"Don't forget that tonight is the company dinner." A head pops out of my office door. It is my boss, who quickly enters my room and stands in front of the entrance staring at me.
"I know, Luca. I have to finish doing something important" my eyes do not leave my PC screen, while my fingers continue typing on the keyboard.
"It's almost 7 pm, the party is in two hours, Lisa" I finally look up and beyond the screen, I see my boss, his hands on his hips. He is a man in his forties, kind and affable, I have known him for almost five years, which is since I joined the Vista Jet team. Luca leaves the room but I continue working for another good half hour. Then I look at my watch.
"Shit, it's so late" I immediately switch off the PC, get up from the chair and slide down to the ground floor where my personal driver is waiting for me.
"We're late, aren't we?" he asks me as he speeds home.
"Late as hell, Ethan" Once I get to my flat, I wash up, go into the walk-in wardrobe and grab the clothes I had planned to put on while I was in the car. Obviously, the result is not at all what I had hoped for, so I grab a slightly more elegant, black, but very simple dress by Dior, a pair of black leather Jimmy Choo's and the black Birkin I bought last year with all my salary money. I do my make-up, curl my hair slightly, put on my historical Miss Dior perfume and dash into the car.
"You were faster than expected"
"Thank you Ethan, I just hope that I locked the house..." I say to myself.
Once I get to the club, my boss walks up to me and hugs me.
"You look gorgeous, Lisa."
"You look great too, Luca!"
"Come, let me introduce you to tonight's chief guest." Luca takes me under his arm and makes me take a few steps towards the centre of the patio, where a group of well-dressed men are listening to a guy talking. He is wearing a pair of baggy beige trousers, a black short-sleeved shirt and white trainers. Luca makes his way through the gentlemen and addresses the boy, who stops talking. He pulls him away from the group and they both approach me.
"Lisa, I want you to meet Charles Leclerc, but surely you already know him." I look up and my eyes land on the boy's eyes. Blue, piercing. He smiles sweetly and holds out his hand to me. I do likewise and he gently squeezes it.
"Nice to meet you" he says in a very elegant French accent.
"My pleasure" I reply. I am all red in the face, in fact I start to feel very hot. Then I turn to Luca who smiles at me like a father who has just left his daughter at the altar and walks away all satisfied with what he has done.
Charles Leclerc and I remain alone and for a few moments an awkward silence falls between us.
"So, Luca told me you follow F1" Charles breaks the silence
"That's right, since I was a little girl"
"Wow! Then I have to ask you who your favourite driver is!"
"Um..." I take some time, since I don't want to immediately say that he is my favourite driver. "Let's say my favourite team is Ferrari"
"Oh, right. Good answer" he smiles at me because he understood exactly what I meant.
"Hi Charles, shall we take a picture?"
"Sure!"
One of our company managers stops him and together they start talking about Vista Jet. They do this for quite a while, so I turn away and head towards my colleagues' group.
"So?" one of them asks me.
"What?"
"How is Charles Leclerc?" They all move closer to me to listen.
"Normal..." I try to contain myself as much as I can.
"We don't believe it one bit!" says my colleague.
"Okay, he's nice, but we've talked too little. Of course he has to talk to everyone else in the company."
"I guess he really wants to talk to you though" says my colleague looking over my shoulder.
"What do you mean?" I turn to look and see Charles approaching me.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt the discussion with you" he has one hand in his pocket, only his Richard Mille is shown, while he gestures with the other. He has a ring and two bracelets from the brand he sponsors, APM Monaco.
"It's ok, it's not your fault!" we smile at each other in silence.
"Introduce us, Lisa!" My colleagues from behind draw my attention.
"Oh sure, guys, this is Charles Leclerc. Charles, these are my colleagues."
"Pleased to meet you" Charles shakes hands with the whole group and smiles at everyone, talking to him for a while, then the group scatters because Luca calls them. Only me and Charles remain.
"Would it be inappropriate if I bought you a drink?" Charles is strangely goofy but his smile is perfect and I can't stop looking at him. I just smile at him and follow him towards the bar counter.
"What would you prefer?"
"I think a gintonic."
"My favourite" he smiles at me then turns to the barman, "two gintonic, please"
He turns back to me as the barman prepares our cocktails.
"So what exactly do you do in Vista Jet?" Charles rests his left shoulder on the edge of the bar, then crosses his arms and looks at me waiting for my answer. Okay, now he's no longer goofy. He's charming and confident.
I start talking about my job, about everything I do, while he stands silently watching my eyes. I don't know how much he can care about my work, really.
"I know, it's so boring compared to yours"
"Oh no, not at all!"
"Gentlemen, you should take a seat at the tables" a waiter interrupts our discussion.
"Thank you very much" Charles replies. We both approach the tables still close to each other, we chat a bit and when the time comes to sit down, I move towards the table and see that he still follows me.
"Yes I remember that race well, if there hadn't been a halo, Lewis probably would have died" I say making my way through the crowd, as does Charles who hasn't stopped listening to me for a moment. I place my bag on a random chair, continuing to talk to Charles, while a Vista Jet CEO approaches Charles, places his hand on his shoulder and Charles turns to him.
"We'd like you next to us, Charles." Charles turns to me, his eyes are sad but he cannot refuse.
"Have a nice dinner" I say smiling. Charles continues to look at me, then is engulfed by all the other company leaders. I am only a modest manager.
I sit down, surronded by my collegues. Dinner passes quickly and I no longer see Charles. Finally it is time for the buffet desserts, so everyone gets up to go and get their dessert. I decide not to get any as I am already full, so I am left alone. I look at my phone for a while, when suddenly I see someone standing next to me. I look up and it is Charles with a sweet on his plate, he has just taken a big forkful of the pastry.
"Aren't you going to have dessert?" asks Charles a little worried.
"No I'm so full" I say, touching my belly.
"Do you want to try this pastry? It's really delicious."
"No, but thank you, really. You eat it!" Indeed in a second the pastry has already disappeared from the plate which is immediately taken away by a waiter.
"How was dinner?" he asks me.
"Fine, what about you?"
"A bit boring actually. I ate really well though."
Charles is still standing in front of me, so I take courage and invite him to sit next to me. He doesn't let me tell him twice and sits down, resting one arm on the back of the chair and sitting sideways.
Charles and I start talking about many things again. We laugh and joke, Charles is a really affable and easygoing guy and his accent makes me melt every time he speaks, as does his smile and his eyes. I follow the movement of his hands as he describes to me some of the corners of the circuits, some of the overtaking he has done. His narration is truly hypnotic, I would spend hours listening to him talk.
"Your work is definitely more interesting than mine" I say after a while, smiling. He smiles too because he knows I am right. How nice it is when he laughs.
Then my phone lights up. The iPhone clock reminds me that it's almost 1am and that I have to go to sleep.
"Damn it's almost 1am" I say.
"Really? I didn't realise that" he also looks at his phone. The screen is chock full of notifications, yet he ignores them all. He puts his phone back in his pocket.
"I have to go now," I say, grabbing my bag and getting up from the table. Immediately Charles stands up with me.
"Really? So soon?"
"Oh yes, tomorrow the alarm clock goes off so early."
"I understand"
"Have a good night then" I say looking into his eyes. He smiles at me, then wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me towards him. I can smell his scent, I feel his pecs.
"I'll leave you my number" he says pulling away from me "so if you get bored tomorrow, you can text me"
My legs shake. I was totally not expecting this. I reach for my mobile phone and Charles dictates his number. I save it in the address book. Charles Leclerc
"Done" I say, smiling.
"I'll walk you out."
"That's not necessary, really"
"I insist. I could do with a walk after all I've eaten"
Charles and I cross the patio, while all the eyes of my colleagues, my bosses, all of Vista Jet is on us. I lower my gaze as Charles is much more confident.We arrive at the exit of the club where Ethan is already at the door. Charles opens the door for me and waits for me to enter.
"I hope you'll be bored at work tomorrow" he says, winks at me and then closes the door.
I throw my head back in the seat and sigh.
"Am I wrong or was that Charles Leclerc?" asks Ethan as he drives
"You're not wrong..."
"I guess it was a good night for you" he says laughing up his sleeves
"Unusual"
As soon as I get home, I say goodbye to Ethan who is leaving. I close the door, take off my shoes and go up to my room barefoot. I put on my pyjamas, remove my make-up and go to sleep.
The next day in the office everyone asks me about Charles, but I don't tell anyone anything.
"No big deal, he's nice".
No one is satisfied with my answers, I can see it in their eyes. I don't care.
After lunch I go back to the office, but I have finished all the work to do. I lean back in my chair and it occurs to me that I have Charles Leclerc's number saved in my addresses. I open Whatsapp, choose his empty chat and stare at it. Then I think about writing to him. Yes, but what? I write and delete over and over again. I put the phone down, it's a bad idea. I get up, I drink. Then I go back to the armchair again, I stare at the phone, I unlock it, it's still in Charles' chat.
I swear I've never been so bored at work as I am today...
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