*Carlos POV*
I was amazed of how great of a photographer Cassie was. After she left with the girls that Vanessa had to talk to about their game tonight and some drivers left.
"You guys are welcomed to come to the game later," Vanessa said as she continued to look through the pictures to grade them.
"It's the championship game, right?" Fernando asked and she nodded, "I'll be there."
"Who took pictures of Carlos? They were amazing, she really has an eye for photography," Seb said and Vanessa looked through them.
"Cassie took them, she was been taking pictures since she was little, here look at these," She said pulling up a picture of a Barcelona verse Real Madrid game.
The player pictured was Xavi it was kinda blurry but it was clear who it was then she showed a picture of Michael Schumacher, Kimi Räikkönen, and Rubens Barrichello on a podium but it looked like it was mainly zoomed into Michael and Kimi.
"She is definitely a Kimi fan," Seb said and a couple drivers nodded in agreement.
"She is also a fan of you, Daniel, Michael, and Jules. You should see her cap collection, she mainly owns caps from you three for the exception for a Mike cap, two Max caps, a Webber cap, two Ferrari caps, a Rosberg cap, a Jenson cap, a Lewis cap, and two Fernando caps" Vanessa said changing the picture to a picture of a couple of boys playing football in the streets.
The next one looked like it skipped a few years and a picture in what looks like Monaco during a sunset with a picture of her and two guys who looked like Charles' brothers attached on the bottom selfie styled. As they went along it was mainly sceneries, races, and football matches and they all looked really good.
"I think I should hire her as personal photographer," Lewis said.
"You can hire her for photo shoots not for a personal photographer," Vanessa said before she went back to grading.
"Why?" Lewis asked with curiosity in his tone.
"She is a photographer for a football team currently but you can try to book out her schedule from May 23rd and July 19th as she won't be photographing the team between those dates," Vanessa said and we continued to talk before we headed our own ways.
***
I arrived to the field with Lando, Charles, Max, Daniel, Sebastian, Mike, and Kimi and saw Fernando helping Vanessa set some stuff up before they noticed us.
"I'm glad you guys could join us," Vanessa said motioning us to go over to them.
We talked for a bit before Vanessa turned towards the locker room.
"There they are my star players and team captain," Vanessa said as Cassie and her two friends got closer to us.
"Nice number," Daniel said to Chloe as he noticed the number on her jersey that was the same as his driver number.
"Thanks, I've been wearing this number since 2015 after Cass left Monaco," She said before placing an arm around Cassie's shoulder. This explained the Monaco pictures Vanessa showed us.
"Cass, porque sigues robando mi número!" A guy yelled from the other side of the field and she turned around to look him and I saw the number 16 on her jersey and saw her other friend, Isabella had a 1 on her jersey.
Charles clearly noticed the 16 on her jersey but didn't say anything about it.
"Fue mi número primero!" She yelled back as he got closer.
"Cree lo que quieres, prima," He said as he pulled her into a hug and kissed her cheek before she did the same. She seemed really close to her cousin.
"Hola Chloe y Isabella," He said before hugging the two and by the hug it seemed like they have known each other a long time.
"Hola Pedro, jugaste bien ayer," Isabella said as they let go of the hug.
"Hola Pedro," Chloe said with a smile on her face.
"This is Cassie's little cousin, Pedro," Vanessa said introducing Cassie's cousin to us before turning to her, "Come on Cass we have to stuff to talk about. Once everyone is here start doing laps."
Once they were out of view Isabella and Chloe turned to me.
"Do you like, Cassie?" Chloe asked out of blue in Spanish and Isabella slapped her arm.
"We said we were going to take a gentle approach," Isabella said to Chloe.
"That was gentle," Chloe said before turning to me, "Do tell what do you think about our friend?"
"And I suggest doing it before the over protective cousin and the best friend get here," Her cousin said and at this point the drivers that came were talking among themselves.
"She seems really nice," I said not knowing what to say as I met her today.
"Since it seems you are not going to admit what you think about Cass, we're just going to invite you to celebrate with us after the game if we win so you can get to know her," Isabella said before her and Chloe ran out to the field where everyone else was and Pedro went to answer a phone call.
I was talking with Lando, Charles, and Max while the girls were running lap. We were already sit on the stands and Pedro was sitting behind me with a camera in hand. He looks familiar but I don't know where I saw him.
When she joined the girls in running laps, I turned to look at her. She looked like she was talking with some teammates as her smile peaked out. It was clear that she had a contagious smile as the people around her had small smiles on their faces.
"I think Carlos has a crush on the girl that photographered him," Lando said loud enough for the guys hear.
"Carlos, you should go for it," Mike said after following my gaze.
"She seems like a nice girl, you should ask her out," Sebastian said and they all agreed for me to ask her out even though I barely knew her.
Shortly after they went into the locker room and people started arriving including Lewis who sat beside Sebastian. Her cousin called people over to where he was.
"Hello mom, hello dad," He said in Spanish before they sat beside him, "Are her parents going to coming?"
"They aren't coming, all they sent was tickets for the race in Monaco, both races in Austria and the race in Britian for her and her friends," Who I'm guessing is his dad said.
"I feel bad for Cass, all she has been wanting for years is for her parents to come to at least one game and she hasn't seen them in 6 years," Another male voice said who could be the over protective cousin that was mentioned.
"Hello Maria, Fernando, Pedro, and Fernando," a familiar voice said and Charles turned around.
"What are you two doing here?" Charles asked as Arthur sat beside him and Lorenzo sat beside him.
"I came to cheer on my best friend and that best friend so happens to Lorenzo's adopted little sister, why are you here?" Arthur asked Charles.
"Vanessa invited us," He simply said as he looked back out to the field.
***
"Charles, how did you not remember Cassie? She basically lived at our house for many years," Arthur yelled at his brother during half time.
Throughout the first half Arthur and Lorenzo were cheering for her along with her aunt, uncle, and two cousins and they both looked at him disappointment when Charles asked who they were cheering for.
Cassie was a natural in the sport, she knew what she was doing. She had scored two of the three points the team had.
The brothers continue getting mad at Charles for not remembering her while Lando continued to make fun of me for having a 'crush' on Cassie.
During the second half the other team managed to equal them. They had 10 second left and she had the ball. She got closer to the goal before kicking it towards the goal. It entered a second before the time ran out and all her teammates pulled her into a hug.
Her smile was so big as she lifted the trophie with some teammates lifting her.
"Yeah! That's my best friend!" Arthur yelled proudly.
A couple minutes after people started clearing off the stands and some people went into the field. Lorenzo and Arthur dragged Charles to the field so they could go congratulate Cassie and the rest of the team and Charles ended up dragging me with him.
She was hugging her cousins before she spotted Arthur. When she saw him a smile appeared on their faces then she let go of the hug and the two walked up to each other to do their secret handshake. At the end they hugged each other tightly.
"Congrats on the win Cass, you played great," Arthur said, looking at the trophy in her hands.
"Thanks Artie," She said before Chloe jumped on her back causing both of them to fall as she yelled something in french.
"Good to see you, Chloe," He said as he help to two up.
"Hey Arthur, hello Lorenzo," She said as Lorenzo pulled Cassie into a hug.
They started talking in French and I understood a few words but not everything of what they were saying.
"Cassie! Chloe! Come on!" Isabella yelled before dragging the two away.
"Where did she go?" A guy came up who looked like a year or two older than me came up to us.
"We're not going to tell you, didn't you cause her enough pain already, why don't you just leave her alone?" Lorenzo asked and did a small motion to Arthur and he moved out the way beside me.
"Come on I want to talk to Cassandra and apologize," The guy said.
"Well she made herself pretty clear that she doesn't want to see or talk to you again," Lorenzo said while giving Arthur a hand signal.
"Come with me," Arthur said before walking in the direction the girls went and I quickly followed him, "Can you pretend to be Cassie's boyfriend, only when Juan is around?"
"Why?" I asked not knowing what else to say.
"Juan is her ex boyfriend and won't leave her alone since she dumped him even though he has a wife and two kids. He won't believe me if I claim to be her boyfriend so I had to think quick," He said, as I spotted her with the team taking pictures. Her smile could light up a whole room.
"What do you say?" He asked as they finished taking pictures.
"I'll do it," I said not removing my eyes from her.
"Okay come on, we have to tell her the plan before Juan gets to her," He said and we walked up to her as they were walking to the locker room, "Cass, Juan is here, and I think it is time for you to have a fake boyfriend to see if he will leave you alone."
"How do you know it's going to work?" She asked her best friend.
"Because it's not going to be someone that he knows of so it could work," He said and she still hadn't noticed me.
"Who do you have in mind?" She asked and Arthur motioned over to me.
"Carlos agreed to do it and it was between him and Charles and I know due to what happened twice he is a no so he was the choice," he said and it made me wonder what happened.
"If your plan doesn't work I'm replacing you as my best friend, now I need to go hit the showers," She said before walking into the locker room.
We stood with the other people waiting for them to come out. All the other adults had left only leaving mainly students and people around their ages.
Arthur had caught up Cassie cousins with the plan so they'll go with it as they are also tired of Juan. He also texted her friends so they also know what was happening.
Juan was standing in front of where we were when they started walking out slowly but she soon came out with both her friends and she smiled in our direction as they walked over to us completely ignoring Juan.
"Hey Cassandra I want to talk to you about maybe getting back together," He said in Spanish as he grabbed ahold of her hand making her turn to look at her.
"Leave her alone Juan she doesn't want you," Her youngest cousin said.
"Shut up Pedro, this has nothing to do with you, so what do you say babygirl do you want to give us another chance?" He asked her and she clearly looked uncomfortable. She got out of his grip and backed into me as she clearly wanted distance between them. The guys told me to make it believable so I put a protective arm around her.
"Can't and don't want to because I have boyfriend," She said motioning up to me.
"What does he have that I don't?" He asked and I was curious about what she was going to say.
"For starters he doesn't have a secret family or a wife, he doesn't try to control me, he isn't always asking me for money, and other things but I don't think your ego can handle the whole truth," She said and he was about to say something when he got interpreted.
"Party to celebrate the end of the season at my place and I want the three of you to be there," A girl said as she hugged Cassie and Isabella.
"Don't worry we'll be there, Rebecca," Isabella said.
"Your friends are welcome to come to the party as well," She said before running off.
"You guys should come to the party, it will be fun," Chloe said in english to the four of us and Arthur quickly agreed to go with Lorenzo and Charles glaring at their little brother. They agrued a bit before they let him go but they were going to to keep an eye with him.
"Carlos, are you coming?" Cass asked me and I turned to look at her and our eyes met. Her brown eyes sparkled under the night sky. She was beautiful and I just couldn't get myself to say no to her.
"Yeah, why not, I have nothing better to do," I said as we walked towards the parking lot.
"Cassandra, give me your keys so you can have fun and won't have to worry about driving," her older cousin said before she threw the keys over to him as they walked over to a black Mercedes.
***
I was talking with Cassandra as we were drinking a beer and every once in a while one of her teammates would come by so they could a shot together. I noticed she had a high alcohol tolerance as she took her 8th shot of vodka and only tipsy unlike the girls that came by.
Unlike while we were talking earlier she didn't speak much as she was really focused on her work but now that she was no longer under stress she was really nice and outgoing. I learned a lot about her and and I told her about me. Talking to her felt like I was talking to an old friend.
"Are college parties usually like this?" I asked as we saw a couple of people doing stupid stuff.
"It's still early, just wait until everyone is drunk... great he is here," She said and looked over to where she was looking at and I saw her ex at the door.
"Do you want to leave?" I asked her and thought about before answering.
"I do but I don't want him ruin my night," She said and I felt the need to protect her so I continued to stay near her. She finished her drink before she tugged on my hand.
"Come on let's go dance," She said and I agreed. I let her lead me to the dance floor. It was crowded so we were really close.
We danced for a while before her ex came up to us, "Cassie, please take me back, babygirl, I'm sorry for what I did. I can't live without you," He grabbing her hand and she took it out of his grip and I put a protective arm around her.
"Dude, just leave her alone," I said and he looked at me.
"I don't believe for one second that you two are actually dating, why would she date like a guy like you. You are too old for her," He said and placing his hand on her face.
"So are you and yet I dated you," She said removing his hand from her face and I gently rubbed my thumb in a comforting manner as she physically looked uncomfortable. Luckily Lorenzo noticed and took her out of the situation.
"Break up with her, I need her to get back with so I can get money out of her. I need to take care of my family and she is the only way I can money," He said to me with anger in his voice.
"Just get a job dude, it's kinda sad that you have to rely on a college student for money," I told him and he looked like he wanted to punch me.
"You are probably also her use for money as her parents are rich," He said, clearly not knowing that she makes her own money and hasn't taken any money from her parents since she was 16.
"She doesn't need her parents' money, she hasn't need it since she was 16 and I don't need her for money. I make more than enough money on my own," I said, "Stay away from Cass, all you did was hurt and use her. Just go back to your wife and kids and stop chasing after her."
He then punched me as he clearly didn't like what I said. I moved my hand up to my nose as I felt something coming out. I looked at my hand after wiping it and saw blood coming out of it before walking way from him.
"Are you okay?" Cassie asked as she noticed that I had my hand over my nose to prevent blood from dripping on the floor.
She gently moved my hand and she saw the blood and took out a tissue from her pocket and gently placed on my nose to catch the blood.
"I'm so sorry that Artie got you involved," She said with guilt in her voice.
"Hey, it's not your fault, I chose to do it and it was my decision to stand up for you," I said as she led me to a nearby bathroom and helped me clean up the dried up blood around my nose.
I just met her today but after everything she told me and everything I learned about her, I would do anything for her. I felt the need to protect her, to make her happy. She was different than any girl I have dated or liked in the past. She was independent, she knew what she wanted and worked hard to make her dreams come true.
Maybe I do have crush on her after all.