Another Love

6 Gala

Charles looked me up and down before speaking.

"Wow! You look absolutely stunning, Elise. Damn! I can't believe my date tonight looks like this." He said while still looking me up and down which made me chuckle.

"You look dashing, yourself, Mr. Leclerc. I had to step up my game if I wanted to be on par with you on the carpet that we will be walking on."

I pulled Charles in front of the full length mirror installed on the wall to the left side just before the apartment door before standing in front of Charles and positioning my phone to take a photo of us while he wrapped an arm around my waist and put his other hand in his pocket as I clicked on the shutter button on my phone and took several pictures.

I grabbed my white Chanel small flap bag with top handle before we left my apartment and headed down to his 488 Pista.

Charles started driving us towards the venue of the Gala so I then opened Instagram and started editing the photo of me and Charles to put on my story, putting on the date today and 'Gala Night with @Charles_Leclerc' at the bottom part of the photo then finally clicking share just as the car came to a stop so I looked up to see that we were at an intersection and the red light was on.

I looked at Charles to see that he was already looking at me so I raised a brow at him and he asked me.

"What were you so busy about just a while ago?" Charles asked me.

"I posted our photo on my story and tagged you. That might be why your phone pinged." I said pointing to his phone so he looked at it and shrugged.

"I'll share your story on mine later." He said just as the red light changed to green and he continued driving.

We arrived at the venue and Charles stopped the car just before the red carpet and grabbed his phone and the car keys before telling me to wait as he got out, gave the keys to the valet and moved to the passenger side and opened my door and helped me step out of the car.

Once I was out of the car, he put his hand on my waist and led me through the carpet as we occasionally stop for the photographers to take photos until we got inside the venue and he led me to the table where Carlos and his date were.

Carlos and Charles bro-hugged before Carlos greeted me with a kiss on the cheek and Charles did the same to his date before Carlos introduced his date.

"Cassandra, this is Isabel Hernaez, my girlfriend, and mi amor, this is Cassandra Smith, the new team leader of the 2 chemistry-related teams, 1 in the garage and 1 in the factory." Carlos said introducing me and Isabel.

"Hi, nice to meet you. No need to call me Isabel, just Isa is fine." Isa said as we kissed each other on the cheek.

"Nice to meet you Isa. No need to call me Cassandra also, just Cass is fine." I said chuckling.

"You girls bond while we do our duties. Benedetto has given his signal." Charles said before Isa could reply so I just smiled at him and nodded as Carlos kissed Isa on her forehead before he followed Charles.

"You two look good together." Isa said before sipping her champagne making me chuckle.

"You're like the 3rd person to say that but I'm pretty sure Mia told me he was seen with a new girl so I'm not gonna be expecting anything. Plus, we will both be working together, so it will be awkward if things go south."

"Who? Alexandra? I don't think it was anything serious. And, have you seen the way he looks at you? I'm pretty sure he wouldn't leave your side tonight if he had a choice but then again, the life of a formula 1 driver is not all race weekend, yachts and parties, they also have to attend galas like this where they get paraded." Isa said as she grimaced while saying the last part.

"We won't know if he would stay beside me, now, won't we?" I said while grinning.

Isa chuckled and we continued talking, getting to know each other, and drinking wine at our table for more than an hour before the boys came and sat down, both of them unbuttoning their suit jackets and leaning on their seats as they sat down and heaved a deep sigh which made me and Isa chuckle.

"That bad?" I said looking at Charles as me and Isa handed both him and Carlos a glass of water which they immediately drank.

"Be glad I didn't drag you around with us or that Benedetto didn't see you because I'm sure he would be including you on his bragging speech and the parade would've lasted longer than it did." Charles said as he put his hand on the back of my chair making me chuckle.

"Thank you, Mr. Leclerc. It's so kind of you not to mention to our boss that you're bringing me as your date." I said before giving him a peck on his cheek which made him smile and shake his head.

Carlos: "How about we sneak out and go on a double date since all we'll be doing now until the end of the Gala would be sitting and drinking."

Charles and Isa both agreed so I agreed as well, not sure about the 'double-date' part, so me and Isa were first to sneak out to the parking lot.

Just as I saw the valet, I came up with the idea of taking either Charles's or Carlos's car and leaving them to ride together to the restaurant that we decided to go to and told Isa about it and she agreed to it so we decided to take Charles's 488 Pista and I will be driving.

We approached the valet and he recognized Isa and I so he gave me the key to Charles's Pista when I asked for it.

Me and Isa got in and I recorded a voice message saying 'So, uhmmm. I'll be driving your Pista and you and Carlos will ride in his car. Bye.' and send it to Charles and just as I pressed the send button, he and Carlos came out and looked around for a second before Charles brought his phone out and put the speaker of his phone to his ears.

His eyes snapped to where his Pista is as I turned the car on and stepped on the gas to get out of the parking lot before he can even get anywhere near his car.