MOTH TO A FLAME ☆ CARLOS SAINZ JR

xi. family

BARCELONA, SPAIN
MAY 2019

     Nora pulled the blue suitcase out of the trunk of her car, as her best friend stood to her side nibbling aggressively at her fingernails. Sofía had been pulling at the skin around her nails hard enough to draw blood for the whole drive down to the train station. It was slightly humorous to the older woman how nervous she was about going to her first Formula One race as an official girlfriend.

For the past two months, her communication with Carlos had been solely through their FaceTime and messages. It was slightly overwhelming for Sofía especially, she wasn't prepared to have him stripped away from her so soon after he had confessed his love for her. They had only gotten a week of their bliss before he was jetting off across the world again.

She had to say she was doing pretty well so far, especially with the pressure and disappointment he had been feeling after his first few races. DNF'ing on two back-to-back race weekends, at your debut with a new team was not ideal. And it was safe to say Carlos had not been pleased. He had tried his best not to take out his frustrations on her, and she could tell.

Despite all that, they had worked out a good system for their calls post race weekends. Carlos would have the first few minutes of their call to rant about the race, while Sofía would quietly and patiently listen to him. When he was done, they completely ignored it all and focused on the more positive points of their time apart.

They were meant to spend the previous week together in Madrid, with his family but Sofía had gotten a call for a meeting in Los Angeles that she just couldn't pass by. Carlos was bewildered by the fact that she had even thought of trying to postpone her meeting just to stay in Spain with him.

"Fía, if you think for one second you're going through with that stupid idea, you've got another thing coming." he had grumbled through the phone, his tone frustrated although he was beyond excited for her.

If all were to go to plan, Sofía would finally be meeting with Interscope records to go over her contract on officially being a writer for Selena Gomez. She knew it was beyond idiotic to even want to think about postponing this, Carlos was right, but the people pleaser in her just couldn't resist at least offering.

"I just don't want to make a bad impression on your family." she sighed dejectedly, averting her gaze from her phone as she revealed part of her insecurity about the topic at hand. "I don't want them, or you, to think that I'm avoiding meeting them."

Carlos could feel his heart race slightly, she cared so much about his family liking her, it was practically all he could think about in their time planning their Madrid trip. "Fía?" she hummed in response, "I love you."

That was something she was still trying to get used to, the openness of their emotions for one another. It made her cheeks flare as red as Noras car every time he said it. "I love you too, Carlos."

"And so will my family. They already do love you!"

However, as she stood outside the station with her best friend, about to board a train that would take her to said family, it seemed all those reassurances had faded away into nothingness.

"What if they hate me?" Sofía finally blurts out as Nora shuts her trunk, the raven haired woman turning to face her with a deadpan expression as though to say 'seriously?'. "It's a very likely possibility!"