GREENE | CS55

26 - I Got You, Babe

TOKYO | JAPAN
APRIL 22, 2020

The drive into Tokyo from the trackside hotel in Suzuka was shorter than Pierce had banked on. Either time was truly as fleeting as she felt it to be, or Pierce really did only blink once before the driver, who only ever made himself present when he pointed out landmarks as they blurred past, pulled the blacked out Ford SUV up to the restaurant.

"Sainz-san will be waiting inside,"  the driver nodded at Pierce from the rear-view mirror, placing the car into park before sliding out of his seat to grab the door for Pierce.

Pierce rose her brows. Her stomach tumbled, she knew there was something behind the similar style of SUV she'd seen leaving the hotel just before hers. Carlos planned to be there first. Banking the realization and letting it emerge within her as excitement, she only thanked the driver and wished him a good night, returning his nod at the shut of the door behind her.

Uncharacteristically heavy air cozied Pierce, still humid and pressing from the earlier rainfall. The alley walls were slabs of thick and smooth concrete that seemed to extend upwards until the clouds allowed it no more. Some type of office building, Pierce thought to herself, the homesickness hitting her like a ton of bricks. It'd felt like weeks since she'd played a meditation podcast through her headphones and walked Punk through Central Park.

Pierce shook off the ominous feeling. A matching grey door was propped open slightly, the only a hint of action was a sliver of light emanating on it's other side.

The small entryway, revealed wholly by Pierce prying the door open with a squeak of its hinges, couldn't have hidden him if it tried. Carlos really was standing right there, his body turned towards her, a look on his face that told her that while he was expecting her, he was equally as shocked to take her in.

She'd pinned the sides of her hair back with matching black clips, slicking the pin straight locks down the ridges of her back, the silken strands casting shadows against the golden lights reflecting off them. Her shoulders shrugged off the buff brown suede jacket, detailed with pockets sporting silver hardware graced her shoulders, the sleeves ending in a slight ruffle of fabric. The black tube-top beneath was simple, save for the slight point in ended in right at the cusp of her hip-flattering black trousers. With the kitten heel she decided on, standing in front of Carlos, her forehead reached the tip of his nose.

Pierce's eyes gazed up at him, something static lingering in the air between them. A certain energy that went unspoken for. Pierce knew where she'd felt that before, and wouldn't dare bringing it up now.

Her throat cleared, making a sound that brought Carlos back to earth. "I got here in a car that the hotel informed me was waiting for me in the drive," she crossed her arms. Carlos shoved his hands in his pockets, slanting his eyes at the woman, an expectant smile teasing his lips. "But I didn't order a car. And so I got in, and the car took me right here, to you! How crazy?"

"Convenient," Carlos' eyes lifted. "But you really shouldn't be getting into strangers cars just like that, you know."

"So protective," Pierce poked at Carlos, shooting an incredulous look his way. A host bounded into the room, greeting Pierce's arrival with a series of bows and a promise that their room was almost ready. Carlos smiled, nodding at the woman politely, and Pierce mirrored the gesture.

A silence filled the room, then. One that neither Pierce, nor Carlos, with thoughts plagued by their last time alone together, had no clue how to fill. As though they had hit rewind on the past few months, taking back all the small trinkets of information and familiarity they had left with each other.

Pierce was the first to give. She swayed her body to face Carlos', a breath lodged in his chest. "You didn't have to..." She waved a hand around. "You didn't have to do that, you know. I could have booked a driver."