Rêveries

Chapter 47.

Arthur and I waited for Charles to finish up at the paddock with all the briefings, interviews and getting everything ready for the race the next day. We sat on the balcony that had now completely cleared out of fans with paddock passes, so we were alone, watching the interviews on the big screen. He didn't seem uncomfortable at all, as he kept asking questions.

He asked who made the first move. When it had happened. He asked if we were planning on telling our parents anytime soon. He laughed as he reminded me about our mothers' plan to make us marry each other. They'll be ecstatic about me being with either one of them. The way I know that Arthur is okay with it is because he's using his alone time with me, bullying me relentlessly.

"Dois-je vous montrer une photo de Charles d'il y a sept ans?" Do you need me to show you a photo of Charles seven years ago? he laughs. When I think back at Charles at age 14 and how his hair looked, I start to laugh too. He wasn't exactly the cutest teenager, but at least the years did him some good. "Ou te rappeler quand il a été renversé par un gamin et-" Or remember when he got knocked over by a kid and-

"Non, je me souviens, merci," No, I remember, thank you, I say and put a hand over his mouth. I don't think I need to be reminded of anything that happened to Charles as a kid because I remember it all very clearly. Arthur keeps laughing as he looks through his phone for photos of Charles when he was younger, then showing them to me saying 'you're kissing this guy?' as he laughs himself to a stomach ache.

I have to sit through this until Charles is finished and comes upstairs looking for us and has to interrupt Arthur himself. He also does this awkward thing where he looks like he wants to kiss me and kind of goes for it, but stops himself and takes a step back. We haven't kissed in front of Arthur, and now he's right here, watching us. He catches Charles' movement and laughs as he turns around.

"Je peux faire demi-tour pour toi," I can turn around for you, he snickers, but Charles just slaps Arthur in the back and tells us it's time to leave.

When we walked out of the Ferrari hospitality, there's still some people left. Just a few fans and reporters were still out there amongst the mechanics and other workers of the teams that still had a few hours left of their workdays. Charles stopped to sign a few things and take a few photos with the fans on our way out. I tried to hide from all cameras by walking behind Arthur most of the time.

Before I managed to walk out of the paddock with them, I heard my name being called behind me. Evie and Max are walking towards us, being on their way out as well. Evie starts running to catch up with me, so I tell Charles and Arthur to wait by the car and I'd be right with them.

"Céline, I know you said you're not mad at me, but you just seemed so frustrated with me and I just can't stand the thought of you being upset with me in any way," she rambled as she came up to me. I just shook my head with a smile on my face.

"I'm not upset with you," I tell her, because to be totally honest, we wouldn't have been too good with keeping it a secret anyway. I pull her into a hug and laugh at how worried she is over it. Maybe I should be angry with her for telling Max, but I can't be bothered. "I mean, now they know and I didn't even have to tell them, so it's kind of a relief."

"For the record," Max says, showing up behind Evie, "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have told Seb but it kind of just slipped out. I wasn't thinking, at all."

"You know, this might be considered an attempt to psyche out your rival," I joke as I turn around to continue walking out. They're probably already by the car waiting for me. I link my arm with Evie's and pull her with me to really show that this isn't going to make me risk our friendship after almost fourteen years. Max puts an arm around my shoulders.