sweet escape [c.l.]

chapter five

Now

It had been a week since they last talked, a week with zero contact between them. Maybe it wasn't on purpose, maybe it was, no one knows, but it had been a week since they last talked and they both missed each other.

Charles had come close to texting Rory a couple of times, but he always stopped himself, he had agreed to give her time, so that was exactly what he was going to do. Rory on the other hand had found herself looking for Charles everytime she was in a room where other drivers were also.

Right now, separated from each other they were both focused on their own thing. It was the media day of the first weekend of the season and Charles was making his way around the interviews.

"Charles, great to see you!"

"Likewise." He shot his charming smile to the camera.

"You look fresh from the vacation." Charles laughed a bit, "Ready for this weekend? A lot of expectations?"

He gently scratched his chin, "Yeah, you know how it goes, it's the first weekend of the season, all the points and all the doors are open, so yeah, I can say I have expectations for this season."

"Last season didn't end as you expected, have the holidays helped you deal with the disappointment that came with it?"

"In some way. The only thing I can say is that the holidays came at the right time." They both laughed as Charles moved on to the next interview.

He knew all the questions would revolve around these two subjects, his expectations for the new season and if he had forgotten what had happened last season. Of course he had expectations and of course he hadn't forgotten. Last season was awful in more ways than one and he had disappointed everyone and his goal this season was to change that.

"Have you been getting along with everyone?"

"Yes dad, I have." Rory reassured her father.

She wasn't expecting that when this morning she was woken up by a knock on her door for it to be her dad. Her parents had told her that they would be coming to visit someday, but she was expecting that someday to be the first GP.

Her dad had explained to her that he and some of his colleagues at the clinic had taken this weekend off so they all entered a plane and ended up here. As if she would believe that.

"So... Where is Alejandro?"

Rory rolled her eyes. "Knew it was coming." She took a deep breath, "I don't know and I don't want to know that."

"At this point you are just being mean Rory."

"I'm not being mean. My relationship with Alejandro ended badly to say the least and you guys seem to forget that and think he is the perfect guy for me."

"Okay, okay, I won't talk more about the subject now. But just so you know Alejandro is walking towards us."

Rory quickly turned around to see Alejandro walking towards them with a smile on his face. The last time she saw she invented a boyfriend that was very visibly nowhere to be seen, the only thing she could do was pray that we wouldn't bring it up.

"Mr. Delgado, so good to see you," Alejandro shook her dad's hand, "I didn't know you were coming."

"No one actually knew, it was a last minute decision. And I believe I have already told you to call me Gabriel."

"Sorry Gabriel." Alejandro laughed and then looked at Rory who had stayed still while the two men interacted, "It's good to see you too Aurora."

"Can't say the same."

"Well, I don't really have the time to catch up now," a smile started to grow on Rory's face, "how about we do it later today? At dinner maybe?" Rory's smile completely disappeared.

"Sounds good to me, we had no plans." Her dad answered, completely missing the look on her face.

"Perfect. Maybe you can bring your boyfriend to Rory. I bet your father will be delighted to meet Charles."

Rory became pale, she couldn't believe that Alejandro would bring that up in front of her dad. And that stupid smirk that was making its way into his face proved that he didn't believe a word that she had said to him the week before. And think that Charles was her boyfriend? That man was crazy and she had to make things right.

"I..." Rory started but was quickly interrupted by an arm making its way around her waist.

"I would be delighted to attend the dinner tonight. I'm Charles by the way, Rory's boyfriend." Charles extended his hand towards her father without batting an eye and with an award winning smile on his face.

Rory looked up at him with her eyebrows creased to which he just winked at her. Alejandro's smile quickly disappeared as Charles and Rory's dad engaged in small talk, completely forgetting that he was present. He hated it so much that he disappeared without uttering a word to anyone present.

"The conversation is amazing, but unfortunately I have some more things to do before I'm completely free." he pulled Rory more to him by the arm that was still around her waist.

"Of course Charles, see you at dinner." The two mens shook hands one more time.

Charles leaned down to Rory's ear and whispered, "Don't overthink it. Just text me the details for later and we will make sure that Alejandro has given up by the end of dinner." He left a small kiss on her forehead before disappearing to what he was going to do before leaving Rory still starstroke without understanding what had just happened all she knew was that it was going to be an interesting dinner.

"So? Charles Leclerc? You have to start calling us more often."