«We'll get him falling for a stranger.»
---
She looked to the empty seat on her right, then at her phone to corroborate the time. Irina was late. Like, seriously late. More than usual late. The only reason they weren't worried and organising a search party all over Milan for her was that earlier when both Salma and Sloane arrived at the restaurant, Irina had so thoughtfully taken her time to text a very rushed and incomprehensible string of words along the lines of: am fine will be late. phone is dying. need to figure out where i am. but night was good. bye xx.
Thumbs up and smiley face included. How nice of her, she sarcastically thought after reading the message.
The sound of Sloane setting her phone back onto the table forced her to glance at the Dutch girl. Irina would arrive at some point, hopefully. Whatever.
"Sorry, Max is arriving in Milan tonight for Lorenzo's show this weekend so he was letting me know the details." Sloane smiled in that very dopey-kinda-dazzled way she usually did when she talked about her boyfriend.
Max this, Max that. Those two were a bit sickening sometimes. In her opinion. "Your walking Red Bull ad of a boyfriend will be attending a fashion show?" She raised an eyebrow, a hint of mockery in her tone. "What is this? The end of fashion?"
Her friend slightly narrowed her eyes, the smile still plastered on her lips nevertheless. "He's very supportive, come on. I think it's cute." Sloane snorted, followed by a dreamy sigh. "It's the first time in a while I've decided to do runway, it's...I don't know...nice that he wants to be there for me? It's usually only Vivianne, and Aurora when she'd gotten the opportunity." Her cheeks took a rosy colour. Salma wasn't very impressed but to each their own. "And I picked his outfit for the occasion. No Red Bull shirts are allowed in Lorenzo's line of sight anyway. Don't worry."
"Good. His fashion sense hurts my eyes sometimes."
"Personally, I think he looks very attractive all the time." Salma had been through heartbroken Sloane and infatuated Sloane, but this was the first time she had to deal with seriously in love Sloane. She grimaced, and her friend covered a chuckle with her closed fist. "Speaking of fashion shows though..." The words were left open in the air. Sloane tapped her fingers on the table and scanned her face, lips pursing a little in intrigue. "How did you manage to arrive before me at the hotel yesterday? You didn't have any issues finding a taxi? Because I swear, after the Ferragamo thing there was nothing available. Eleonora and I had to share a car when we finally found one."
Little memories of her very excruciating thirty-five minutes sitting in Pierre Gasly's car flashed through her mind. Not like a nice throwback, not at all. The guy, despite promising that he would shut up had talked the whole ride to her hotel, even when she barely replied with one-word answers and threw him glares at each red light. He talked to her as if they were mates, which they weren't close to ever be, according to her.
She shrugged one shoulder and glanced down at the menu. "I got offered a ride from someone."
Before Sloane could open her mouth to ask who and dig more, a glimpse of Irina rushing through the restaurant doors and squeezing quickly in between tables deflected their attention. The girl apologised in a mix of English and basic Italian when she hit an old lady with her purse as she tried to reach their table at record speed. The smell of Nivea Men that came from Irina the moment she passed behind her chair was nauseating.
Irina finally took a seat and the rambling began. "I know, I know, I'm late," She met her gaze. "And I smell like men's shampoo, I'm aware of that as well, but at least it's not cheap Old Spice." Still awful. No justification. "I lost track of time. It was a really good night, you know?" The blonde waggled her eyebrows suggestively. Whilst Salma gagged, Sloane hummed impressed. "Did you already order? What did I miss? Are you two also feeling like you're buzzing or is it just me? I think I'm still drunk from yesterday."
Sloane grabbed Irina's arm and grinned. "It's only you, Rina. We haven't ordered, we were waiting for you." The aforementioned nodded and slowed her breathing down. "And we were discussing about Salma skipping the terrible rush hour from yesterday. She was very lucky and got to the hotel earlier than me. Can you believe it?"
The new spur of information seemed to lighten something in Irina's face. This one turned to her, pointing an accusatory finger in her direction but smirking like the cat who got the cream. Salma frowned at the sudden change of expression.
"You sneaky bastard," Her frown deepened. Sloane raised her eyebrows and Irina faced her again. "Someone told me she left with a guy. A guy." Irina's wide-eyed blue stare came back to her in a matter of a second. "Did you hook up with someone? We share these things all the time! Don't be selfish. Tell me, did you make him cry by the end of the night?"
Reaching with her hand, she pulled Irina's down. No more pointing. "Yeah, sometimes we shouldn't share these things, Irina." She countered with a drop of her tone. Her friend waved her hand dismissively.
Sloane chimed into the conversation. "I do like to know about these things to ensure you two aren't hanging out with a serial killer or any person of interest. Safety and so on." Her hand motioned randomly in the air.
"It wasn't a serial killer, it was just—ugh," She rolled her eyes, feeling both girls' full attention on her. "I'm only telling you about it because I know that guy can't shut up, but it was...Pierre." His name rolled out of her tongue with something similar to vexation. And embarrassment.
Lips parted, and eyes slightly widened. She should've seen that coming. "Pierre as in...the Pierre I'm thinking about? The one we're both familiar with?" Sloane leaned in like she hadn't heard correctly and wanted to make sure this wasn't a misunderstanding. A mistaken whisper of the wind. Salma nodded, glaring daggers. "No way." That was the conclusion.
"Okay, first of all, you can't judge me given your dating history, alright? Second of all, I didn't want to end up being murdered by a creepy junkie so I practically did it to save my life because Irina ditched me and Catherina was dozing off at the hotel."
With brows slightly creased in confusion, Irina interrupted the exchange. "Stop there." Salma huffed. "Can someone remind me who Pierre is?" She used an exaggerated accent on his name. "That name is so French."
"Little guy from Las Vegas last year," Sloane answered with a comical tone. Like the whole thing was a comedy for her.
Irina gasped, loud enough for her to hear. "Oh my god. Instagram Pierre? Annoying Pierre?" The other model nodded in confirmation, and suddenly she felt very annoyed. Especially because those two were looking at her with hilarity and amusement. "Can I judge? Since I've never dated one of those guys."
"I have a copy of your hotel room card, I'm going to murder you in your sleep, Irina." She warned.
Neither of them seemed affected. Irina smirked. "Kinky, Salma. Love that side of you."
"I can't believe you got into a car with Pierre. Like willingly. Did he bribe you?" Sloane steered the conversation back to the main point. Salma turned to her with a death glare. "He was at the Ferrari show? Of course he was at the Ferrari show. He was with Charles, right? Did he embarrass himself again? You have to tell me."
"He's very pathetic, what do you think?" At this, her friend muttered a barely audible amazing and let out a little chuckle. She wasn't having that much fun with the conversation. "And yes, he was with your ex-boyfriend. Apparently, Aurora's a little scared of public showings. I would too if I were her." She'd learned that the only way to remove Sloane's smugness was to talk about Aurora. It came quite easy for her.
"I mean," Irina stepped in, knowing where they'd end if they continued having that back and forth. "You have to admire his resilience. I love you, but you scare the shit out of me and I wouldn't try to get with you more than once."
Sloane snorted a laugh, turning to Irina. "Pierre hits on everything with a pulse. I wouldn't call it resilience. The guy is a first-class player."
"If only our beautiful Salma here used her sex appeal and meanness for the greater good...I know Pierre would learn a lesson or two with her." Irina laid the idea as a joke before sliding Sloane's menu to her side of the table, eyes running through the beverages section.
By now, she'd known Sloane for over a year so the way her face changed, as if what Irina said mere seconds ago had turned a switch in her brain, shouldn't have come as a surprise for her. It would be dumb to deny she'd grown somehow fond of the two girls over time, they did spend a lot of time together for some reason, but that didn't mean she was willing to partake in all the stupidities they came up with. Salma shook her head when Sloane smiled all innocent and charismatic. Or as close as she could get to that.
"No to whatever you're thinking," She sternly said. "You're insane."
"Irina's right!"
Salma frowned, again. They were giving her wrinkles. "Irina isn't right, Irina's still drunk. She's not lucid."
The subject of discussion raised her hand in the air, waving her fingers. "I'm right here. Lucid enough to hear this conversation at least. Thank you very much."
"Pierre would do anything to hook up with you and you love to make men miserable. The possibilities are so good here." Sloane continued, ignoring Irina's plea for attention and directing her words to her.
She scowled. "Why would anyone, aside from yourself, do that to themselves?"
"Because it would be so funny. And if you think it through, it might be your feminist act of the year."
"I give it to her, it'd be funny." Irina agreed but then shook her head. "But it's not that simple. Guys like this don't get easily hurt by a pretty mean girl. They have to fall in love...hard. For real. And Salma would end up murdering the poor idiot before managing to get to the love stage." A snort slipped past Irina's lips.
They were discussing this like she wasn't sitting with them. "You're right." They weren't even keeping an eye on her now. "I don't think Pierre has fallen in love with anyone else but himself. It could be a lost cause."
Her gaze travelled from Irina to Sloane a couple of times, and something was hitting a nerve there. Especially the last statement. She rested against the chair, folding her arms across her chest. Both of them pinned their attention on her again and noticed a bit of annoyance in her features. They should've been used to it by now, the mood changes and all of it, but Salma could be very hard to read for the most part.
"You don't think I can make that guy fall in love with me?" She questioned. The three of them had an issue with their egos getting bruised, but hers was a step above the other two.
"We didn't say that." Irina was quick to refute it. Mainly defending herself.
"It was implied." She stated and Irina winced, gaze going back to Sloane in an attempt to seek help. This one blinked when she locked eyes with her. "It's pretty easy to hurt a guy. And not fall in love with him." The answer to this was a tired sigh, because if someone knew a thing or two about falling in love with a Formula 1 driver was Sloane.
Actually, she knew more than anyone else. She was an expert at that point.
Sloane tipped her chin up, a little challenging. "If you want to prove it, I'm not opposed and I'll be more than happy to lend you a hand if I can. I've been waiting for Pierre to get humbled since I met him for the first time."
"Slo, come on, he's not her type. Salma wouldn't even entertain that idea." Nothing came in support of this statement, and Irina realised right there that Salma was a very competitive person. "Oh no, you're considering it, aren't you? If this turns out to be a bad idea, I want to clarify I'm not in favour or against this. I'm Switzerland." Then she thought a bit more about it, and the possible benefits. "Wait, if this means we can be invited to more fun parties, I'm totally on board with getting you a new boyfriend."
Before turning to Irina with a hard stare, Sloane smiled at her and chewed on her lip to keep herself from laughing. "He won't be my boyfriend."
"Poor guy who is going to be your victim. Boyfriend. It's the same thing with you, babe."
To set things straight...she would rather model for ASOS than seriously date someone like Pierre Gasly. It wouldn't mean anything.
—
Aurora wasn't paying attention, as per usual, he could only assume she was too immersed in her social media things. So naturally he resorted to name-dropping because that usually worked with the two sitting in front of him. Especially if he mentioned a certain name starting with S.
It truly worked like a magic word.
"Do you remember Sloane's friend Salma?" The question came as casually as it could have. Like he was asking for the weather. Or what they could eat later.
Aurora and Charles, who had been focused on doing everything but paying attention to him — one typing on the computer while the other scrolled through his phone — suddenly seemed quite interested in what he'd say next. His inquiry was directed at Aurora of course, because he doubted Charles would still feel curious about his ex-girlfriend and her friends. This, however, wouldn't stop him from nosing into the conversation.
With slightly furrowed brows, Aurora pushed the computer to the side and settled her hands on the table, ready to gesture with them. "French Salma?" He nodded in silent confirmation. "Of course, I remember her..." She quickly peered at Charles, who shrugged letting her know he had no idea where he was going with that. "Why are you asking about her?"
"Is Salma the one with brown or blonde hair?" Charles quizzed, raising an eyebrow and looking at Aurora.
"Brown hair. Blonde hair is Irina." She clarified and the Ferrari driver nodded in acknowledgement, pursing his lips in a way that indicated he'd remembered just fine which one was which. "What did you do to her this time? Sloane told me you tried to hit on her and failed miserably." Considering he knew Sloane, she probably didn't use the term 'failed miserably'. More on the side of her making fun of him while Aurora requested for her to spare him.
Charles snorted, the laugh leaving his throat with a crisp, and threw him a funny look. "You tried to hit on her? How much did you fuck up? Be honest with me."
"How do you say dickhead in Italian? I think he didn't understand it in French the first time." Aurora shook her head. She was used to dealing with those two.
The Monegasque ignored him and carried on, seemingly finding entertainment in all this. Pierre guessed it was some sort of compensation for the many times he had made jokes about the whole Charles-Aurora-Sloane-Max mix-up. "I remember last year when Carlos and I did that promo for Puma with them, he asked for her number after we were done taking the photos and she told him she didn't have a phone while visibly texting with one in her hands. In front of him. She even started typing louder with her nails, I swear. She's funny." Charles grinned and Aurora massaged her temples, heaving a sigh. "There's no way you have a chance with her, Pierre."
"It's not strange you find one of Sloane's friends funny, Charles. Be careful, Aurora." He shot back, wearing a self-satisfied smile the moment Charles' own dropped.
The girl rolled her eyes and motioned with her hand for both of them to calm down with the jokes. "That's enough, come on." Pierre shrugged. "But he is right. Salma is not Sloane. You don't seem to be her type, and I'm nicely saying this, so don't get hurt. Seriously don't bother her."
"You also said Max wasn't Sloane's type though." He reminded her of the day they called to drop the news about her best friend and the Red Bull driver and she'd explicitly said: Sloane wouldn't get with Max, it makes no sense. They're only friends, I'm sure.
Aurora groaned. "Fine, yeah, I was wrong about that but how was I supposed to know the guy is very romantic? He doesn't look like it! That's not even the point here." His hand motioned for her to go on. "What I'm trying to say is that she doesn't seem interested, and you should respect that. Case closed. Don't do anything stupid."
"Aside from the fact that even if you tried, there's no way you can pull that off," Charles added and Aurora nudged him with some sense of reprimand, only earning a chuckle from him.
Now he seemed fakely offended. "I think I have a chance this time. They're here for the summer collection shows, right?" With a hint of hesitation, Aurora bobbed her head to confirm this information. "I've gotten with models before. How hard can this one be? You could help me."
"Who? Me?" She pointed at herself, mouth agape in disbelief. "She doesn't even like me, Pierre. I'm not her favourite person in the world. Besides, Salma is one of Sloane's closest friends, and I'm not risking any issues there just because you want to have sex with her. I won't get involved in this, forget it." Aurora pushed her chair back, standing up. "Just stay out of trouble, please, don't try anything. Do any of you want something to drink? I'm not talking about this anymore."
Both drivers shook their heads, and Charles placed a kiss on Aurora's hand before this one headed out of the terrace, disappearing inside the flat. They followed her with their gazes until she was no longer in sight, then turned to each other nearly at the same time. Charles leaned against the back of the chair and analysed him all staring and interested.
"Why do you want to get with this girl so badly? She's clearly not...very approachable."
"Because she's very hot," He said as if it was obvious. "And surprisingly, her whole mean girl thing does it for me." Charles rolled his eyes and scoffed. He gestured at him with a head nod. "Why don't you help me?"
Much like his girlfriend, the Ferrari driver was taken aback by the suggestion. "She's friends with Sloane, not Aurora, and I don't need to remind you Sloane and I aren't exactly best friends. What do you want me to tell her? Hey Sloane, not only I'm dating one of your friends, but I also need you to help me hook Pierre up with another one. She'll think I view her as my personal dating app. We don't need to make it weirder between each other." Fine, he could understand where Charles was coming from. Because he was a good friend. "Ask Max to set you up on a double date with him and Sloane. That's easier."
"No, he's useless. He said he isn't willing to receive threats from Salma again just to help me."
"So even Max is scared of her?" Well, that wasn't the wrong way to describe it. He pursed his lips in a frown and half shrugged. Charles laughed. "Maybe that's a sign and Aurora's right. Don't get in there."
He would've believed the good intentions and concern for his well-being and feelings if Charles didn't look like he genuinely believed Salma would get with anyone but Pierre. He did like a challenge from time to time though. And once they went back to New York again, when would he get another chance? If life gave him lemons, he could try to make lemonade. Even if everybody believed him incapable of it.
"You know what's funny? Out of all the things that have happened since you met Sloane, me getting with Salma is the least complicated, but somehow the most impossible one? That's a bit hurtful." He placed a hand on his chest, feigning despair and playing the good part of the victim.
"I didn't say impossible," Not with those exact words, but it didn't take a genius to understand. "Save yourself from a rejection and go for the usual."
When he was about to rectify one more time that he could do it, Aurora slipped back onto the terrace, a bottle of water in one hand and the other holding her phone. He pressed his lips and swallowed his words, gaze following the Italian girl until she sat back where she was before. Charles reached with his hand to move the hair out of her way and she thanked him with a smile before placing the things on the table. Her gaze found Pierre's, and the softness she'd shared with the Ferrari driver shifted to something closer to suspicion. She was not unfamiliar with his shenanigans, and okay, Aurora was right most of the time, but she could also be wrong. As proven before.
"I hope you're not still talking about or planning on bothering Salma." She inquired with a quirked eyebrow.
He shook his head no, drifting his attention to Charles for less than a second. "I'll follow your advice and stay out of trouble, Aurora. Don't worry. When have I ever failed you?"
He didn't need an answer to that. She double-checked, obviously, because to believe him right away wasn't what Aurora usually did. She even took a peek at Charles — just to confirm, make sure — but this one acted like he didn't know what went through Pierre's head. They were overreacting, he thought. Alright, Salma was indeed not the friendliest, mean enough to make Sloane Devrij seem like a kind angel, and she had not shown an ounce of interest in him ever since their unfortunate and awkward first meeting, but he would stick to the idea that it couldn't be that hard. Surely the girl had a soft spot...somewhere very deep in her heart.
The worst that could happen if he tried to hook up with her, really tried this time around, was another petty humiliation. Pierre could survive that. Maybe. And in the best-case scenario, he'd end up getting in bed with her. The good outweighed the bad.
--
a/n:
it's always 3 dumbass girls praying on a man's downfall🤭
this is what happens when i watch how to lose a guy in 10 days way too many times...