GREENE | CS55

27 - Slipping Through My Fingers

Carlos immediately regretted not booking a hotel room in Tokyo that night.

For one, he simply did not want his evening with Pierce to end. If he had the power to, he would halt the rotation of Earth on its axis. He'd reach up and grasp the moon in his hands, offer it anything if only it meant he could give it a slight twist and this night could rewind back to the start.

After the karaoke bar, Pierce and Carlos wandered the surrounding Tokyo streets, ruminating on the scents and sights of the lively district they found themselves in. Enjoying the unmatched ability to blend in to the bustling crowds— a true luxury that both knew they had to take advantage of. Knowing that this was a rare chance not only to enjoy Japan, but each other. They'd stopped along the way at a window offering street-side snacks, the scent laid in Carlos' nose now, still in its full glory. Warm, and steamy, somehow tasting sweet then morphing into something deeper. Carlos was weak, he had to oblige, factoring in Pierce's begging or not.

Plus, the fact that it bought them more time.

When they could wander no more, Carlos and Pierce returned to sushi restaurant. Pierce gazed up again at the mirrored windows on the grey skyscraper, lights dotting its surfaces in extended smudges. "You want to walk me back to my hotel room?" she had repeated his question in disbelief.

Carlos nodded, unable to wipe the smile from his face. He knew it was crazy. He knew she'd say no. But he couldn't resist the chance to push her buttons. To watch her face contort, deciding whether or not she was going to play along with it or just kiss him to shut him up.

She shook her head, glancing over her shoulder at the two twin Ford SUV's, parked one in front of the other— their chariots awaiting to return them back to Suzuka. Back to the real world. Racing against time before they turned back into pumpkins, and her curated outfit to fireproofs. Back to work.

Pierce sighed, facing Carlos again. The strained look on her face told Carlos all he needed to know.

That he should have booked a hotel room in Tokyo for the night.

After dodging Pierce's many concerns about returning her back to her hotel room, Carlos managed to convince her. Persistence, he'd learned, was often the key. Convincing Pierce that he really wanted to. That he couldn't get enough of her. That this was a date, and he was raised to be a gentleman first. 

They got in their separate cars, texting the entire way back to the hotel, mostly blurred photos that they'd snapped throughout the night, before arriving at the back of the hotel fifteen minutes apart. Pierce exited out of the elevator, rounding the empty hallway to find Carlos standing at her door, like she'd snap her fingers and he'd disappear just the same.

Pierce considered for a moment asking Carlos to come in. Her fingers tangled with themselves, picturing what would happen if they were caught together out here. Knowing that other teams were also staying in this hotel, members of her own team included.

But none of it mattered as his face loomed inches from hers. Any worry melted away, the distance between them shrinking by the second. The closeness she craved all night.

One kiss, to send her off for the night. One kiss to leave her wanting more.

If Carlos hadn't thought that ending the night there was the bigger thing to do, if he didn't think it would help slow down the process, as Pierce had requested; if he booked a hotel room in Tokyo for the night, he wouldn't find himself faced with the one person he knew wouldn't let this one go without an explanation.

"Where are you coming from, then?"

Carlos' eyes widened, a surprised gasp leaving his lips. He felt his eyes moving in his head with each silent breath expelled, Lando's berry-stained cheeks beamed with the laugh he held in. "How long have you been standing there?" Carlos asked plainly.