then you flashed your green eyes at me || Charles Leclerc

chapter seventeen

*author's note*
I'm so sorry I couldn't update earlier but I'm on vacation right now, so I'm not going to be as active :/
Enjoy the chapter! (and look out for grammar mistakes cause I haven't checked)

-§-

She had decided to order pizza. There were too many people with different preferences and she had no energy to cook for all of them. So, when they all got to her house she made a piece of paper go around with a pen so that everyone could write what they wanted to eat, and then proceeded to order. Then she made her way to the living room, where they were all hanging out, her and Carlos being the only single people. 

Lando's girlfriend, Louisa, was sitting with Heidi. Lando was with Max and Daniel. Kelly was in a corner with P, telling her something. Pierre and Carlos were standing near the window with Alex and Lily, who had gotten to Monaco just that afternoon. She saw Kika make her way towards her.

"How's it going?" she sang, a glass of white wine in her hand. Alya giggled.

"I'm good, how are you?" she sang back.

"Yeah girl!!" Kika hyped her up. "This house is amazing, I'm glad you got it" she said. Alya nodded, smiling.

"We'll get to hang out a lot more now" 

"Finally" Kika laughed. "It was getting boring hanging out with Pierre everyday" she said, raising her voice so that he could hear her. He looked up smiling.

"Yeah, say whatever you want. I know you love me" he said from across the room.

"Hell yes I do!" she said, making everyone giggle. "So where's Charles?" she then asked, lowering her voice.

"What?" she asked confused.

"I thought you had gotten a bit closer?" Kika said. "Didn't you?"

"Wel, I wouldn't say that. We talked a bit more while I wasn't speaking with Carlos, yes. But we weren't close"

"So you just didn't invite him?"

"He didn't care"

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because that's what he told Max" she said, trying to end the conversation. She looked away as she took a sip of her beer. Kika's eyes widened.

"Shit, I'm sorry" she said.

"It's no big deal. As I said, we weren't close" she was saved by the bell, and rushed to the door. 

There were two delivery guys handing her the boxes. She called Max and Daniel for help as she paid them. "Thank you" she smiled, before closing the door. 

They sat down all together around the glass coffee table, some on the couch and some on the floor. Then they opened the pizza boxes and started eating and chatting. 

"So, Louisa, what do you do?" Kelly asked.

"Oh, I'm a dance teacher" she said, swallowing the bite of pizza she had just taken. 

"That sounds nice!" Heidi said.

"It is! I mostly work with kids, so it's usually a bit chaotic. But I love seeing how passionate they are at such a young age" she smiled. Everyone agreed, asking a few more questions about what it was like working with kids. She loved it, you could see it in her eyes. And you could see from Lando's that his attention was completely drawn to her. Alya smiled at the sight of his best friend being so happy.

Around ten in the evening she went to the guest room with Kelly, to let P rest on the bed. She had already been patient, staying up the whole evening in a room filled with adults. She had gone from person to person, hugging everyone she was in confidence with, and sitting with them for a while. 

Alya let her borrow one of her shirts, so that she could be comfortable, then let her move around on the bed to get into a comfortable position. Her and Kelly cuddled with her for a bit, whispering as she slowly fell asleep. Then went back to the living room.

"Lower your voices, there's a kid sleeping in the house now" she said entering the living room. Everyone immediately started whispering. She smiled, sitting down on the couch for the first time since they had gotten there. Carlos looked at her from her side.

"How's it going?" he asked. She turned her face to look at him.

"Good" she whispered back, closing her eyes a little. "How are you?" she asked. They both leanes back on the couch.

"I'm good" he smiled.

"Did you have fun?" she whispered, yawning.

"I did" he said. "Are you tired?"

"Yeah, I cleaned the whole afternoon" she replied.

"In a bit we're gonna let you rest" he said. She simply nodded. "How have you been?" he asked. She opened her eyes fully to look at him. His light brown eyes were staring into her dark brown ones.

"I've been good" she said.

"Why didn't you tell me about the panic attack?" he asked softly. She widened her eyes a little.

"Did Charles tell you?" she asked. He nodded. "I didn't think it was a big deal" she lied.

"He sounded pretty scared" he said. "He freaked out a lot. Could be why he didn't come" he shrugged lightly. She gasped slightly. 

"Might be" she said, trying to compose herself. She had thought about it. It was already an idea she had formed. She had just hoped that it wasn't true.

"It's okay" he said. "We're here. That's what counts, right?" 

"Yeah" she whispered, trying to smile. "It is" 

"We're gonna let you rest now" he whispered, then left her a kiss on the forehead. 

By the time they all said goodbye it was already past midnight. She sighed, putting away the empty bottles and plastic cups they had used during the evening. Then she threw away the pizza boxes.

She dragged herself to the bathroom and changed into her pijamas, did her skincare and brushed her teeth. Then moved to her - new - bed. As soon as she lied down, she fell asleep.

She got woken up by the bell ringing. She looked at the time - three in the morning. When she heard someone knock again at the front door, she finally got up. She dragged herself downstairs and, yawning, she went to open the door.

"Charles? What are you doing here?" she asked shocked, suddenly wide awake. She noticed he had watery eyes and shortness of breath, and she immediately knew that something was wrong.

"I'm sorry" he said, a hand on his chest. "I didn't know where else to go."