BITTERSWEET (M.V x C.L)

I long for you - Charles

"Maxy, this place is amazing. How did you find it?"
"Well, that's not relevant. You are relevant, we need to celebrate."
"Celebrate what mon cœur?"
"Celebrate us, our future. I love you Charlie, and I will never ever let you go."

I slowly came to my senses. The sun was now shining completely, which probably had caused me to wake up alongside the annoying sound of my phone, which always seemed to irritate me at all the wrong times. I reminded myself that I needed a break from that device for a period. As you always remind yourself, I thought to myself, as I slowly turned in my bed to grab my phone. I forgot to check who was calling me, but I picked it up anyway.

"Hello, it's Charles. Who is it?" I said in a raspy voice, my vocal cord needing a bit of time to wake up, it seemed. "Hey mate, it's me... SMOOOOOTH OPERATOOOR, hahaha, how are you doing today?" It was always Carlos's catchphrase, and it got me every time, leaving me in a well-deserved laugh. "What do you mean, how am I doing today? It's not even proper day yet," I laughed back at him.
"Earth to Charles. It's 3pm, what are you doing? Did somebody have fun last night?" He answered cheekily, which caused me to laugh at first, until I thought back at why I actually woke up late in the first place. The seriousness and nervousness got the better of me yet again. "Uhmm... no- I uhmm... so why did you call?" I asked, hoping to shift the conversation away from me again. "I just wanted to ask you whether you were up for some paddle, I have a booking at a paddle club that I found here in Paris," he said. "Fine, I'll be there."
"Whoohoo, see you soon mate," Carlos said, satisfied that he had actually achieved to not only get me out of bed, which could be hard enough in the first place, he also achieved to get my lazy ass up to the paddle club an hour after I woke up. I stretched my limbs and rolled out of bed, only just managing to stand up. I yawned and rubbed my eyes, as I went out into the small kitchen area, which belonged to my hotel room. I made myself a cup of coffee, before I quickly went to take a shower.

As I walked out of the door, I found myself being overjoyed. I couldn't place my sudden happiness, but I knew it had to do with Max and myself last night. The puzzle pieces of my world seemed to have been put perfectly together and filling me with satisfaction. I felt like, if I had the man of my dreams next to me, I could do anything. I could conquer the world, and I could murder someone and nobody would find out. Heeey mr! That's enough and too far, I laughed to myself. 
"Look who's in a happy mood today," I suddenly heard someone say. I glanced to my left, and there Carlos had pulled up. I had been so caught up in my daydreaming of Maxy that I had been unaware of my surroundings. Carlos had also promised to give me a ride, as he felt like I deserved it after he had successfully drawn me out of bed. I quickly jumped in and said: "Well, am I not allowed to be happy today or what?" 
"Easy big C, I didn't mean any offence," Carlos quickly replied.
"Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to be rude either C. Sorry, I'm just overly happy today, I don't know why." Which was in fact a lie, as I was completely aware, what made me happy - or who made me happy in that moment. But I didn't want Carlos to pick up any vibes of me having something going on with someone. I simply didn't have a viable answer at the moment, so we chatted the rest of the tour to the paddle club. We chatted about the Prize Giving, the season, where we were with the team, and we talked about how Carlos and Isa had been planning a weekend getaway to Bali. Life felt really good today.

As we were half-way through the paddle game, we decided to take a break to catch our breaths and have some water. As we sat down against the wall, Carlos threw a towel at me, as he could see I needed to wipe my face from sweat.
"So, are you sure there isn't anyone, who has casually slipped into your life, Charles?" He asked again, this time more serious and not joking, hoping that he would get an answer this time. "No, Carlos, there isn't. Can we just leave it at that?" I replied, not rudely but sternly.
"Okay, but know that you can always tell me anything. We don't normally keep secrets from one another."
"I know Carlos, but truly. There is nothing," I said, knowing that I was in fact lying to him, which was something we never did to each other. I made me feel a little sick actually, so I motioned for us to get back into the game, so we could finish before the time was up.

I let out all my frustrations at the racket and used all my force to hit the ball, whenever it came to me. It seemed to calm me down, as I was 100% focused on the game. It looked like Carlos was too, considering the fact that he had his "I'm focused. Don't talk to me"-face on, which was honestly quite sweet. As the ball came to me for the last time, I knew I could win the game, and that I did, as the ball bounced twice, when it hit Carlos's side of the court. I let out a friendly but enthusiastic cheer. We were Formula One drivers after all, and the competitiveness wasn't something, which we could just randomly leave at the track.
"Aaah, I was hoping to beat you today big C, but congrats, you out-played me today. Do you wanna like grab dinner or something, before we head home. It's gonna be a while before we see each other again," Carlos said to me as we were leaving the locker rooms. "I wish I could Carlos, but I have to go pack, because I'm actually leaving for Nice this evening. I kinda have to hurry a bit."
"Oh okay, no worries Charles. I'll be in Monaco in a month or so for some meetings, but don't forget to call until then, okay?"
"Okay Carlos, talk to you later, bye C," I said to him as I waved and turned around, beginning to head home, as the usual travel hurry came over me, because I realised I had to be at the airport in three hours.

As I walked back home, I pulled out my phone, noticing Max had left me a message.

Maxy❤️❤️: Hey babe, when are you flying home? I thought we'd meet up when you do. Please let me know, okay? See you schatje😘

The message warmed my heart and put a huge smile on my face. I just couldn't resist the Dutchman, and the picture, which he sent along with the text, made me even smile more. That perfectly beautiful, cheeky smile made me blush.

Me: I'm flying home tonight. I'm on the 8:55pm plane from Charles de Gaulle... I can't call right now, but when I'm at the airport, I can talk. Can't wait to see you. I long for you my love. Talk to you later mon cherie💞

When I got to the hotel, I actually managed to pack in under 45 minutes, even though I even consider myself to be the most untidy person in the world. So, I was proud of my achievement. I handed over my key card and called for a cab to drive me to the airport. The flight to Nice wasn't that long, so I would be home at around 11:30pm.

As I sat in the cab, I turned my phone back on to stare at the picture that Max had sent. I smiled at it and couldn't wait until I saw him again. Leaving Paris behind felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders. The things that had happened here these past few days had been a lot to contemplate, but the result was not one to be sorry for. At the end of the day, I got my Maxy.

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Author's note:

Alright, that's a wrap for the ninth chapter. I really liked this one, partly because I finally introduced Carlos as an important subordinate character, but mainly because Charles seems to come to terms with this new reality of his. 

Let me know what you think. And as always, thanks so much for taking your time to keep reading this story. It's what makes me continue to have an interest in it<3

-Robert