Lilly & Leclerc ~ [CL 16]

6. Fontvieille

Summer Love by Austin Mahone (am I the only one who didn't know he was still making music?!)

Also thank you for your patience, hope you enjoy!

Charles's plan was Monaco.

Monaco and only Monaco...and I am completely loving every second of it. If I thought the oceanfront of the city and the view from Charles's balcony was beautiful - it had nothing on seeing every inch of the city. Especially with Charles by my side, smiling at me softly from the driver seat of the car. Monaco might be the most beautiful and stunning place I've ever seen. I only wish I could stay forever.

Charles points out monuments (both personal and tourist) with a small smile on his face as he explains the significance of each one. We've been around the world famous casino, the opera house and some of the marinas. Between it all Charles has pointed out his brother's apartment, along with his mothers and his old secondary school. Then we finally reached his 'childhood neighbourhood', a place called Fontvieille.

"You know most of the drivers live around here." Charles muses carefully, I don't miss the way his eyes flick to me as he says it. Other than Carlos, Lando and his teammate Daniel, Charles is the only driver I know. Really his words mean very little to me. I feel like saying 'still wouldn't date one', I know that's what he was hinting at with the words after all. However, the apartments look so beautiful that I could maybe consider it.

"Not you." I point out with a smile, trying to change the subject. Charles let's his shoulders fall with the observation. Out of all the places in monaco I think I'd rather be close to Charles in anyway.

"Not me." He concedes quietly, an unreadable expression on his face. "I wanted to be closer to my brothers and Mum." Charles explains quickly, it's understandable. From what he's told me he's lost so many people who played huge roles in his younger years, it makes sense he'd want to cherish those family members that are still here.

I truly do think Fontvielle may be my favourite part of the principality so far. It's quieter, away from the (slightly) busier streets of the city centre. Charles seems more relaxed also, his right hand has slipped onto my thigh with our arrival, resting on my hot skin with an easy smile on his face. I find myself reflecting his expression as the warm air whips around us through the open windows. I don't know how this exactly happened, I don't know how I don't hate it.

My hands only slightly curl into the expensive material of the seat when Charles rounds the next faster corner. The first time he sped around the exit like he just did I had yelped as he had laughed at me like an excited little kid. He likes speed, that much was to be expected, but to enjoy it so much on domestic roads was something I hadn't mentally prepared myself for. I didn't even give it a thought when I hopped in the car with him. Still, the more Charles does it the more comfortable I get and this time I laugh with him when he exits the corner, foot heavily down on the gas until we reach 50kph. He's grinning proudly at me, as if he's proud of my enjoyment when we reach the straight. I can't help but feel proud of myself too.

"I'm not a huge football fan but I like watching it here." Charles explains, he's been dotting in personal details to his explanation of each monument.

With the casino it was that he managed to somehow lose 500 euros there on his twenty first birthday. When we came across the outdoor swimming pool it was that his father taught him to swim in the chic facility. The lessons came after his older brother, Lorenzo, threw him in a family friends swimming pool and he swallowed so much water he was sick on the sidelines (I may have laughed quietly at the embarrassing tale).

The opera house came with the story of Charles's first kiss, it was outside of the grand building at the age of fourteen. I can't help but be slightly jealous of the fourteen year old girl called Nastasia who got to kiss a fourteen year old Charles, I'm every bit as sure that he would have been as charming then as he is now - even if he would have been more nervous. At the marinas he told me how he usually goes out on yachts or boats with his brothers, sometimes going diving in the crystal blue water, other times just relaxing, having a few drinks, 'enjoying time' as he put it.