«I hope I'm not the only one that feels it all. Are you falling?»
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"Did you know Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent were married?"
He looked up from his phone, where Pierre Bergé's entire Wikipedia page was on display. Aurora met his gaze from where she sat on the sofa across from him. The girl scanned the rest of the room, as though his comment hadn't been directed at her even when she was the only soul in there at the moment. She moved the computer to the side and slightly frowned.
"Who is Pierre Bergé?" She questioned. Charles wandered into the room. An apple and water bottle in his hands while his steps directed him closer to his girlfriend.
Pierre dropped his face, his hand flying in the air to gesture at her. "Isn't Sloane your best friend? You should know a little about fashion."
"I'm not even sure Sloane knows who Pierre Bergé is!" Aurora defended herself with a huff included to show more indignation. Charles snorted at the exchange, taking a seat by her side. "Wait, since when are you so into fashion? I know you like to attend shows to see the models but this is something new. Pierre Bergé?"
Charles, who clearly was dying to chime in, raised both eyebrows and leaned against Aurora. "Ever since he started going out with Salma, apparently." He nudged his girlfriend with the elbow. "I do have to say I'm pretty impressed. I didn't believe you'd come this far with her, to be honest."
"Charles," Aurora used a gentle warning tone.
"Come on, mon ange. You know what I mean." His hands motioned for Aurora to let him carry on. "Aside from Salma, you have to admit it is surprising Sloane let Pierre get near one of her friends. She isn't very—"
He smiled when Aurora turned to look at Charles. Ready to interrupt. "Very what?" Her tone didn't hold any jealousy because that was his ex-girlfriend they were talking about. Not at all. It was more on the side of someone who liked Sloane more than any of her companions right there with her. Even Charles could admit that.
"Yes, Charles. Sloane isn't very what?" He encouraged, arms folding over his chest and showing mock interest.
The Ferrari driver groaned. "Very fond of Pierre. That's what I wanted to say." With this statement, Aurora grimaced and nodded in agreement.
"That is true. I'm sorry."
"Maybe she finally realised that my intentions are real." He was quick to defend his case.
Charles smiled funnily. "Are they really? You kept saying how much you wanted to sleep with her because she's hot."
Everything regarding his interactions with Salma, where they went, what they'd done, had been for themselves only. He didn't talk to Charles or Aurora, or anyone else for that matter, about the atelier or how they had to get to Lyon after that. The situation with her family and so on. He hadn't mentioned that they'd shared that. Yes, from the outside his goals with a model could be seen as superficial, she was beyond beautiful, and he wasn't blind, so the assumptions were there, but it was somehow turning into something more personal than what he could've imagined. Or wished for, in all honesty.
He sighed, phone being discarded to the side. The couple were all focused on him. "Fine, I did say I wanted to sleep with her because she's hot, but would it be a crime to say I think this can go differently? Not only a hookup, that is."
"A relationship you mean?"
"Yes, maybe, I don't know." He shrugged and looked at both of them with some sense of seriousness. Not very typical of him. "I like her a lot. I think."
The three of them fell into silence, and he analysed his own words. Aside from the physical aspect of things — it wasn't a hard task to be attracted to someone who looked like Salma for fuck's sake — everything else fit. Sure her personality, especially towards him, had been peculiar but fun nevertheless, and he'd enjoyed all the time they'd spent together so far. Then of course, now that he'd seen another side of her, a very personal one, he felt like they could perhaps grow closer. They weren't only two strangers wasting time with each other anymore.
He reached to grab a cushion and fiddle with the fabric on the corner. "It might not seem like it, I'm aware, but she's not that mean." He continued, as though he had to defend his growing feelings for the model. "I see myself having something like this with her." He gestured at Charles and Aurora.
His friend had an arm wrapped around the sofa, right where Aurora was sitting. She was unconsciously leaning against Charles, it came naturally because it was normal for them to be that close and act that way. Then there were other stuff that maybe they didn't do intentionally, but Pierre had spent enough time with them as a couple and separately to notice it. Like the way Charles always had to pay full attention whenever Aurora spoke, even if it was just a short sentence, or how Aurora smiled from ear to ear every time Charles walked into the room. All of those details.
Was it insane for him to think he could have something like that with Salma? Too unrealistic? He wondered if the idea had passed through her mind as well.
"Is this kind of like your not-so-silent crush on Sloane?" Aurora asked, to make sure she was understanding his feelings.
He shook his head and scoffed. "No. Come on, yeah I did mention and imply that Sloane is nice to look at...multiple times ever since I discovered her existence, but I never really liked her the same way..." Pierre bit his tongue, deciding to choose his words wisely. "The same way Max ended up liking her for example." He offered and Aurora blinked. "It's different with Salma."
Neither of them said a thing, they looked at each other and then Charles fixed his gaze on him. Who would've thought he would be getting all analysed after taking the piss with Charles for how fucked up his romantic life had been in the past three years? Now he was the one having his own confessions and putting feelings in the open.
"Holy fuck, he seriously likes her," Charles concluded after a couple of minutes of silence. His immediate reaction to this was to throw the cushion at him. Very easy to dodge anyway.
Aurora, taking the cushion previously thrown and guarding it on her side under her arm, eyed him with kindness. A typical Aurora way of being comprehensible and caring. "Do you think she feels the same about you? Now that you've spent more time together."
He remembered the little kiss and the hug and smiled more for himself than his companions. Surely the vulnerability of those circumstances had influenced the moments shared but if he also thought about their visit to the atelier and previous dates, he could perhaps come to the conclusion that she was truly growing fond of him. It wasn't only a joke that could be thrown to annoy her.
"You should ask her that," He joked.
The Italian pursed her lips down to indicate that wouldn't be a good idea. "I'm not sure she'd answer to me in particular."
"If you want my advice," Charles proceeded to say, letting his words linger as if expecting a reaction that allowed him to go on. Pierre gave him the go-ahead with a brief nod. Sure Charles wasn't actually pretty good at giving that type of advice and he basically had to point out the right way for him on more than one occasion when the Monegasque was getting into his many romantic issues but he could listen to his point of view. "You should fully go for it," Encouragement. That was nice. "As you said, it's the least complicated scenery that's come out from all this so why not, right?"
When he glanced at Aurora to corroborate she agreed with Charles, the girl beamed and threw him both thumbs up. Fully go for it. He could do that. Something shifted after Lyon for sure. It could not go wrong between them.
—
Irina took a hit, handing the blunt to Sloane who put her phone aside to receive the new offer with a grin. "I've never been to Bahrain." She furrowed her brows and pointed a finger at her from the other side of the table. "Salma, have you ever been to Bahrain?"
She blew a ring in the air and shook her head. The music was loud enough so they wouldn't have problems hearing each other. "No. Or I can't remember. I don't know."
Sloane suddenly snorted, smoke coming out of her nose. "Last time I went to Bahrain I celebrated when Max had to retire from the race. Funny story: he went on to win the championship that year and I broke up with Charles about four months after that day. Life comes at you fast."
"Disagree." Irina shook her head. "You ended up dating him and he won another one of those things, right? Now you're fucking the champion, Slo. Life got better." Her finger poked at Sloane's arm, leaving a white circle on the skin.
Either Sloane was too high or having an actual revelation. She parted her lips impressed and slowly nodded. "That's true." Irina grinned like the cat who got the cream. "I might be a successful case of homie hopping." The girl's eyes widened comically like she was bantering with herself on that one.
"You know what they say: just because you and him didn't work out doesn't mean you and his friend won't. Cheers."
"No one's ever said that."
Irina flashed her a proud smile. "Someone thought of it, at least. I'm only spreading the gospel."
Salma groaned. "Stop calling it homie hopping. That sounds horrible." She complained, and both her friends giggled at the same time.
"Friend leaping?" The Dutch model quirked an eyebrow, smirking. "He did it too, and first, so it's fine."
"Jesus christ," She winced. "Why the fuck are we even talking about Bahrain? What's so special there?"
Sloane, who leaned forward to pour more rosé into her glass, dismissed its importance with a shrug. "Was telling Rina I'll be staying in Monaco for some days in a few weeks. Max is testing his car in Bahrain for the upcoming season so I promised to look out for the cats while he's away. You two should visit even if it's only for a day. I'll meet Aurora there as well, we can go out. The four of us would be nice."
"Can we take Aurora clubbing?" Irina asked excitement all over her face.
"No, not clubbing," Sloane warned and the smile faded from Irina's lips. "Brunch or something. That's healthier and more chill. I do seriously have to take care of the cats. No parties or distractions. It's my first time doing it alone."
There was a huff from the blonde, and Salma, who was ready to ignore the topic of hanging out with Aurora, propelled onto the sofa with her arms. The new information proving to be interesting. "Is Pierre doing the testing too?"
Her friends shared a quick glance. Irina smirked while Sloane raised an eyebrow as she plopped onto the sofa again. "Yeah, definitely, all of the teams do it. And you say I know nothing about racing." The girl joked. "What's up with that? Pierre, I mean. How is it going with him? You've been too reserved lately."
Fine, she hadn't mentioned that she took him to her grandmother's atelier back in Paris, or how they had to rush to Lyon the same night because she pretty much had an anxiety attack in front of him. That he'd stayed there for her until checking everything with her and her family would be alright. Or that he met her grandmother, father and sister and she didn't even overthink the situation. And most importantly, that she had been genuinely glad that he was there during all that. She never said anything about it.
And wouldn't do it anytime soon. That was between them.
"It's going. I have it covered, don't worry." It was the easy answer if compared to the actual real one.
Irina dragged herself closer to the edge of the sofa, elbows resting on her knees and gaze boring into her. The blonde narrowed her eyes, scanning her face. "You're not starting to catch real feelings, are you? Because I feel like normally you would've committed attempted murder by now."
"Irina, don't be ridiculous." Sloane scoffed. The silence and lack of any expression caused her to wipe the smile from her face pretty quickly though. "You're not, right?"
Her brows knitted in a frown and she threw her joint on the ashtray, putting it out like it was a cigarette. "Are you two stupid? Did your moms drop you when you were babies? Of course not. I'm only saying it's going, that's it."
She thought of kissing his cheek and the hug. A tingling sensation ran down her spine. Salma couldn't even blame anyone for that one, she'd put herself in that situation. She'd let her emotions crawl into her brain and dig a little hole there. And now she had Sloane and Irina staring at her with big eyes and questioning if she'd lost the original plot of the plan. Which no, she hadn't.
"Shit!" Sloane slapped her palm against her forehead out of the blue as if she was remembering something. "His birthday. I forgot to tell you about it." She addressed her, and Salma looked at her in confusion. "It was Pierre's birthday a couple of days ago. I meant to tell you in case you wanted to do something with that, but I completely let it slip."
"You're quite good with birthdays."
The girl wrinkled her nose, ready to deny it. "No, but I got dragged to one of his birthday parties two years ago and my best friend is friends with him so I'm aware of the date."
"Thank you for the information." She pushed off her seat, waving smoke away with a hand.
Both Irina and Sloane followed her trail with their gazes, cautiously looking at her until she disappeared into the nearest room. She pulled her phone out, chewing nervously on her thumbnail and considering how much of a good idea it was. The digits of his phone number stared back at her before she breathed deeply and tapped on the screen to initiate the call. For a moment she wished he didn't answer, the sensations going inside her were too complicated, and unfamiliar. She hated dealing with that.
Pierre though, took only some seconds to accept the call. "Hello?"
"Happy birthday." She squeezed her eyes shut and mentally cursed. What the fuck? "I mean, I heard it was your birthday a couple of days ago so sorry for being late but happy birthday."
"Oh," He chuckled. "That's alright, you had to focus on more important things, but thank you. How is it going? Your family, is everything okay with them?"
Her grip on the phone grew tighter. "Yeah, everything is okay back home. Nice of you to ask." She was giving herself the ick. "I'm doing fine too. Fuck, is this awkward?"
She could already picture him smiling because everything she did amused him. "It's only awkward if you make it awkward, come on." He thought of something to make her feel more comfortable. "You didn't tell me Pierre Bergé and Saint Laurent were married, you called them business partners."
"What?"
"They were married apparently." He repeated. His voice sounded like the discovery of it was the most interesting thing in the world.
Salma relaxed a bit. The weight on her shoulders decreased. "Did you use Google to know more about Pierre Bergé?"
"Yeah, of course. I got curious." He admitted, shrugging one shoulder from his side even though she couldn't see his movements. "Your grandma mentioned it, seemed important. I'm very willing to learn new stuff, Salma."
"Okay Pierre, whatever you say." The idea of him googling that nearly made her smile. She was definitely losing the plot. That had to be fixed. "Sloane told me you guys are going back to your racing things in a few weeks."
He hummed. "Yes, we have testing in Bahrain then the first race which is in Bahrain as well. Will Sloane be there? Maybe you should come too if she does."
"We have to walk some shows. London and Milan again. It's too busy right now, I don't even think she'll be there, to be honest." She snorted, their previous conversation coming to mind. "She said last time she went to Bahrain Max had to retire from the race, maybe she's preventing."
"That's a bummer, she's refusing to help the rest of us get something with that one. Isn't she tired of watching her boyfriend win?" Pierre dramatically sighed, joking. If they revised Sloane's history of attending races, she probably was more on the side of lucky charm than giving bad luck. Depending on the driver of course. "If you're ever free though, and want to attend a race, I'll be more than happy to have you around."
She clicked her tongue, leaning against the door. "Right, I suppose that's one of the perks of getting involved with your kind." Getting involved. She was getting involved. Salma cleared her throat. "I was wondering if, before you get too busy, you'd like to go out on another date. Take it as one last thank you for what you did for me the other day, and maybe to celebrate your birthday the right way."
Sometimes he did that thing where he didn't reply right away, Salma hated it when he did that. "That would be nice."
"Nice?" Only nice?
"What I mean is that yes, absolutely yes to another date with you. I would never say no to that." He was quick to say. She inhaled and exhaled. "In Milan? Or should we explore somewhere else? That's become our thing."
Ew. Her heart was beating faster than normal. "Anywhere. I don't care where." Salma chewed on her lip when Pierre let out a breathy chuckle. "I just want to show some gratitude and...talk to you. We haven't properly spoken since you left Lyon." She drifted her gaze to the side, as though feeling embarrassed that either Irina or Sloane would listen to the way she was talking to him.
Those two were clearly giggling at god knows what in the other room. Too high to even bother to pay any attention.
"I guessed you'd like some privacy and time." He told her and it was a pretty correct guess. She did appreciate that he didn't overwhelm her after that. "But you know me, I'm always down to talk with you. Everything at your rhythm, Salma."
She bit the inside of her cheek, hard enough to cause a bit of pain. Something had changed, the pieces were not supposed to have moved the way they did, but it happened and now she was feeling strange about him. Even guilty. And what was she supposed to do now? Admit that the guy wasn't as terrible as she'd thought before. Fucking hell. She should've listened when Irina — who was never the voice of the reason out of the three but somehow managed to be this time around — pointed out it would be a bad idea.
"I—I have to go now," She decided in an attempt to stop the conversation from getting too personal. "I'll write to you so we can talk about our date. It's on me."
"As always: looking forward to seeing you."
They bid their farewells, with Salma thanking him again and throwing another happy birthday, Pierre. He could not vanish his smile after they ended the call.
Sloane and Irina, who'd been recording themselves for social media the whole time she was talking to Pierre, put the phone away when she went back into the room. Salma flopped down onto her previous seat, propping her feet on the coffee table. Her friends smiled knowingly and she blinked.
"Are you going to Bahrain?" The question was for Sloane, who was a bit slow when she wasn't in all her senses. "To see your boyfriend." She clarified.
Her lips formed a silent oh when it settled in her brain. "Oh, for the race." The model pursed her lips, wrinkling her nose. "I'm not sure, there's this thing I have in Germany that weekend and after we went public last year, I told him I preferred to be more low-key with our relationship. Let's just say some people aren't very nice about my presence. Anyway...that's too depressing." She waved a hand in the air. "Why the question? Are you going to Bahrain to see your boyfriend?"
Irina scoffed at this and she sent her a sour glare. "Don't start."
"Just kidding! We know he'll never be your boyfriend. Poor Pierre." Sloane pouted and pretended to wipe some fake tears away.
"Never say ne—ouch!" Irina complained when a lighter flew from where Salma was sitting straight to her forehead. "It was a joke!"
She narrowed her eyes, staring at both. "Well, you're not comedians. I don't even know why I hang out with you two."
"Because you love us."
They started blowing kisses in her direction, Sloane even adding an exaggerated wink. She looked away and pressed her lips together, containing a grin from spreading across her lips. Maybe they were right. Aside from being insane, they weren't that bad. That was enough, she was letting her feelings show way too much that day.
--
a/n:
one thing about my girls is that they don't know how to accept that they're developing romantic feelings for these guys☝️