Another Love

11 Martini

Charles's POV

I arrived with Lorenzo, at the same time as Arthur and Carla, here at the venue of the Ferrari Gala.

Arthur and Carla waited for me and Lorenzo at the entrance so we entered the venue together.

I saw Carlos and Isa 2 tables away from the table meant for the sponsor representatives so we all walked towards the table and sat with the 2.

Carla immediately sat beside Isa and they both started talking as I took the seat beside Carlos as Arthur sat beside Carla and Lorenzo sat beside Arthur, leaving 2 vacant chairs in between me and Lorenzo.

Carlos and I were talking about our plans for the winter when Carlos looked at me and told me to look at the entrance which made my brothers look at us before we all turned and look and I gaped as I looked at Elise up and down, she was wearing a deep red satin Cowl Bodice Gown with a slit on the left side paired up with a deep red stilettos.

"Wasn't she your date at that Gala last month?" Lorenzo asked which made Isa chuckle.

"Yep, that's the very girl she ditched for Alexandra the next day." Isa said still chuckling while getting Elise's attention and gesturing for her to come over.

Elise looked at Mia and Mia nodded before they both walked towards our table. Mia greeted everyone before moving to the chair beside Lorenzo.

"Buonasera." Elise said with a smile before she greeted Isa and Carlos with 'la bise' before moving to me as I stood up to kiss her on both cheeks as I introduced her to Carla and my brothers.

"Cherie, these are my brothers, Lorenzo and Arthur, and Carla, Arthur's girlfriend." I said, forgetting to introduce her to them.

"Hi, nice to meet you all. I'm Cassandra Smith." Elise said as she shook hands with the 3 before we all sat down.

"Can I just say, you look gorgeous and hot. And I love your dress." Carla said to Elise enthusiastically which made us all chuckle.

"Thank you. You look gorgeous as well." Elise replied shyly which made me smile as I put my hand on the back of her chair.

Carlos and I continued making small talk not minding the fact that we were seated in between 3 ladies who were holding a conversation as if we weren't there as Isa and Carla started conversing with Elise beside me.

The food was served about half an hour later along with Ferrari champagne of course.

As per usual, we all stood up holding our champagne flutes except Carla and Isa after the tables were cleared and we all headed in separate directions as Matteo and Stephania joined Carlos. I put my hand on Elise's waist as we moved around and we interacted with a lot of former Ferrari Academy drivers and newer drivers as well.

Mia left us not even half way through the hall and walk towards the table where I saw Stephania was, saying that she's tired so me and Elise continued well on our own.

Some asked us if we were together and Elise just laughed it off before we said we are not.

We headed back to our table after we talked to the couple on the last table. We just sat down when Carlos informed us of an invite passed to him for all of us in the table.

"The after party is a yacht party in Ravenna. So, are we going?" Carlos asked as he looked around the table before ending up staring at me.

I just shrugged and put my hand on the back of Elise's chair and started playing with her hair.

"You should redirect your question to Cassandra, mate because her answer is his answer." Arthur said chuckling which made Elise look at me.

"I'll go if you go, cherie." I said looking at her.

"Let's go then." She said looking at me. "It's a chance to drive your Pista again." She continued while smirking and wiggling her eyebrows which made me chuckle.

"You can drive it anytime you want, you just have to ask nicely with a little coaxing." I said softly only for her to hear as I smirked and winked at her.

"We're going, then." Arthur said excitedly.

We sat and waited for most of the guests to leave before we headed out to avoid the crowd and the traffic at the parking lot.

We got our keys from the valet and I was about to put my hand on Elise's waist and lead her to my car when Carla snatched Arthur's car keys.

"I'll take this. You ride with Carlos, we girls will be riding together." She said as Isa and Elise stepped back from me and Carlos.

They then started walking towards the direction of Arthur's car as Carlos and I looked at each other before uttering "Deja Vu" and laughing afterwards as I told Carla in a loud voice to let Elise drive and Elise smirked at me as she took the keys that Carla was handing to her.

We all got inside the cars and Arthur's car was the first one to get out of the parking lot with Elise driving it.

We arrived in the Marina di Ravenna parking lot and we immediately saw the yacht where the party was being held at.

I walked towards Elise and put my hand on her waist as we walked through the dock towards the yacht.

We were ushered to the lounge as we were asked what drinks were to be brought to our table and Lorenzo asked for negroni while Isa asked for 3 martinis.

"I thought you would be the one driving us back?" I asked Elise as we sat on the couch.

"I'll just drink a glass or two or maybe three at most." She said while smiling sheepishly at me which made me shake my head and chuckle.

The girls finished 2 glasses of martini each before they decided that they wanted to play pool at the table near us which was just vacated.

They decided to make a bet before they started their game while we just stood to the side to watch.