Don't leave me here [a LANDO NORRIS ff]

I.

The day was bright in Monaco as I walked along the pier, watching yachts sway with the waves. Today's slight breeze was helping with the high temperatures of July. It was my time off as I finished all my exams early and could fully enjoy multiple months of summer holiday. I turned the corner to a small café where I was supposed to meet Clara, my best friend, for drinks at a local café. I readjusted my scarf and sunglasses as I crossed the street.

Clara and I go way back. We were both born here, in Monaco, in 1999. Our moms shared a room at the hospital, so we literally know each other since birth, but she's two days older than me. We didn't live on the same street or anything but since Monaco is the second smallest country, it certainly felt like it.  We attended the same elementary school, high school and even college. I study the Sports business management programme and Clara chose the Luxury management at the IUM.  This was the only time our ways parted, but not too much so we could still hang out all the time. Some of our classes are the same so we are able to attend them together. We always dreamt of working in the same company together, causing mischeif across departments.

I finally reached my destination and sat down at a small table placed on the sidewalk of quiet street, still overlooking the luxury yachts. I wondered if I'll ever be able to cruise on one, watching the sunset.

"Heeey!" Clara yelled from across the street, waving her arm like a crazy person while trying to hold on to her  belongings.

"Hey C, you good?" I laughed as I watched her struggle untangling her hair from the gold hoop earring she was wearing.

"Totally, I'm such a mess today, sorry for the wait" she said while looking through the menu. We both ordered Aperol Spritz and Clara lit up a cigarette letting out a white cloud of smoke. We rambled about our lives like we haven't seen each other for ages, while it was like a week max. She talked about another boy she met and swooned over his blue eyes. Or was it brown? Her love interests merge into one in my head as I lost track of all of them. One week she was over the moon for Jacque, the next it was Peter who was spending holiday here with his family. I honestly was completely lost as Clara scrolled through today's boy's Instagram to find a picture that "actually looked like him".   On the other hand a talked about my internship I was about to start during the holiday. I was supposed to be a social media manager for a luxury watch brand a couple times a week. It was a great opportunity for my portfolio.

"By the way, our birthdays are coming and I was wondering what we're gonna do? We do the same thing every year. Go to a park to do a picnic, then watch a movie at home and do a girls night AT HOME. I wanna go out this year. We're turning 25 and that means we're gonna be closer to fifty than to birth, which is fucking crazy. Soooo I thought we could do a little bit of dress shopping and go out. To an actual bar or something. You might even finally meet someone" she wiggled her eyebrows proposing this master plan she came up with.

I have no idea where this came from, as the girls night at home every year was HER idea. I like to go out from time to time and feel the monegasque night life through my veins.

"Sure, glad you said that! There's this new store I wanted to try!" I squealed while sipping on my drink. I had this whole outfit planned. Maybe because I have too much time on my hands and spend ungodly amount of hours on Pinterest.

Clara's birthday is in two days, which is Wednesday, mine is two days later. So this year couldn't be more perfect timing than this.  The sun fell down as we were on our fifth drink and the streets became busier. We started to gather our things, which was extremely difficult, considering the amount of drinks we both had. I laughed so much I thought a tinkled my panties a little bit when Clara's heel got stuck in the grass and she fell on her ass. This girl is the clumsiest person I've ever met. She swears she's only clumsy around me but that's simply not true in my opinion. I can't even count the things in my apartment she broke while trying to do something.