Rêveries

Chapter 95.

"C'est une fille, je peux le sentir," It's a girl, I can feel it, Charles stated with an excited look on his face. Martha laughed, holding a hand on her belly like she'd done all afternoon. Riccardo shook his head, completely sure the baby's a boy.

"Nous verrons," We'll see, he said, kissing Martha's cheek.

He was dressed in a blue shirt, while Martha was in a pink dress. I was in a white dress with a soft pink cardigan along with pink sandals. Charles was in a pink linen shirt and beige pants. We were all dressed for the baby shower, dressing the color we thought the baby was going to be. It was the end of August and Charles was going back to racing in just a few days.

The summer break had flown past, especially when I started my training program for my knee, starting to build up some muscles again. I spent a lot of the days with Arthur while he was home to visit. We had some nights all together at Pascale's house. Charles and I spent most evenings and hot afternoons on his boat, spending some nights there as well. Charles filmed a vlog which showed how he spends his days, and for the first time people got to see how we live, and got to see the way we interact, both Charles and I together, and Charles and I when we're with Arthur as well. It was a big hit. People seemed to realize just a little bit more that we are actual people.

The day before the babyshower we had gotten back from Alassio. We went there to get some kind of vacation, even if it wasn't far. It's a special place for us. I got to really relax and while we were there, lounging in the sun, playing the piano, taking afternoon naps and waking up sweaty next to each other just to get undressed with each other before dinner. Everything felt okay for a lot of the time while we were there, because it felt like being in a little bubble where nothing else really mattered at all. There were no other people there, not that mattered anyway. Just us.

After I got home from England I was a little down for a few days, but Charles tried to be as understanding as possible, making me talk about it and get it out of my system. Max had called Charles when he had heard that I had left the party, because he couldn't reach me when my phone was on airplane mode. He was worried something had happened, but Charles tried to assure him that nothing had happened even though he didn't know himself.

A few days later Evie called me. She apologized for snapping at me, and I told her it hadn't bothered me even though it had. The day she called I was on a low day on the emotional scale, meaning I didn't have enough emotions. I went through different phases each day of not caring, feeling like nothing mattered at all, or feeling everything and being overwhelmed by it. Neutral days were the most ideal. But she hadn't called me on a neutral day, which meant I didn't feel like starting a conversation about where our friendship is headed. Instead I pretended like I didn't really care.

It was stupid and immature, which I realized the next day, but by then I was too scared to call her. I was too scared of getting an answer I wouldn't like.

But there we were, glasses with champagne in our hands while we waited for the happy couple to reveal the gender of their baby. Martha's bump was growing a lot, and during the summer break I had spent some time with her, watching her baby grow and the different pregnancy symptoms. It was pretty fascinating, which was why Charles and I spent a lot of time with them.

Charles had a lot of old friends there, so I mostly stayed by his side while he spoke to a lot of old friends, catching up. Martha called me over to talk to some of the other girls there, but they had also known each other for a long time. It was kind of nice being a listener for once, and not having to engage too much.

"Il y a des papas garçons et des papas filles," there are boy dads and girl dads, a girl stated very confidently, as if it was a scientifically proven fact. "Mon copain est un papa garçon. Il emmènera son fils jouer au golf ou au foot tout en veillant à élever quelqu'un de très masculin... tout le monde a des défauts, c'est les siens." My boyfriend is a boy dad. He will take his son to play golf or football while making sure to raise someone very masculine... everyone has faults, that's his, she added with a laugh, and I laughed along with the group even though I didn't know who her boyfriend was or anything else about her.