: ̗̀➛ part three of the
one for the road series
SNOWFALL / CL16
in which two childhood friends reunite. a formula one driver wants to learn how to snowboard and it just so happens that the daughter of his mum's be...
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✧ ˚ · . CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX . · ˚✧ they don't know about us
paris, february 2023
Charles had been right. At least, partly. I had spent most of yesterday night uncomfortable, and yet Thomas had been on his best behaviour—not one look at my body, keeping his hands to himself even when pressing a friendly kiss to my cheek in greeting. I had spent most of the night catching up with Celine about work and venting about the stress of the last-minute changes for the Ritz while Thomas kept Charles busy with firing questions about everything and nothing.
I had gone home with a smile on my face, Charles' hands immediately reaching for my back, untying the corset-style laces of my dress until he could pull the straps from my shoulders, satin fabric falling to the floor along with it. I hadn't realised I was blushing at the resurfacing memory until I blinked, and a smirking Lorelai stood in front of me.
"What's got you all hot and bothered?" She teased, throwing a striped green and white tea towel over her shoulder, her blonde hair pulled back into a Dutch braid, flyaway strands sticking to her own flushed cheeks.
I smiled. "Nothing in particular..." I trailed off, shaking my head. It was Wednesday morning—any minute now and the others would show up, and my heart started to beat a little faster in my chest as I pictured Charles walking through that door.
"Mhm," Lorelai said, reaching for her phone in her back pocket. One glance at it and her brows were furrowing, two deep lines forming between the arches. She immediately slid the device into the back of her jeans and forced a smile before she said, "So what can I get for you? The usual?"
"Yes please," I said quietly, before motioning towards her phone. "Is everything okay?"
"It's..." Lorelai let out a sigh, glancing quickly at the counter, double-checking to see if there were any customers, before pulling out a chair and sitting down, leaning on the table with her elbows. "It's complicated, I guess."
I turned my body towards her, crossing my legs and directing my full attention to her. "What is?"
"Uh..." Lorelai trailed off, picking at the hem of her dark green apron. "It's a guy."
"What?! And you didn't tell me earlier?"
"Honestly, you were really busy, and we were just testing the waters, you know? I wasn't sure if it would amount to anything..." Lorelai explained, all of the words leaving her mouth in a rush, as if she wanted to get them out as soon as possible. Had I been so blind, that I hadn't seen that this was happening? Did that make me a bad friend?
I tried to push those thoughts out of my mind—this moment was about her, after all. I had had enough of the limelight for the past two months with my rekindled romance with Charles. "But it did? Amount to something?"
