apocalypse | charles leclerc ✓

chapter 3 | all that starts well

«Cause I remember the rush when forever was us.»

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Sloane never gave a lot of thought to what the consequences of being seen with someone like Charles would be. Sure, she'd gotten involved with sons and daughters of important people, but never to the same level as Charles. She would however learn those consequences in the near future. Because every action had its consequence, good or bad, there was one.

At the moment though, she was too distracted parading herself with him to even care about such minor details.

The back of their hands brushed against the other as they walked side by side, sharing smiles while Charles talked and Sloane listened. He chatted about all the aspects of racing, and she kept up with it. She attended his every word with attention, more than she'd ever paid to anything else before, even making her own questions from time to time. Questions that for others might have sounded unimportant, but he found endearing.

In the midst of the conversation, she noticed how from time to time, he kept placing his hand on the small of her back when he wanted to show something or guide her somewhere. She felt a tingling sensation every time the warmth of his palm met the skin between the rim of her shirt and the waistline of her skirt.

Charles smiled a lot, and it was contagious, she felt a bit giddy with all of it. He also asked if she was enjoying herself and seemed a little embarrassed when wondering if all of it was boring to her, to which Sloane kept replying no and don't worry. She was truly having a great time with him and made sure to let him know of it with reassuring hand squeezes and smiles every time he asked.

"I have to give you massive credit because you're making very convincing arguments about racing and all this." Her hands gestured at everything and nothing at the same time. "I might become a fan." She told him as they walked in front of a garage blasting music, mechanics humming along to the melody. A nice atmosphere.

His gaze flickered to her. He was still all sweetness and smiles, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. "Hopefully I'm also convincing you to support the right driver."

She chuckled and shook her head. Her eyes had the right spark of suggestiveness for him. "I think I've already picked my favourite one. Don't worry." He looked down and let out a faint laugh, flustering just enough for her to perceive.

This caused a proud smile to adorn her lips.

When they continued strolling around, and he talked about Ferrari, Sloane noted he did it with a lot of fondness. It reminded her of the way Aurora and her dad did too. It felt familiar and something inside of her fluttered at the thought of it. Of the sweetness and the niceness of it all.

They were barely getting any interruption, except for a few greetings thrown his way here and there, but they did have to come to a halt when someone yelled a rather loud 'Charlie!' from one of the garages as they passed by. A curly-haired-megawatt-smile-wearer guy beckoned Charles towards him, by default gesturing for Sloane to join as well. Her instant reaction to the sudden attention was to reach and lace one of her fingers with his. Call it nervousness or whatever, but she did. Charles peeked at the hold, and smiled, grabbing her hand in his to show some comfort, perhaps.

She appreciated it, and now they were fully holding hands. Okay. It was fine. Great, actually.

Clearly, Sloane was not good with names in any capacity, but she did recognise the guy who now stood in front of them from one of her stupid games used to jest with Aurora. He eyed them, and their hands, his smile turning into a full grin.