A girl chasing her dream. A boy looking for the light.
When Florence Nyx started her internship at a Formula 1 paddock, she expected a lot. Fast cars. Exclusive impressions most people could only dream of. An entire array of skills she'd acquire...
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The busy streets of San Francisco didn't seem so busy anymore.
Tourists rolling their trolleys on the cobblestone ground beneath our feet, people chattering about and children laughing... it all became eerily silent the second I looked at Phoenix. His jaw was clenched, one hand fisting the fabric of my jeans shorts while the other ran a frustrated hand through his hair.
He was obviously on edge, his posture having tensed as he continued to glare at his mother. Everything about him suggested he wanted an explanation. Fast.
And from the looks of it, his mother knew she had to give it to him. Because soon she sat up straight, facing her son eye-to-eye. "I don't know where to start," she said.
Phoenix hadn't said a word since the news had been broken, and he continued to do so. All he did was stare at his mother with eyes full of fury, frustration, and hurt.
"Okay then..." Maeve cleared her throat, a sudden uncertainty peeking through her usually calm and assured surface. This wasn't the Phoenix she was used to, probably. "I met Sebastian in Ireland, thirty-one years ago." She finally continued. "I was visiting my grandmother over the summer, the one who lived up in Dublin in that large mansion. She was an awful woman, which is why I never went to see her. But on my sixteenth birthday, my mother insisted that I pay her a visit and spend a couple of weeks with her. Get to know my roots, is what she called it." She shook her head and glanced down at the mug in front of her, the cappuccino probably having gone cold by now.
"Sebastian lived right next door, finishing high school before he was scheduled to leave for the Formula youngster training camp. He came over a few times, helping to mow the lawn and all. And then it just happened so fast. It wasn't even... It wasn't like one of those summer romances you hear about, you know? We weren't crazy in love or anything. He was just a nice scrawny kid who seemed to be interested in me."
Scrawny and nice were two adjectives I never would have registered for Sebastian Williams. Not in a million lifetimes.
"One night we just... I don't know. We were young and reckless and didn't think about the consequences of our actions, I guess." Maeve sighed before she looked back at her son, who still hadn't wavered from his stare. "I was back home by the time I realized I was pregnant. It was scary, I mean I was just sixteen, and I didn't know what to do... So I told my mother, who told my grandmother, who in turn told Sebastian's father. He was furious. Well, his entire family was. They treated me like a dirty little secret, tried to bribe me into terminating the pregnancy — which I never would've done. The second I saw that second line on the test, I knew I'd love being a mother, no matter how young I was or how hard it would be."
Phoenix's gaze was trembling now, the intensity of his glare flickering as his mother kept his stare. She didn't back down, didn't let him intimidate her into looking away. This was her way of showing him she was telling the truth, and that no matter how much he didn't want to talk to her, she wouldn't go anywhere.
