Behind Closed Doors

22. A friend on the road

I share a room with Charles since he got us a room with two beds. Which means there was no alone time for me and Arthur to let out some tension, but also that I spend most of my day keeping the thing with Arthur from him and my diagnosis... isn't that just great... at least its easier then keeping it from Arthur...

Since its Friday, the first practice sessions are happening and Arthur and I are joining Charles on track, to check the place out

We walk into the garage with him and I follow him and Arthur to the seats for the drivers family. Carlos' family filling up his part of the seats but one person instantly stands out. She lacks the black hair and dark eyes like the other family members. She looks at us arriving with a genuine smile. She has wavy, dirty blonde hair, half up and half down and her blue eyes are just shining from a distance. She's rocking Carlos' team wear, with some black cargos and some white shoes, pulling of the teamwear like its nothing.

"Is that Carlos' girl?" Arthur asks, noticing her too

"I think so..." Charles says waving at her "Carrie is it?" He asks and gestures to come over to us which she does

"Carlos has said great things about you, im Charles" he says and shakes her hand

"Im Arthur his little brother" Arthur introduces himself too and she looks at me

"Im Nick, Charles' best friend" I say and shake her hand

"Nice to meet you all, I'm Carrie" she says with a beautiful smile, Carlos definitely has taste.

"If you want you can sit over here with them, sitting with someone's family can be a lot" Charles tells Carrie

"Oh sure, maybe its better to spend time with people around my age" she giggles

"Well have fun, Arthur knows his way around so just ask him, I will see you all after FP1" Charles says and waves us goodbye

"So... where are you from Carrie? I love the accent" I ask her as we sit down

"England, around Liverpool. Im taking it you're from Monaco too?" She answers and I smile and nod

"While you two talk, ill get us something to drink. Some coke okay for you two?"

"Yes thank you" Carrie says

"Perfect thank you Bab-... bro" I correct myself praying that it wasnt to late for Carrie to notice

Arthur walks away and I look after him with a smile

"So how long has that been going on?" She asks me directly

"What?" I act clueless

"You were about to call him baby" she calls out and my eyes widen "Dont worry your secret is safe with me" she laughs

"Charles doesn't really know about it... I don't know how to tell your best friend you're in love with his little brother" I tell her quietly, somehow the two of us click.

"A little sneaking around is quite hot" she responds and I turn red "I guess it really is based on that reaction" she laughs at me

"It really is but the lying is the worst" I groan

"Well just look at it like testing waters" she tells me which sounds like a great idea

"But shouldn't we be testing something for that?" I ask her

"Well, if the attraction to each other includes getting intimate" she responds and i bite my lip thinking about the sex we had in his apartment "i guess that has been tested..." she says "maybe try something new together? A little bucket list could out-spice the feeling bad"

"A spicy bucket list hhm" I respond

"Just an idea" she says

"I like you... you and my roommate would get along, this is definitely something she would propose" I tell her and she smiles at me

"Thank you, I was scared I'd be all alone in the paddocks but thank god you and Arthur are here" she says and Arthur returns with 3 cokes

"So what are we talking about?" Arthur asks, Carrie and I look at each other with a smirk

"Just how I met Carlos" she responds, covering our topic up

"Oh so how did you?" He asks

"I won this competition and had a private meet and greet with Carlos in Maranello and we had a lot of laughs. He showed me around town and the day was just perfect and we've been calling and texting ever since" she tells us

"That's adorable... is this the first race you're attending?" Arthur asks

"No, I've been to Monza, Singapore and Silverstone with some friends but it was always general admission so this is really exciting!" She tells us and I smile at her excitement

"Well, I hope to see you back here more often. Nick wont be attending races since he got to work so watching my brother can be boring by myself since Id rather not spend time with people twice my age" Arthur says making us laugh

"Yeah, definitely... Im doing my courses online so I can join Carlos for the rest of the season so we will see each other quite often" she responds

We see the free practice starting and we sit straight on our chairs, staring at the monitor, my hand slowly wandering to my rights, softly caressing Arthur's

Damn it... that bucket list sounds so good...