apocalypse | charles leclerc ✓

chapter 15 | breakup season

"He'll start believing you genuinely dislike him. Come on, at least say hi." She pleaded with big eyes. Aurora parted her lips to say something but eventually sighed and nodded. Politeness was above everything else.

When Charles wandered close enough to their bench, he took a stand right by her side and placed a hand on her shoulder. Sloane looked up at him, the sun obstructing her vision a bit. Letting go of Aurora's arm, she shielded her eyes to properly observe her boyfriend. He was all smiles, lightly squeezing where his hand lay.

"I thought I'd lost you, ma belle." He joked, trying for one of his famous winks. She beamed in response. Charles then turned to greet Aurora. "Hi, Aurora. How are you?"

This one shifted in her seat, and when Sloane switched her attention to her, she was giving him a tight-lipped smile. "I'm pretty good. How about you?"

"That's good, great on this side as well. Thanks for asking." They were such coworkers, Sloane comically thought. She felt like the three of them were in the middle of a Ferrari staff meeting or debriefing. It was quite funny.

To this, Aurora replied with a single head nod, shifting back to Sloane. "I really need to go back to work in case Silvia needs me, but I'll see you later, yes?" She bobbed her head in a yes to confirm. Aurora already pushing off the seat, glancing at Charles again. "Good luck with the race, Charles." Simple as that.

"Thank you."

"See you in a bit, Rory."

Her friend waved her goodbyes, and both of them followed her steps as the distance between them increased. Charles, of course, focused back on Sloane first, whilst she maintained her eyes glued to Aurora's shrinking figure for a couple of seconds more. When the girl was finally out of sight, she turned to him, and he smiled down at her, hands moving to hold her face. She felt guilty again for thinking of it as a duty before when he clearly enjoyed having her there to support him.

The wind blew her hair, and he tucked it away. "May I kiss you now?"

She snorted, placing her hands on top of his to cover them. "Were you waiting for her to leave?"

"She asked for appropriate workplace behaviour, I'm trying to give her appropriate workplace behaviour." He shrugged it off, pursing his lips into a frown.

Sloane gasped. Her eyes went wide in mock surprise. "So understanding of you. But yes, you can kiss me now. It won't get you fired."

It wasn't like he needed to be told twice, not regarding that, so he proceeded straight away and bent down to kiss her. The position was a bit strange. She straightened up and tilted her head to make it more comfortable, her hands slipping away to hold onto his arms. For the first time in the entirety of their relationship, she was overthinking in the middle of a kiss. It wasn't something bad though, just that maybe, Vivianne was right and she had to enjoy these moments. That she needed to get her head out of New York for a bit.

When he pulled away, she slightly creased her brows. "Wait, aren't you supposed to be doing pre-race stuff with Andrea right now? Last time he called me distracting."

He chuckled, taking a step of distance and leaning against the table in front of her. "I was on my way but got caught with Daniel and Lando. They were talking about getting Max drunk later, or something. Apparently, he broke up with his girlfriend, Zoe?" Her face twisted into a grimace, not placing the name. Her brain was truly more there than here. Fair enough, she could barely remember herself sometimes. "It's not important." Charles waved his hand dismissively.

"You're getting too gossipy, but I'll blame it on Pierre."

He lifted his hands in the air. "I was passing by with Carlos and they asked him for clubs, it's not my fault."