their body heat but she wasn't certain the temperature had anything to do with the goosebumps lining her skin.
Juniper still hated the water and the dress made her feel like she was being pulled away by the waves, but at least she wasn't on a boat and at least she still had Alex. She was grateful when her hands made contact with the worn-out rope that would pull her in the direction of the steps, in the direction of safety and the solace of knowing she had done it.
Moments didn't last forever, if they were in a film then their return to the top was accompanied by his ringtone as their anthem where whether he answered the call or not -- their bubble had been popped. Alex was Alex, meaning he excused himself to take the call when he saw a particular name flashing up repeatedly on his phone, telling her it was work.
Looking back, June found it important to note that Lilia had been freaking out over one of her favourite reserve drivers having completed a free practice, whatever that was, on the Friday she had returned to Monaco. She didn't know it then but the importance lay with the phone call he had received in exchanged words that they would look back on as a shifting point; his words with Christian on the phone and her words with the couple that had come over to her.
"Your jump was great, don't get me wrong. But why do it in such fancy attire?"
"Because of the point that it proves."
Juniper always found it funny how people could be so confused by simple words -- she hadn't explained herself, yet, and they already looked confused. Juniper had never felt like she had belonged in any single place where the things that her mother made her feel felt her into isolation and where Monaco, at the start, felt too good for her to belong to.
She hadn't noticed Alex standing behind her, she might not have said it if she knew he had been there. It seemed too applicable to them because it was, it was everything she felt about so many things, including him, wrapped into just a few words. The thought in itself was scary, that she felt that she knew him and them so well that they could be summarised so shortly. Knowing him, she knew he would ask too about what she meant, and of course, he did.
"Is that how you feel in Monaco?"
"Mostly," She replied as he pulled her away from the group. "Before I met you at least, Charlotte and Charles are great but they've lived and belonged here their whole lives, I had to work to make this home." She continued, but she was eager to shy away from the conversation, throwing a question to him now to change the subject.
"So, what did work want?"
"They just want me to go in early tomorrow morning, which on a Sunday is-"
"Plain rude." She finished for him, even though she knew she wouldn't be able to accurately finish his sentence.
"Refreshing, June, I was going to say refreshing."
She shrugged his words off happily enough, his laughs telling her that she hadn't offended him with what she had said as she ran to grab her phone so they could get home. Luckily for Alex, her looks were much easier to read than his were -- meaning he knew pretty quickly that her phone had in fact run out of battery without her even having to say anything. To make it better? The service he'd had to answer the call was gone, they were theoretically stranded there unless they wanted to make the mile-long trek back to her apartment.
"Do you feel like carrying me home?" She mused to him, just as those who had questioned her walked past again, making a joke about how everyone must've lost the signal and how it'd take too long a walk to get it back.
"You can take our bikes though if you'd like, our villa is only just down the road."
"Really?" Alex asked them, his face etched with confusion as it so often was, "Why would you do that for us?"
"If you walk home, wet and getting cold, it would put such a sweet couple on the line. We couldn't peddle home knowing that was happening!"
"Thank you, really, we'll return the bikes tomorrow if you give us an address." Juniper said to them now.
"Monday." The woman said to them now, with a special emphasis of looking at Alex at the moment that she said it before she gave Juniper their address and the pair of them now climbed on their free rented bikes, beginning the ride home.
The wind pushed her hair back in a way that reminded her of scenes in movies and shows, the smile on her face even encapsulating all the happiness the characters in those instances seemed to be experiencing. It reminded her of Vienna, a stupid trip she had taken when she needed to get away from home, a trip that changed her life.
"Cycling reminds me of Charles, a bike was all I used to get around on the trip where I met him." She explained now, and just as June had given him the same kind of look so many months ago on the hill they had climbed together, his face prompted her to tell him the story.
June set the scene as well as she could, making sure to tell Alex how it was in the February of 2018 and that she'd gone to Vienna because she needed to have fulfilled at least one of the dreams she had. She had worked as a waitress whilst she was out there to fund her trip, something she continued to do on her trips to earn the extra money she needed. One of her last nights, she served Charles at a bar, who was a little drunker than she had seen him since that day in their many years of friendship. She wasn't sure who he thought she was, but he begged her to pick a venue for his party that all his friends were flying out to attend in a few days.
Charles kept her around after that, recommending her to his friends until many F1 drivers and teams fell into the habit of hiring her for any parties they wanted to be to the standard their peers were accustomed to. It did mean in many cases, Juniper had to try and keep outdoing herself. She'd earned herself an invite to Lewis' party after she'd planned that and he insisted that she had to come. Everyone knew that Juniper planned their parties, but many people didn't know who she actually was. That's why, she explained, Charles thought he was dragging her to Lewis' birthday party -- but she had a place set out at the table already for a reason.
She hadn't even realised how much of her career she owned seemingly just to Charles, though this is why she supposed she never charged him anything that would earn her any kind of profit when she planned his parties. Not that he knew that, because he'd let it slip to Charlotte, who Juniper admittedly did charge extra for so she could make a profit...
"You would be widely surprised how much these drivers would pay for what they deem to be a 'good' party." She said, but couldn't help but notice how his laughing was accompanied by the shaking of his head in this case. "Why are you laughing?"
"You make F1 drivers sound materialistic."
"Lewis told me 'cash is king', Lex."
"That is what they say." He said, having to agree as their bikes rode them back into the streets they both recognised now.
YOU ARE READING
CAPACITY FOR WONDER. | alex albon
Fanfiction"every time you try to fill the other with wonder, you give a piece of yourself to them, with how you attempt to do so." (IN WHICH!) june maddox decides to teach alex albon there is more wonder in life than ju...
