L O C K -U P | c. leclerc

15| Release

C. Leclerc

I tried to run after Artemis but Alexandra held me back. I looked to Lando and he said, "Don't worry, I'll go find her." He immediately ran after Artemis and did what I couldn't do, with my past literally holding me back.

I sighed in relief but then Alexandra said, "Charles, please don't go after her. Don't turn your back on me."

"Why shouldn't I? You turned your back on me remember? And when I tried to get you back, you had already moved on to your next man so quickly," I seethed, yanking my hand out of her grip, making her take a step back.

She put her hand in her chest and said, "But he wasn't the one for me Charles, you are-."

"You should've thought of that before you decided to close your door on me to fuck some other guy when I tried to get you back," I interrupted. She had no right to come back and pretend like what we had both irrevocably broken could still be repaired.

I tried to look for Lando and possibly run after him to perhaps catch up and find Artemis but Pierre held me back and said, "Just let Lando talk to her and let her cool off. You won't like what she'll have to say when she just saw you kiss another woman."

"Why does that matter to you? All of you don't like her anyways right?," I said in defeat, shoving Pierre away so I could sink into the plush leather of the booth. Max just shook his head, "I'm sorry mate, I didn't think it would end this way. I thought it would be better if you and Alexandra got back together."

"You didn't need to dig up something I intended to be buried Max," I said, waving down a waiter to get me another round of drinks. Max patted me on the shoulder and said, "I know, I'm sorry. I feel even worse now since Artemis stopped by our table and said she wanted to apologise to us but she wanted to properly apologise to you first."

I ran my hands through my hair in frustration. Why does this have to happen right now? Fuck.

I can't deal with this. I need a thousand Irish slammers after this whole ordeal.

——

L. Norris

"Artemis! Stop running!," I yelled but she just kept on running and sobbing that she probably couldn't even hear me. I strained my legs to catch up to her and when I finally did, I grabbed her by the arm to stop her.

"Let go of me you overgrown child!," she yelled. I defended myself of course, "First of all, I'm not an overgrown child and second of all, stop running away from conflict!," I scolded but that only made her cry more so I pulled her into a hug.

I stroked her hair gently, letting her bury her face in my chest as I said, "Hey, hey, stop crying Artemis. You're supposed to be the big bad guy...or is it big bad woman...but you know what I mean, you're the beast in the track. My point is everyone thinks your cold as ice on track so don't let silly things make you cry."

"It's not silly, I'm just so stupid, I should really stop self-sabotaging myself," she muttered into my chest so I let her go to look in her eyes as I said, "What's so self-sabotaging about caring for someone? You seem to care a lot about Charles and what's wrong with that. You're allowed to feel things."

"Having feelings is normal Artemis," I said and she nodded as she wiped away her tears with her thumbs. She gave me a brief smile and said, "Sorry, I just got so used to burning bridges that mending bridges or even making new bridges just seemed so hard because it felt too new."

I nodded and gave her a brief smile too but I knew there were much more things that troubled her. Of course, I'd have to wait for her to say it because she's the hardest person to read.