unconditional

chapter twenty first

"Everyone just calm down, yeah?" Victoria shouted, which managed to startle everyone. "If she's telling you, it's not him then it's not him"

Lando turns to Victoria, almost like he's trying to seek out if she's lying or not.

"Seriously, fuck this." Lando says, shaking his head. He takes a bottle of vodka and his shirt and heads to the bedroom on the yacht. Georgina trails behind him, not knowing what to do. I felt bad for the girl, she couldn't even leave since we were in the middle of the ocean.

"I guess it's time to go back to the pier." Daniel says, with disappointment on his face. Victoria nods and Daniel goes.

Now, it was just me, Victoria, Pierre, Kika and Charles. The only people who knew about me and Charles.

"Fucking hell" Pierre exclaims until Kika puts her finger to his mouth, ushering him to be quiet. "How long are you two going to keep this a secret?"

"Till this one joins Ferrari, I guess" Charles says with a laugh.

I wanted to laugh, but also wanted to cry. Thinking back to what Charles had just said to Lando. It hurt to see how quickly he could pretend I meant nothing to him. It almost felt real to me in some way.

It was like Victoria almost read my mind when she said, "Do you not think you were a bit harsh, Charles?"

Charles immediately looked confused and then defensively said, "Was I? I just. I just panicked and it was a reflex." He looked at me to see if I was okay, he saw my frowned face, "Oh, Ella. I'm really sorry."

"No, no it's fine" I reply, placing my hand on his shoulder, "If anyone found out, I'd probably lose my job and you'd never hear the end of it."

"Why is this life so unfair?" Pierre protested as he shakes Charles' shoulder.

"Man, I don't know." Charles responded shaking his head.

I felt reassured that Charles only acted the way he did for the sake of my job and his, but a part of me was stuck on how long this secret would go on for. Was there ever going to be an end to it? What would the end be? The end of us or the end of the secret?

Charles was very affectionate in these moments, it felt blissful. He had his arm around me as we chatted to Pierre and Kika about their past races and drunken memories. Victoria had gone to keep Daniel company as he drove the boat, and also to stop him from seeing us.

It was nice to just be us, in public. We weren't stuck in a room, with fear that someone would see us. We were free. I felt so bad for Lando, I lied to him, everyone did. However, the way he reacted validated why we all needed to lie about it, he was furious.

"So, when are you leaving for Spain?" Kika asked.

"Tomorrow morning at like 9am" I replied, dreading the fact that I'd be stuck in the air with Lando, no where to escape.

"I'm guessing you're going with Lando and Daniel, right?" Pierre asked, with a giggle, "Good luck"

"Yeah, definitely not looking forward to that." I said as I rolled my eyes.

"You could fly with us?" Charles says, as he places his hand into mine as his eyes look into mine.

I look at him and smile, "With the ferrari team? I couldn't" I responded with a frown.

"I'm just going with Kika and Pierre, it'll be fine" Charles replies with his hand placed on my thigh as he looks at Pierre and Kika.

"Please come, I don't want to be stuck with these two" Kika replied with a laugh.

I sigh, "Okay, okay. I'll come with you guys." I say with a smile.

"Let's hope Lando doesn't have a tantrum about it" Pierre said with a grin. Making us all either roll our eyes or giggle. I did both.

"I honestly don't care at this point. He's been acting like a child." I protest, not wanting to give him any second thought.

We head back to the pier in no time, thankfully. As much I was having a great time with everyone, I really just wanted to get home. Lando didn't come out of the bedroom at all until we returned. I say goodbye to everyone fairly quickly, not wanting to even see Lando. I give Charles a quick, but soft kiss on the cheek when Daniel wasn't looking. Then, me and Victoria left the boat and walked along the pier and headed back home.

"Well, that was a crazy day." Victoria says, with her head facing me as we walked.

"Crazy? I'd say terrible" I scoffed, shaking my head at the flashbacks of Lando that were flooding my mind.

"Lando was way out of line" Victoria exclaimed, "Daniel says he's never seen Lando act like that before"

"I guess we really don't know these drivers at all, any of them." I said with a frown, "I don't even understand Lando. He told me he really liked me last night, then he brings another girl today to make me jealous and then gets angry at me about Charles. Seriously, why is this happening?"

"He told you he liked you last night? Ella, what? where?" Victoria asked with a shocked face.

"You know when me and him went outside for a bit at the club? Then we came back and Charles' ex was there." I explained to Victoria, telling her word for word what he said to me.

"So, he told you to tell him you felt absolutely nothing for him and he'd leave you alone? What an ultimatum." Victoria replied, with her hand on her forehead, "What did you say back to that?"

I started to stutter, not really remembering exactly what I said to him, "I think I just said that I don't know. Yes, I do find him attractive and funny and whatever. But, I told him that there's somebody else."

"So that's why he assumed it was Charles and went crazy?" Victoria asked to which I responded with a nod. "Ella, why didn't you just say that you don't feel anything towards him?" She continued.

"I don't know. I just didn't know what to say at the time. I didn't know how he would react, it would've been so straightforward and I don't even know how I fe-" I explained, as we approached the reception door to our apartment building.

"You like him, Ella." Victoria asked, with an astounded face. "But, what about Charles?"

As soon as Victoria said Charles' name, I felt a rush of anxiety rush over me. "I really really like Charles. A lot. But I think a part of me did feel something for Lando." I said, with my head looking down as I nervously fidgeted with my bracelet.

"You did feeling something? So, you don't anymore?" Victoria asks as we walk into the elevator.

I sigh with a nod and say, "With the way Lando has been acting, it honestly just proves that he isn't anything compared to Charles. And I don't want to be stuck in some sort of triangle, that isn't me. I don't want that. I want Charles."

As I explained my feelings to Victoria, it felt like I was also trying to push myself to believe what I was saying. I definitely didn't want to jeopardise what I had with Charles, he's honestly everything I've ever wanted. I just hope that eventually me and Lando can just be normal friends, a platonic friendship.

author's note:
hey guys! back from my holiday so expect chapters regularly now!! sorry for the hiatus. also, it's my birthday today!!! ahhh!! <3