apocalypse | charles leclerc ✓

chapter 15 | breakup season

«The odds are stacked against us, friend. I know that our short time depends on it.»

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The situation gave the impression that the only reason she felt happy nowadays was because of, unsurprisingly, New York. She slipped the topic in every conversation, and it was no longer about any country in Europe, not The Netherlands or Italy, not even Monaco. Her focus was all about New York. Vivianne noticed this change right away, especially after Sloane herself reacted with confusion when the manager suggested she could go to the race in Barcelona to support Charles if she wanted, to spend time with him. Something told Vivianne for a moment Sloane had forgotten entirely about that...or Charles. She kept that to herself though.

At the time she felt bad because she'd missed Imola and Miami, and remembered how people decided to keep theorising about a possible breakup over her absence. Then she felt even worse when she realised going to the race in Barcelona sounded more like a duty than something she willingly wanted to do. Discarding those thoughts away, Sloane ended up agreeing with Vivianne...about Barcelona. And the race. That was.

And now she was there. Scrolling through her phone. Distracted by checking flats in — again, not a shocker — New York.

"I've been searching for you everywhere," Aurora slid onto the space next to her side of the bench she'd found in an attempt to sneak away from the Ferrari hospitality.

The phone nearly slipped out of her hands as she jolted startled, locking the screen like someone hiding a private conversation. She turned to her friend with a smile, the phone facing down on the table. Aurora studied her, perhaps the smile looked too mechanic or forced. She relaxed her face, and it worked, Aurora softened her expression and returned the smile with one of her own.

"I asked about you earlier when I arrived but Valentina told me you were busy with Silvia. I didn't want to interrupt." She explained.

Her answer to this was a simple nod. "I didn't expect you to make it today. Just thought you'd be too busy with New York stuff." Aurora nudged her with the elbow, cracking a sweet smile.

Part of her mind said I wish, while another muttered You're being an awful girlfriend. But she was there, wasn't she? That counted. "You know Vivianne, she loves to be in charge of all the serious things so I'm leaving most of the New York stuff to her." She shrugged one shoulder. "And I'm here to support, as always. Go Ferrari!" Unenthusiastically she lifted her fist in the air, letting out an awkward chuckle.

God.

Aurora didn't seem to catch any weird behaviour. "Remember when you bantered about me enjoying the races and the cars...look at you now."

"Let's be honest, Rory, it's not the cars for me." She arched an eyebrow. "Unless it's not the cars for you either."

Because Aurora was Aurora, she dropped her smile, and her cheeks turned into a rosy colour. Nothing to do with the Barcelona weather, for sure. Sloane remembered her friend's silly crush on Sebastian Vettel all the time. Sometimes she also liked to jest with Pierre, though Aurora appeared to be immune to him — not very astonishing, and she understood why his pathetic flirting didn't work most of the time — so perhaps their friendship wasn't along those lines. She laughed when the girl softly slapped her arm full of disapproval.

Aurora pointed a warning finger. "Sloane, don't start. We've had this conversation before." One too many times for Aurora's liking. It was friendly banter anyway.

"You seriously don't find any of them attractive in the slightest?" Leaning against her side, she gave her a playful smirk.

It took two seconds for Aurora to push her away, and Sloane chuckled, throwing her head back a little. Before she could continue with the teasing, her friend averted her gaze somewhere else, naturally, she did the same and followed the new point of concentration. Coming from the hospitality area, Charles wedged his way between people in an attempt to walk in their direction. He waved his hand and smiled when she met his gaze, Sloane waved back with a bit less energy. By her side, Aurora was already mid-standing up to leave, she reached to stop her by grabbing her arm and gently pulling her back onto the seat.