Rêveries

Chapter 32.

We took Evie and Pierre sledding, like I had taken Charles and Arthur sledding. We took Evie and Pierre ice skating, like I had taken Charles and Arthur ice skating. The thing was... we did all the same things, but this time we were all third-, fourth-, and fifth-wheeling. I tried to do things with Evie but Pierre stole her from me. I tried to do things with Evie without the boys, they found out and they invaded the whole thing. I'm not saying that I hate Pierre, or their relationship, but I do dislike Pierre a lot right now. I always have. He's so... French. And now he's stealing my best friend.

And before you start... I know I was the one who set them up and pushed for it to happen. Everybody makes mistakes.

For New Years, we were trying to decide whether or not to stay here or go back to Monaco. Some of the drivers were throwing parties and we had gotten some invites. But when Svea asked me if I was going to be in Sweden over New Years and invited me to a party she was throwing here, the others were dead set on going. They wanted to meet all of my Swedish friends.

I had a feeling it wasn't such a good idea getting two famous racecar drivers to a private party in fucking Sweden for New Years, but they were all pushing for it to happen. I know Svea would love to have me there and she had gotten along with all of them at my birthday party. They begged and begged for me to agree and I finally had to give in. I just prayed there wouldn't be too many people and that they wouldn't gain too much attention.

Evie and I went out shopping for clothes the day before the party and I told her about my plans to pick up dancing again, for real this time. Practicing all days of the week and competing. She liked the idea until she realized I wouldn't be coming to the races if I had to worry about dance all the time. I told her I'd see her between the races when they come home, but she wasn't thrilled at all.

The thing was that the point of dancing again was to not go to the races. I didn't want to tell Charles that I didn't want to go, so if I have a reason for missing it then it feels better to tell him I won't be there. Arthur has Lorenzo with him all the time and it feels worse to miss those races, but he'd understand, I hoped. I was failing miserably at keeping my distance from Charles so I figured I have to distract myself to actually get the distance I need to stop crushing on someone's boyfriend.

The day of the party, New Years eve, we spent all morning on the couch in front of the TV. Guess what we were watching? Gossip Girl. Our mums bullied the boys relentlessly about being so invested in it. They ended up on the couch with us, equally as invested as the boys. Evie and I still didn't quite get it, but we didn't want to ruin their excitement of watching, so we just shut up and watched it with them.

We were supposed to have dinner at Svea's house with a few other people before the rest of the guests came for the party. We showered, did our makeup, fixed our hair and got dressed. The boys had asked if they needed suits and I laughed at them and told them that a typical Swedish party outfit is black jeans and a black t-shirt, so they all showed up in a variant of that outfit. For girls it's a little different.

I wore a black minidress with an open back and long sleeves. It had rhinestones hanging up a slit on my leg and then I whipped out a pair of heels I had gotten here. Evie had another black dress, kind of similar to mine and had bought a pair of heels as well. We felt horribly overdressed next to the boys and even though I told them they would look overdressed compared to the other guys at the party they all went to change into black or white dress shirts. They did skip the ties, though.

When we got there, I was right. Svea was in a black skirt and a glittery black tank top. The guys were mostly in t-shirts or long sleeved black shirts, but some of them showed up in dress shirts with rolled up sleeves and the top button undone. We ate steak and potato gratin. She offered different kinds of cocktails, cider and beer. When the party guests showed up, they did switch to champagne and vodka though. As more and more people showed up, Evie came up to me.

"Why are Swedish people so damn hot?" She cried. Pierre, who was right behind her, cleared his throat and was not pleased with her comment. I laughed at the look on his face and so did Evie when she turned around to see it. Vincent was at the party so Pierre smiled sarcastically at me before motioning over at him.

"C, n'est-ce pas ton petit ami?" Isn't that your boyfriend? he asked and my face dropped as I glared at him. Pierre is such a pain in my ass and I wanted to tell him that but he began waving at Vincent who started walking over to us.

"Hi, how's it going?" He asked and his English was so Swedish it was almost painful. I'm not saying the five of us don't speak with some broken English, but at least it's not Swedish.

"It's good, Vincent, was it?" Pierre asks and I want to kick his balls because I know that he didn't call him over here to be polite. He has something in mind and I don't want to know what it is. I see him waving across the room, probably at Charles and I sigh.

"Yes," he nods and then I see Charles showing up. He smiles as he comes up to Pierre but it falls when he watches Vincent in front of him. I want to get out of here, right this second. Immediately. Evie is watching as painfully as I am, shaking her head as she knows something is up. This poor innocent guy.

"Vincent, jag letar upp dig sen, jag måste prata med dem här två bara," I'll find you later, I just need to talk to these two, I told Vincent while pointing at Pierre and Charles. He nodded and walked off, so I immediately turned to them, Pierre was smiling devilishly. "Stop, I don't know what you're planning, but don't mess with any of my friends just to mess with me," I ordered, looking at the both of them. Charles just threw his hands up in innocence and Pierre laughed before sighing. I trusted that Evie would keep him in line after that.

During the night I tried to make sure Charles and Pierre weren't messing with people, but kept seeing them make small conversation with other people and each other. I met a few old friends and caught up with them. I don't know just how many times I answered the questions: How did you meet those guys? Are they single? Did you bring your new boyfriend?

It threw me off the most when they would ask if Pierre was single when he had his arm around Evie for most of the party. He was too scared to let her out of his sight around these Swedish boys. When I met up with Vincent again I saw Pierre mouthing 'boyfriend' at me while Charles made hearts with his hands. I rolled my eyes at them and turned away.

Midnight rolled around and I was only tipsy. I had been too busy talking to people to drink. I walked over to the others as the countdown started. Vincent was just behind us and Pierre pointed it out. He nudged me and smiled teasingly.

"Vas-tu embrasser ton copain à minuit?" Are you going to kiss your boyfriend at midnight? he asked me and I punched his shoulder. They started counting down from ten and I cocked my eyebrows at him as I pulled Vincent over.

"Regarde moi," Watch me, I told him before asking Vincent if he was okay with it. He nodded while looking confused. Pierre looked horrified at me before turning to Charles as if to ask what the hell to do. But they reached zero and I kissed Vincent without hesitation. I didn't feel like I had to hesitate, he is very attractive.

After Pierre and Evie finished up their midnight kiss, they both looked at me as I hugged Vincent for being nice enough to let me kiss him that randomly. I cheered as everyone went outside to watch the fireworks. Charles and Pierre separated me from Vincent as we walked and Charles held onto my arms to keep me in front of him even as we stood in the backyard looking up at the sky.

"Tu devrais appeler Lucie, lui dire bonne année," You should call Lucie, tell her happy new year, I tell him as I break free from his grip and go over to Arthur. I put my head on his shoulder and he put his arm around me, rubbing my shoulder.

I looked up at the sky and thought about the year in front of us. I thought I had an idea of what it would be like. But in that moment I didn't know how stupid I was.

I was so wrong.