Midnight Memories - Formula 1

Chapter Fourteen.

Chapter 14: Common Ground.

I was sitting on my carrier blanket outside the girls hostel. It was nice and sunny out on the front lawn opposite the main entrance. Just the way I liked it. I had my flask of tea with me and the Real Madrid mug my sister had bought me for my birthday. I also had a box of truffles with me and a container of strawberries. Those were my go-to snacks whenever I read. I was reading the third and final installation of The Summer I Turned Pretty series by Jenny Han. It's a romance trilogy about this girl who falls in love with two brothers. The good brother who was practically her best friend and the bad brother who she had loved for all of her life.

But the highlight of the story for me was the friendship between their mothers, Laurel and Susannah. They were best friends since they were in high school and they never lost their friendship. Through every curveball they faced, through everything life through at them including Susannah's cancer, they still remained best friends. They used to meet up every Summer at Susannah's beach house with the kids only. It was a routine, year after year, right up until Susannah's death. It was quite intriguing and amazing to read about a friendship that lasted forever. I wish Aria and I would be like that.

I was brought out of my thoughts when I heard a familiar voice say "Hey, Skyler."

I looked up from my book and it was Lando. He was with Carlos. I waved as Lando and he smiled at me before disappearing inside the girls hostel. Carlos on the other hand, walked straight up to me. "Good morning, Skyler." He said as he sat down opposite me on my carrier blanket.

"Good morning, Carlos." I said. I bookmarked the page that I stopped by and closed the book. I placed the book to the side of me and turned my attention to Carlos.

"We'll always have summer." He read the title of the book. "Is it good?" He asked.

I knew instantly that Carlos wouldn't enjoy the book. It was a romance novel. "It's really good but you wouldn't like it." I said, truthfully.

Carlos squinted at me almost immediately. "How do you know? What if I actually like it?" Carlos asked and raised an eyebrow at me.

"Okay. It's about a girl Isabel who falls in love with these two brothers, Conrad and Jeremiah. She dates both of them. They both hurt her in different ways and in the end she has to choose which one she wants to spend her future with. Very Vampire Diaries like," I started to explained, "minus the vampires." I added. By the look of Carlos' face, I could tell he was already bored.

Carlos laughed and then he said something that I wasn't expecting him to say, "My ex-girlfriend's name is Isabel."

I almost choked on my tea, which made him smile. He kissed me in a game of Spin The Bottle yesterday and now he's talking to me about his ex-girlfriend. I wonder why they broke up. I thought about asking him about her but did I really want to know about Carlos, especially after the night I had with Pierre. Against my better judgement, the words practically slipped out of my mouth. "Why did you guys break up?" I asked. Maybe it was out of curiosity or maybe because I wanted to know what kind of a guy Carlos was.

Carlos shifted in his seat uncomfortably and remained quiet for a bit. Examining his expression, I could tell that he was contemplating whether he should tell me or not. "I made a mistake. A big mistake. One that I wish I never made." He said. I could tell that he was ashamed because he couldn't even look me in eye.

Carlos didn't have to actually say what he did for me to understand why they broke up. Whenever a guy says that they made a mistake, it means that they cheated. I have to admit, I was a bit surprised that he was capable of doing something like that. I would have never guessed that Carlos would be one of those guys. A heart breaker yeah, but not in that way.

I could see the regret on his face so I decided to change the topic. "Oh, I should have guessed you were a Jeremiah." I chuckled.

Carlos looked at me with a confused look on his face. He didn't know what I meant by that. "What do you mean by that?" He asked, meeting my eyes.

"Well, Jeremiah was the brother who cheated on Isabel." I said and instantly regretted it. His smile dropped and his eyes started to grow dark. I probably shouldn't have brought that up. I had no intention on making him feel bad. "But that's not the point I'm trying to make. Everyone loves Jeremiah. He's the friendly neighbour Golden Retriever. He's kind off irresistible." I tried to quickly save myself and it worked.

A smirk grew on Carlos' face, an evil smirk. "Oh so what you're saying Skyler is that I'm irresistible?" Carlos said. The smile on his face growing immensely.

"I did not say that!" I protested immediately.

"Yes you just said-" Carlos said but trailed off. His eyes landed on my Real Madrid mug and all of a sudden, his face lit up. "You support Real Madrid?" He asked and I nodded. "Me too. That is cool." He said and gave me an approving nod.

"Who's your favourite player?" I asked. It's so cool that Carlos supports Madrid. There's not many Madrid fans around the girls hostel. Most of them support the English clubs. Although, Carlos is Spanish so it was obvious he was going to support either Madrid or Barcelona.

"Luka Modric." He answered. I was impressed. Everyone loves Luka though. Ballon d'Or winner. Club legend. "Yours?" He asked. I though he'll never ask.

"All time favourites, I have two. Zidane and Beckham cause Zizo is a legend and everyone loves him. It might have not went too well with Becks but at the end of the day, he won us the Champions League and he's Beckham.You can't not like him." I laughed, and suddenly Carlos was more interested in our conversation than ever. "Current, I have two as well. Vini and Jude. I can say the same about both of them. Young, talented, vibrant with promising futures."  I said.

Carlos looked like he was more amazed than ever. "Wow! You know your stuff." He said. Carlos was going to say something else when my phone buzzed.

I looked at the lit screen and saw that it was a text message from Pierre. I quickly picked up the phone, hoping that Carlos hadn't seen anything. I looked at the message and it read:

Pierre: I can't stop thinking about last night. You're absolutely breath-taking. Hopefully we can do it again some time.

I tried my best to hold my smile in. His words were so flattering that it made me go back to the night before. It was not only magical but breath-taking. It was definitely one of the best nights of my life.

I snapped of our my thoughts when somebody started clicking their fingers in front of my face. "Earth to Skyler." Said Lando who was crunched down in front of me.

"Sorry." I muttered.

Lando then turned his attention to Carlos. "Do you tell her yet?" Lando asked Carlos. I furrowed my eyebrows. Tell me what?

"No Lando but I was getting to it." Carlos said to Lando. To me, he said, "We're having a barbecue tonight as Americans like to call it. You should come." Carlos said. A barbecue? Sounds fun. I know that Pierre will be there since he practically stays there.

"You are coming! I'll come fetch you and Aria at 4." Lando said. He wasn't asking, he was telling me.

"Well it looks like I don't have a choice." I chuckled.

Carlos and Lando both stood up and said goodbye before leaving. They were heading back to the frat house to get everything ready for the barbecue. I knew that Aria was going on a supply run in the next 30 minutes so that meant that I would have the dorm room all myself. I picked up my phone and decided to response to his text.

Me: I guess I will be seeing you tonight at the barbecue. Btw, I will have the dorm room all to myself in about 45 minutes, if you want stop by.

I hit send on the text and within a few seconds, I got a response back.

Pierre: See you in 45 minutes.

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