MOTH TO A FLAME ☆ CARLOS SAINZ JR

ii. run-ins

Sofía laughs as she lets go of her mother and throws herself onto her dad. "Hi, papa. I missed you, too, don't worry."

"I would sure hope so, I haven't seen you in months."

"I know, I'm sorry. It's just been very busy." she sighs, pressing a kiss to her fathers cheek as they start moving into the house.

"Well, come in. Your fathers already done grilling!"

Sofía gasps. "Aye! You said you would wait for us."

Logan chuckles and shrugs, opening the doors to the back patio. "You said you would be late, and it takes a while to fire up the grill."

At the back of the pack, Luca was just following behind the family, not finding part in the conversation much. Rather, his eyes were glancing around their home, images of Sofías and her brothers through their childhood all over.

What caught his eye though, was one small photo in between all of it. It was his girlfriends family, at what seemed to be a wedding, except there was an addition there. A man Luca had heard of before, and had known too much about. The sight made his heart sink.

Noticing the sudden quiet, Luca turns to find the family already stood outside. He picks up his face and reaches the table quick enough to be able to follow Logan over to the grill and he'll him start piling the food onto serving platters.

"So, Luca, how did you and Sofie meet?" Logan questions, the boy holding the plates as he scooped the steaks onto them.

"We met in New York, kind of by accident really." Luca chuckles lightly, remembering that day so vividly. "She actually bumped straight into me."

"Sounds like my daughter alright."

For all her life, Sofía had been the klutz of the family. Even before she started walking, se would always find ways to drop toys on her head and crawl herself into the weirdest of spots. It drove her parents absolutely insane.

"So, are you happy?" Gabriella inquires as she folds the napkins up and places them across their plates.

Sofía head lifts from where she was setting up their cutlery. "Yeah. Yes, Luca's great. It's been great."

"Why do you not sound so sure?" her mothers eyebrows raise, taking a moment to glance at the man himself.

"I'm just nervous. I haven't brought anyone home before except—" Sofía sighs heavily, why could she never speak his name?

Gabriella's arm wraps around her shoulder tightly as they both watched Luca converse with her dad. "But Luca is here, and he seems wonderful, mija."

"Yeah, he really is."

Shortly after, the group of four are sitting around the table, the sun slowly starting to fade away and dissipate into its vibrant cotton candy hues. Their dinner had been stripped clean off their plates, and their wine glasses were topped.

Lucas arm was rested on the back of his girlfriends chair, her head rested lazily on his shoulder as she sipped at her own cup of water. Her parents had spent the better half of their time here getting to know Luca, interrogating him about every aspect they could.