The Feature Game - [Carlos Sainz]

Seis

         Gloria looked at Carlos as he was telling her something about his days in karting, even holding up a picture of him as a kid, but her brain was overwhelmed with the amount of information he suddenly decided to share with her. She was staring at the way his fingers curled around the picture and his lips moved along with the words that spilled from his tongue, until he stopped. "I thought you said you were a good listener?" he asked, his head cocking sideways in a puppy dog-like way that caused her insides to melt, especially now they had such a good conversation. "You tend to overshare once you get comfortable," Gloria said, closing her notebook and grabbing the picture from his hands. He grumbled a little before sitting back in the sofa. After the meetings he had, during which she had sat down on the other side of the table, listening to whatever he said and discussed, he offered her a cup of coffee and their conversation had started naturally. It had been a good day in the end, but he also looked forward to being alone, take a walk with Piñon when he came back.

Thinking of his dog, his sister pulled into the driveway as he got a notification from the camera's on the porch. Carlos got up to open the gate to let her park closer to the front door. He looked out of the windows to see Blanca opening the door of the backseat to let Piñon out. "Is it your sister?" Gloria asked. "Yes," Carlos confirmed, walking into the hallway to open the front door. Gloria could hear the tippytaps of the dog's paws on the floor soon enough, and a ball of energy entered the living room. "I didn't know you had a visitor, Carlos!" Blanca said, rushing to find Piñon's leash to prevent him from jumping into Gloria's lap. "It's okay, don't worry," Gloria laughed, petting the dog when he rushed towards her with one of his toys in his mouth. "He never asked me if I was afraid of dogs or not," she added, making Blanca scoff and put her hands on her hips. "If the answer was yes, we would have to cancel the project, which I was hoping for," Carlos said. "That's not true," Blanca said, giving her brother a look before she turned to Gloria. "You must be Gloria," she smiled, and the two women shook hands.

"Dad told me about you and the project of your article," Blanca continued, sitting down as well, while Carlos went into the kitchen to grab her a glass of water. "Yep," Gloria said, tapping her fingers on her knees. "How's it going?" she asked. "It's... going, I think," Gloria replied. "I've met his team already," she added. "He might be a little grumpy, but if you turn this into a journalistic masterpiece and win prices with it, he'd be more than proud," Carlos' sister continued, lowering her volume a little as Carlos came back. Gloria watched as Carlos sat down again, Piñon happily laying down at his feet after he got his belly rubs. She listened as the two conversed like she wasn't there, and eventually she decided to leave them alone. Blanca told her it was nice to meet her, and if she needed anything that could help her story, she was happy to help. "You don't have to be so mean to her," Blanca muttered while she brought her glass of water to her lips. "I'm not mean to her," Carlos defended himself. "I'm just not fond of journalists writing stories, you know that. But we actually had a nice conversation before you came in."

Blanca rose her eyebrows slightly. "And she looks nice," she continues. "She's okay, yeah," Carlos hummed. "I mean her appearance, Chili. She's very pretty," his sister says, and his eyes narrow as he looks back at her. "Meaning?" he asks. "I'm just mentioning it. And the fact that you've been single for a while now. And that she's living here." Carlos rolled his eyes. "You're that desperate for me to find a girlfriend again?" Blanca shakes her head. "I want you to think of this conversation when you fall in love with her. She's exactly your type," she teases. Carlos mimicked her. "You're acting like those girls on TikTok," he replied, moving to sit on the edge of his seat to reach down and pet Piñon. "Now, that's an insult," Blanca said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Are you staying for dinner?" Carlos asked, getting up and changing the topic. "Yeah, why not," Blanca hummed. 

         "Gloria?" 

She looked up from her laptop as Carlos knocked on her door, opening it slightly. She was already in a pair of joggers and a thin top to get ready for bed, so she wondered what it was about. "My sister just left," he explained as he pushed the door further open. "I'm going for a walk with Piñon. Do you want to join?" Carlos asked. He had clearly just showered. His hair was fluffy and draped over his forehead, and he was wearing a sweater and some sweats as well. Gloria checked the time as she actually wanted to go to bed soon, but she figured it would be good if they talked some more. "Yes, that's okay," Gloria replied, and she moved to get her shoes and a sweater too. Carlos was waiting for her downstairs with Piñon, holding the leash that was attached to the dog's collar. They went out of the house through the back, and they crossed the garden to exit on the other side than Gloria has entered till now. They spend the first five minutes walking in silence, and she wasn't sure whether it was awkward or not.

"Is it hard to have a social life while constantly traveling?" she spoke up, looking up at him. Carlos looked down at his shoes, taking a couple of seconds to answer. "Sometimes," he replied. "I'm lucky that my team are also a couple of guys that are my best friends," Carlos continued. "Like Roberto, and Rupert, and my manager, and the others," he summed up. "The other people I meet up with are likely also sportsmen or athletes, so I see them once in a while in Monaco or Milan to have a dinner, or we visit each other at tennis matches, football games, moments like those," he explained. "How about the drivers on the grid? You seem quite close with your team mate," Gloria said. "Close to a certain level, yes. You can never be best friends with your team mate, because he's the guy you need to beat. I like Charles, he's nice, he cooperates, but once we close our visors I don't care who's in my way to the top step of the podium," Carlos said. "There are some driver's I don't mind sharing a dinner table with, like Fernando, Max, Lando, Charles."

Carlos had undone Piñon's leash already, and he stopped when the dog brought him the ball he just threw away. Gloria chuckled as Carlos fake-threw it, and the moment caused Piñon to be all excited and look for it already. He threw the ball into the distance not much later. "How about relationships? You're almost thirty," Gloria said. "Are you calling me old?" Carlos replied, his eyes sparkling slightly as he teased her. "No," she laughed. "I mean, I have friends nearing thirty who already have kids, who're married, are in a long relationship. Doesn't it scare you?" she asked. Carlos gnawed at his bottom lip and kicked a branch away that laid on the road. "Sometimes it does, but I forget all about it when I realize I'm living my dream every day and I'm getting closer to winning a title," he said. "With Isa, my ex-girlfriend... We were together for six years. She wanted to get married, she wanted to start a family, but that freaked me out," he admitted. "I don't want to be bound to one place yet, I don't want to disappoint my girlfriend, or wife, that we can't have romantic weekends away every month and that I won't be home for most of the year."

Gloria was a little surprised he wanted to share it with her. She didn't want to take advantage of the moment, but she did want him to tell her more. Not that she's interested in Carlos Sainz' dating history (she was). "That's the reason why you broke up?" she guessed. "Yes, we split on good terms. It was painful after a lot of years, but I rather use those feelings to fuel me on track," Carlos said, throwing the ball for Piñon once more. "How about you?" he suddenly asked, surprising her a little. "Is there a boy all lonely in London waiting for you to come back?" Carlos continued, making her chuckle a little. "No, there isn't," she said. "Unfortunately men my age still aren't mature enough for me," she sighed. Carlos laughed at her comment. "But it's not about me," Gloria quickly said. Carlos looked at her for a moment. "That's not fair," he said. "You can ask me anything and I can't ask things about you?" Gloria laughed. "Fine, a couple of questions. But asking the questions is my job here," she said. His lips curled up a little. After a couple more minutes, they turned around to walk back home. 

"The upcoming weeks will be intense," Carlos spoke up again. "We have Canada next week, we fly on Tuesday, arrive Wednesday morning, recover from the jet lag... After Canada we'll be in Milan to get ready for the double header," he said. "Don't fall asleep again during an engineers meeting." Gloria scoffed, rolling her eyes while her cheeks heated up. "That was the highlight of your time with me so far, wasn't it?" she asked. "Definitely," he grinned. "You know, I swear you were even drooling on your hand, but I didn't want to say anything because you were so panicked already," he teased. "Stop!" she squealed, covering her face with her hands. "I was just so exhausted after the first weekend, wow," she added. "I'm sure there are embarrassing pictures of you sleeping somewhere on the internet too," Gloria said. "Well, I know what you will be looking up on the internet tonight," he said, causing her cheeks to turn even redder. "Tomorrow is Teto's party. We should go together, so you can write down in your cute little notebook what I'm doing once I have a drink," Carlos said, opening the door for her.

"I'm fine with staying here if you're worried I will embarrass you in my article. Besides, I'm pretty sure this will not be the only party. Don't forget I will be following you until the end of September, and it's only June," Gloria said. "You're right," he said. "But you seemed to have charmed him, because he keeps asking if you're coming along," Carlos said. "Roberto?" Gloria asked. He hummed in response and looked away from her while getting Piñon some water. "Interesting," she replied. "Okay, I will join you," she decided, standing in the doorway of the hall, ready to go upstairs to her room. "Thanks for being chatty tonight," she said. "Yeah," Carlos nodded, his hand moving to the back of his neck before he brushed his hair away from his forehead. "Goodnight," he muttered. "Goodnight, Carlos." 

A/N: Ahhh progress!