fast lane - c.leclerc

chapter sixteen

LAUREN

LAUREN WASN'T AMUSED IN the slightest. Today she was having her first public appearance with Charles as his girlfriend. It was supposed to be discreet, a soft launch if you will. However, the mere act of having to communicate on the daily with Charles made her regret agreeing to Christian's proposal already.

Lauren unlocked the door to the lavish Italian apartment she and Charles were sent to. As she rolled her suitcase into the hallway, she found that Charles had beat her to arriving first. His shoes were neatly placed on the rack. 

Faint piano music echoed from the living room. Lauren was intrigued. She silently snuck inside the room, finding Charles sitting behind a massive leather-brown piano. His back was turned towards her. A tight-fitting white blouse clung to his skin, allowing Lauren a clear view of his back muscles. She watched them flex as he moved from key to key.

A weird sensation washed over her as she watched him. Some weird kind of mix between pride and feeling like a stalker. She cleared her throat, making herself known. Charles shuddered, looking over his shoulder. She'd startled him.

'You could've given me a heart attack, Evans,' he sighed, grasping his heart dramatically.

'I'd never kill you in such a boring way, Leclerc. You're worthy of a spectacular death,' Lauren walked over to where he'd been playing. Charles now had a clear view of her. She was wearing a sweater and workout shorts. Her hair was held together by a claw clip that wasn't doing a great job as several strands had escaped it. She looked so cosy and beautiful, that he could look at her for days.

'Somehow, I have no choice but to believe you,'

'I know, I'm a genius,' she ran her fingers over the cold wood of the piano, 'by the way, la la land, really?'

Charles' cheeks tinted. 'The movie has an incredible soundtrack,' 

'I'm not judging you, it used to be my favourite movie,'

'You're lying,'

'I'm not,' Lauren said defensively.

What Lauren didn't know is that La La Land was Charles' all-time favourite movie. He was 19 when it came out and ever since then, he'd watched it over and over again. He could play the entire soundtrack by memory on the piano. 

'Anyway, are you ready for our romantic weekend?' he inquired, purposely changing the subject. The situation with Lauren was very complicated as it was. He didn't want to feed even more into his delusion that they could become something serious.

'Honestly, I kind of am. I get to relax and enjoy the sun before getting behind the wheel again. With this view, it doesn't matter that I have to share it with you,' Charles rolled his eyes.

'I think you're trying to say that the view isn't as impressive, because you already have me to look at,' this gained him a smile from Lauren.

'Yeah, that's exactly what I meant,'

'So I was thinking, we go to the beach. I already made reservations for dinner in town tonight,'

'Someone's put in effort,' Lauren smirked, 'it sure is flattering how thoughtful you are, Charlie,'

'Shut up. Let me show you around the apartment,'

Charles guided Lauren up the wooden stairs. The second floor consisted of two bedrooms and a large bathroom. At least they could have some privacy.

'This one is mine,' Charles pointed to the room nearest to the staircase. Lauren sprinted to the other room which was hers. It was very spacious and in contrast to Charles', it had a balcony.

'Why'd you call dibs on the one without the balcony?' she yelled out to him.

'Because I know how much you value your balconies,' he shot back. Lauren chuckled, remembering the time they held a screaming match from opposite balconies.

'Shame I can't cockblock you from this one,'

'Yeah, you still owe me some good sex. That girl was like a tiger,'

'I don't owe you shit, Leclerc,' Lauren scoffed. He'd had his chance with her, but he was so keen on taking it slow. 

'I missed our arguing, Evans,' Charles took a seat on her bed.  

'Likewise,' she murmured in response. Truth be told, she had missed it. Nobody riles her up as well as Charles does. That's what made him such a threat. That's why she had to take some cautionary measures.

Lauren zipped her bag open, fishing out a notebook and a pen. She clumsily tossed it to Charles who was barely able to catch it.

'What's this for?' he asked.

'We're creating a contract for our arrangement,' Charles snickered loudly.

'You're such a control freak. Relax a little, besides didn't we already sign NDAs and stuff?'

'Yes, we did but you, my friend, endangered my reputation the last time we hooked up. So-,'

Charles cut her off. 'I apologised a million times already. We were messing around. Let's not get repetitive here. Lauren, I never intentionally meant to harm you,'

His blue eyes stared up at her kindly. Lauren's heart ached. 'I know. I was at fault too, but it did make me realise that you and I can't be together, even if it's casual. We're too intense. I got so much shit from that tiny leak. You're cute, but also a huge liability,'

Charles' expression faltered. 'So generous with the compliments today. A liability. God, you anger me so much,' Charles got up and paced around the room trying to calm himself down.

'We're bound to fuck up and you know it,'

He ignored her comment. 'Listen to me carefully. I've had enough of you fucking with my head. I wasn't such a liability when my tongue was inside you, was I? You agreed with Christian's idea. You're giving me such mixed signals. You want me, then you say you don't. I show up with another girl and you practically burn her head off,'

Lauren jumped up. 'Charles, I'm choosing to protect my career here. I've already explained this to you. It's the entire reason why I wanted to do this thing,'

Charles grabbed her arms firmly, shutting her rant down once again. 'I don't want to listen to you anymore. I'm going for a short drive now. When I get back, you better be ready. We're going to stage some romantic moments to save your career,' he let go of Lauren and reached for her notebook and started scribbling, 'God, I can't wait for this weekend to be over,'

He stormed out, not sparing her a final glance. Lauren remained silent. She knew she'd hurt him because he'd just backed down from a fight with her. Curiously, she glanced at the notebook. He'd written just one sentence.

Fuck you

Just what she deserved.

A/n you guys please don't hate me. I starved you for a week and now I present you with this. though keep in mind, that I have a vision for these two.