stop and stare

10.

Before I knew it, I crossed the room and kissed him. His warm lips feel familiar as they touch mine, and I welcome his body into me. His tongue glides into my mouth with such ease, as if no time has passed since it was last here. His hands find their way to my hair and I pull at the hem of his team polo. He smiles at me as he takes it off.

He guides me to his sofa and sits me down. He looks at me as if he's been waiting for this moment for as long as I have. He leans down and kisses me again with such passion in taken aback. I smile into his kiss and relish in the moment we're having.

"God you drive me crazy," He whispers in my ear and I feel as light as a feather. He trails his lips down my neck before bringing his mouth back to mine.

A sudden knock at his door pulls him away from me and he looks just past my shoulder as he says, "Who is it?"

"Ell." A delicate voice responds and he takes a deep sigh before moving away from me to put his shirt on.

"Come in," he says to her through the closed door.

She opens it and looks between us. After a couple of glances, she bursts out laughing. Charles and I look at each other confused before looking back at Ell who's struggling to get it together.

"Oh, I knew it would happen! I knew it!" She boasts, "Lan owes me €50,"

"What? Knew what was going to happen?" I ask her.

Ell looks at me and says, "That you two would be a thing." She giggles.

I look at Charles and I expect him to deny it like last time, but instead, he just shrugs his shoulders and walks to his mini fridge to get a drink. He throws me a can of water and I catch it as he passes one to Ell.

"Is it that obvious?" I ask her.

"Oh girl please, I know you like the back of my hand. It was so obvious that you liked him all season long." I stare at her dumbfounded, "I mean I suspected something at the end of last season but then the whole Charlotte news got out and I just assumed I was getting the wrong vibe. However, seeing you both in here together it's as clear as day." She laughs again.

"How did you know I liked him? Not even I did," I say to her and take a sip of my water.

"It was so obvious you were just in denial about it." She laughs again, before turning to Charles with a straight face, "Aren't you still with Charlotte?"

"No we split a couple of races ago," He says to Ell before taking a seat next to me and putting his arm around my waist.

"Oh. Okay then," Ell says, but carrying on, "By the way, I don't recommend getting caught in your driver's room." I look at her confused before she carries on with, "Charles the back of your team shirt was still tucked up your back from trying to put it on quickly and Max you're lips are red and your hair is messy... It's obvious,"

I laugh at her detective skills before saying, "What did you want anyways?"

"Oh I came to ask you if you needed a ride home with Lan and me but I think you've got it covered," She winks at Charles.

I look over at him and he says, "I can take your hotel room or we could go back to mine. It's up to you ma chérie,"

"We can go to mine, I've got food I wanna eat," I say to him.

"Right well, I'm leaving- Oh and Bree said that the team briefing is in-" She pretends to look at her fake watch, "Well now it is in 5 minutes. Bye!" She turns around and walks out of the room.

"Shit Ell!" I shout at her from the other side of the door.

I go to move to the door to leave when Charles stands in my way, "Come on, being a little late won't hurt them..." He looks at me directly in the eyes before looking at my lips and back again, "We could continue what we started..."

"Charles! We have to leave, now!" I say to him, a small smile playing on my lips, "Just because Ell knows, doesn't mean the whole team knows,"

"Ugh, fine," he moans before following me out of the room and over to the briefing room.

***

"Half of the grid is out celebrating tonight. If you wanted to, we could go out and join them?" Charles says to me from his bathroom.

"I'm not sure if I'm in the mood for partying," I call back to him, as I lay down on his bed.

"I think it would be fun... I know I could certainly do with a drink after the shitshow of a race today," He says as he walks into the room with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. The water from the shower is left in droplets all over his body and his hair is messy and half dry from the shower. I swallow and just look at him, "Enjoying your view?" He smirks and walks over to his dresser.

"Oh shut up, your ego doesn't need to inflate anymore than it already has," I say to him.

"So are are gonna go out tonight or do you want to stay in?" He turns around and leans on the cabinet.

I think about his ultimatum and make my decision, "We can go out but I need to go back to mine to get ready... Can you drop me there?"

"Of course mio caro," He says to me, "What do you want me to wear?"

I smile at him before getting up and heading over to his dresser. I open the drawers and begin searching through his clothes. I feel a strong pair of arms wrap around my waist and soft lips peck at my neck. I lean back into him but continue to find him an outfit. I settle on some black trousers, a white tank top and a matching black shirt to go over the top. He puts the outfit on and I smile at my good work.

"Not a half bad outfit," He says as he looks himself over in the mirror.

"Oh as if your outfits are actually good," I jokingly say to him.

"They're not the worst in the world," He replies as he puts on his jewellery.

"Yeah, but they're far from the best..." I say with a smile at the end so he can't get mad at me.

He finishes up with his jewellery and we put our shoes on and leave his place to go to mine. We get to mine within 5 minutes and I head straight to my bedroom as soon as I unlock the door. As I had already planned my outfit in the car, I knew exactly what I was going to wear. I grab my leather trousers from my wardrobe and a black cropped halter neck top that bunches at my cleavage. I change quickly and sit down at my desk. I start my makeup as Charles walks in and leans against my door frame. He watches me get ready and within 20 minutes, I'm ready to go. To save time I decided to put my hair up in a claw clip, instead of curling it.

We leave for the club, and when we're in the car, Charles lets me scream my heart out to Taylor Swift without complaining once. We get to the club and meet the others in the VIP section, just off to the side from the DJ booth.

We dance the night away, trying to keep our distance from each other due to the amount of people we could see trying to be discreet when taking videos of us. We haven't spoke about what we are fully yet or if we want to tell people, but that can be a conversation for another day. In this moment, my main focus is getting drunk and having fun.