Under the helmet | Charles Leclerc

~Chapter 21~

"We can add Nando, right? He won't tell any of the boys?" Lily questions him.

"I swear I will not tell a single soul out there about what's on the girls group chat." Lando exclaims, we can tell he's had a few.

"Hmm, I'll think on it Lando." Lily pats him on the shoulder while he does puppy eyes at the three of us.

"What is this about a girl group chat I'm hearing?" Charles comes over and sits next to me.

"Oh, nothing, don't worry about it." I assure him, while the girls give me 'the look'

"Yeah, if you say so, anyway, do you girls need any drinks?" Charles asks us all.

"I think I'm alright for now." I say, along with Kika and Lily.

"Alright, and, uhm, Maeve, could you help me carry some of them?" He asks, stuttering a little bit.

"Sure." I respond, getting up and walking over to the bar with him.

"You were stuttering, are you ok?" I ask him once we get to the bar away from most peoples ears.

"Oh, uh, it's nothing." He stammers, trying to dismiss it.

"No, come on tell me, your stammering now." I push a little.

"Just, you look stunning, Maeve." He looks at me, I've never seen him nervous before, and I don't know why he's being nervous now.

"Thank you, Charles, you look great too." I compliment him back.

"Any man would be the luckiest guy in the world to have you." He says lowly, just so I can barely hear.

His voice is soft with a slight accent, it reassures me but for some reason him saying that feels wrong. I shouldn't be able to make anyone that happy, well, not just anyone. Everything feels slowed down while I look at him in the eyes, while he talks to the guy behind the bar and orders the drinks, his eyes sparkle in the light of the building, a gorgeous shade of green and I start thinking about what Kika and Lily said. Did he really feel that way? I ask myself, is he really acting the way they say he is. Am I completely oblivious? I ask myself. Part of this feels right, but part of me is asking: Can we trust him? Even though we weren't in a relationship, it still felt very serious, and I liked him, a lot. I can't seem to figure out if I feel that same way, or if it's changed.

"Maeve?" I hear a voice, just Charles.

"Oh, sorry, I'm a bit zoned out." I respond.

"I could tell, you were in a deep thought, tell me about it." He prompts.

"I was wondering how oblivious I am. I feel like something is going on right under my nose and I'm being completely blinded to it." I explain to him, trying to keep him out of it.

"This is sounding too serious on a night out." He chuckles, and makes me laugh.

He makes me laugh, and he checks up on me when I'm zoned out. But he sort of shut me down? Maybe he just wants me to enjoy the night, well worse case scenario he doesn't want to hear about it. What if Kika and Lily are wrong and they are interpreting it the completely wrong way? Maybe I'm just believing a lie, well I've only just met the two, but why would they be mean to me as soon as I meet them. Well I once thought the same of Charles over here, but I guess he really is a nice guy, even after the rocky start.

I just don't know if I can truly tell if he's genuine or not. I then feel a hand wrap around my waist, giving me flashbacks of last time he did that to me, and how I felt towards him then and how I feel towards him now. I don't know if this is love or, something else. But one thing is for sure, I want to try again with him. But I don't know when. And I don't know when I can trust him again, maybe I'm fully overthinking this?