The next morning the three of us make a quick breakfast before stuffing our bags full of stuff that we may need during the day. "Do we think bandaids are necessary?" Émie asks, "knowing us that's a hard yes" Wren replies, I nod as I put some snacks into my bag followed by our water bottles. "Why did we choose a karting track that is almost two hours away?" I look at my annoyed friends, "my brother said it's one of the best ones, something to do with F1 but I wasn't listening too much" they roll their eyes but don't say anything else as we finish preparing for our trip.
We're all dressed in comfortable clothing as we get into the car. I slide into the passenger seat since I have the directions to the track. "This is going to be fun" Wren exclaims from the backseat, "yeah I think so too" Émie interjects S she start the car to start the journey out of Monaco. I smile at them hoping that my fear of karting isn't visible as I spout out directions taking us towards Brignoles. "Del why are you so quiet?" I shrug while biting my lip, "is this about the guy?" I shake my head, actually having forgotten about the mystery guy from the cafe. "What is it babe?" When asks concerned, "kinda scared of karting" I tell the two brunettes, "didn't your brother do karting for awhile?" I nod, "I only ever watched, I preferred to read over going really fast in a kart" Émie places a hand in mind squeezing it, "you'll be fine, they know what they're doing we'll be very safe" I smile slightly feeling a bit better, "yeah I guess you're right" she nods and brings her hand back to the wheel before we go into another silence while we approach the venue.
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When Émie parks at the track a half hour later I take a deep breath and follow her and Wren out of the car. The three of us walk towards the entrance, but I stop when I see a dark grey Ferrari parked, "woah fancy" I say making my friends turn to me, "sorry I just need to take a picture for my brother" I mumble as I slide out my phone to snap a photo. I finish and jog to where they're waiting and we walk into the building leading to the track.
Once the rules have been explained to us we're handed race suits, gloves and helmets. We follow the directions to the track, where our karts will be waiting. The grip on my helmet tightens as we walk back outside my nerves taking over as I watch my friends pull on their suits. "Come on Del get your butt into that suit" Wren exclaims and comes over to pull me with them to where the karts are, I giver her my best smile and I put my helmet down to get into my race suit. I manage to slide on the one-piece without making a fool out of myself in front of the other people getting ready.
Émie takes my hand before pulling me over to the parked karts. When we're closer to them I feel myself tense up and freeze on the spot bringing my friend to a stop. She looks over at me and her expression becomes one of concern, "Del?" I shake my head stepping away slightly, "can't do it" I say quietly, "babe it's going to be okay, we're here for you and the employees here will make sure that you're safe from start to finish" Wren explains from my right side. I watch the other people at the venue drive off in their karts, speeding away around the curves of the track, "you guys go first, I need a minute" I say to them, "are you sure?" I nod and give them a small smile, Émie let's go of my hand before they walk over to the karts where an employee helps them.
I find myself pacing along the pavement of the small pit lane my arms crossed as I try to calm down and get the confidence to get into a kart like my friends. "Are you okay?" I stop pacing and look up, i'm surprised to see the blue eyed guy from the cafe, "hey it's you" he exclaims with a smile, I smile too my arms dropping to my sides, "oh hey" I reply. "Have you already been out there?" he asks gesturing out to the track, "uhhhh no, but my friends are already out" he looks at me confused, "are you going to go out?" I bite my lip and shrug. "Well today is the perfect day" he exclaims, "yeah, but the problem is that I'm kinda terrified" I reply making his eyes go wide, "I thought that I would grow the courage on the way here, but that clearly didn't happen" I add as an explanation.
"Come with me" the guy says while holding out a hand to me, I peer at the stranger hesitating, "is it weird of me to ask what your name is first?" I ask, he laughs, "I'm Charles" he tells me while smiling, "I'm Della" I reply and gently place my hand in his for him to walk me over to a kart. I squeeze his hand because of my nerves, it makes him look back at me, "sorry" I mumble while blushing, "just relax Della" I nod and he gently tugs me next to the kart before letting go of my hand. "First things first lets get that helmet on you" Charles says while grabbing it out of my hand, I look into his eyes as he gently pushes it over my head, "does it feel okay?" he asks, I nod and he grins before securing the strap under my chin. "Okay Della, time to take a seat" I take a deep breath before lowering myself onto the seat. Charles crouches next to me, he explains the controls to me, which ramps up my nerves again.
My gloved hands clutch onto the steering wheel tightly, "relax your hands, no need to squeeze the wheel that hard Del" I peer over at him, "thank you for doing this, I know i'm being a major wimp about karting" I say my voice slightly muffled because of the helmet, "this just means that you owe me double now" I let out a laugh relaxing slightly. "In all seriousness you truly don't need to worry out here, I grew up on this track and safety is a priority, next to having fun" he adds with a reassuring smile, I nod feeling better because of his statement. "I'm ready" I say with determination a few seconds later, he pats my helmet and stands up, "get out there Della and have fun" I nod and step on the gas leaving the pits to get onto the track.
☕️☕️☕️
After a few laps on the track I drive back into the pit lane stopping my kart where I started, I'm grinning from ear to ear as I stand up. I pull my helmet off, "did you see me?" I ask my two friends who are smiling at me, "we sure did Del" Émie replies as I bound over to them, "that was amazing, I don't know why I was so scared" I exclaim happily. The two brunettes laugh but I'm busy looking for Charles, I spot him a few feet away smiling at us, I run over and throw my arms around him, he stumbles a bit before bringing his arms around me too, "thank you so much for getting me out on the track" I say, "you remind me of me after my first time out there" he replies as I step out of his arms feeling as if I crossed a line with the hug.
A cough makes me look over my shoulder, Émie and Wren are looking at me as if I have two heads, I wave them over happily watching them walk over unsurely. "Charles these are my friends, Émilie and Wren, girls this is Charles the guy who saved me at the coffee shop that one morning" their eyes light up at the introduction, "it's so nice to meet you, this girl has been talking about you so much since then" my face heats up at Wren's statement, "you are a godsend, making sure that we got our coffee" Charles laughs but is looking at me as I try to hide my red face. "It's nice to meet you too, i'm glad that I could step in when needed" he says to my two friends. Once I feel that my face has cooled down I look over at the three of them to see their eyes on me, "stop that" I exclaim hating that their attention is on me, Wren laughs but then winks at me, "we love you Del" Émie says making me roll my eyes, "love you too" I mumble but feel the smile on my face.
"Well I should go, I have to be somewhere" Charles says after a few minutes of chatting with us, "we're going too, Del we'll meet you at the car" I look over at them with wide eyes, but they just smile at me innocently. Once i've stumbled out of my race suit I take my bag from where I left and walk next to Charles to leave the track. "Your friends aren't very subtle" he says making me smile, "yeah that's for sure, sorry about that" I respond, "I don't mind, it must be a bit much for you though" I shrug, "i'm used to it by now" he laughs and I don't want him to stop. We get to the parking lot, walking towards the few cars that are still there, "it was great to officially meet you Della" I peer over at the brunette still smiling, "yeah it really was" he pulls out some car keys from his pocket and my eyes spot the trademark logo of Ferrari on them. My eyes widen, "the Ferrari is yours?" I ask shocked, he smiles sheepishly, "yes...is that bad?" I shake my head vigorously, "god no, I was admiring it when we got here earlier, my older brother loves Formula 1 and his favourite team is Ferrari so I took a picture to send to him" I explain embarrassed. The way Charles tenses up confuses me, "do you like Formula 1?" I shrug, "if its on i'll watch, but I don't know any of the drivers and the only team I somewhat know about is Ferrari because of the brother" I reply, he relaxes at my response but I don't ask him about the weird behaviour.
When we stop next to the dark grey sports car Charles turns to me, "I would really like to see you again Della" I smile at him, "I would like that too Charles" he smiles and proceeds to take out his phone, I take mine out as well, "we won't be able to do that unless we can contact each other" I nod and we swap phones after unlocking them, I type in my information while smiling. I finish, giving the device back to him and he hands mine back, "I'll text you later" I say he nods and surprises me by bringing me into a hug, after a few seconds he lets go while smiling, "bye Della" I wave and watch him get into the gorgeous Ferrari, sliding on his sunglasses before giving me one last smile and driving out of the parking lot. I sigh as I walk over to our rental car a few feet away where Émie and Wren are waiting, "did you secure his number?" I laugh at the wording, "yes" they squeal making me cringe, "so happy for you babe" I smile looking down at my feet thinking about the guy that helped me face my fear in a matter of minutes.