Love Between Telemetry [Lance Stroll]

•Chapter number forty-seven•

„I just wanna scream out 'till my voice breaks
Even if the tears fall and my heart hates me
Baby, I love you."
I Love You; Little Mix

-

„And the winner of the race, ARTEM MARKELOV!" The crowd started wildly clapping and whistling when Artem came to the podium to take the first place. I feel awful about how I acted towards him. He did nothing wrong, it's all my fault. And I want to make things right before I'll leave. He might not be my boyfriend but he is one of the best friends I've ever had.

The Russian national anthem started playing and Artem's eyes started roaming around. Then his eyes laid on me. A rush of familiar feeling ran through my veins. I remembered Bahrain when I noticed him for the first time. I went to see Charles who finished second and it was Artem who won the race. Now it's the same. Artem as a winner and Charles being second. I smiled at him but I doubt he'll see it from the distance. He was looking at me before turning his head somewhere else. He is probably still angry.

After the race, I went to the garage where the mechanics were taking care of the car. They told me that Artem was doing interviews and should be here any minute. I politely thanked them and stood awkwardly in the corner, watching them work. In a few minutes, Artem really appeared in the garage.

„I was told that you are waiting here," he said with a neutral tone in his voice.

„Yeah, I wanted to congratulate you. And apologize."

„Alright, let's go somewhere else," he put his bag over his shoulder and guided me somewhere. I didn't ask where are we going because I didn't want to somehow upset him even more. We walked in complete silence for a few minutes until we arrived at a beautiful beach. Artem without words sat on the cold sand and I did the same. We were silently sitting next to each other, looking at the peaceful clean sea.

„Look, I'm so sorry for how I acted towards you, I didn't mean to hurt you," I spoke up after a while.

„I know," he sighed, „I just thought...we are pretty close and maybe," he was struggling to find the right words, „was I really just a distraction from Lance? To make him jealous?" he looked at me, his sad eyes were breaking my heart.

„No, you were never just a distraction. I never faked anything, Artem. I really thought that we have a chance. But then I realised that my feelings aren't that strong as I thought. I knew that sleeping with you is not a good idea, that I'm only gonna hurt you."

„Then why did you come?" he interrupted me, „even if you knew that it's wrong? I would never force you into it."