Racing | C.L (English)

15

.·:*¨༺ REAL LIFE ༻¨*:·.

Once they both entered, he closed the door. Charles walked to the couch, and Alice followed him, sitting next to him. "Why aren't you with the team?" he genuinely asked.

"It's not important, today is about you," Alice said, trying to change the topic, but he kept looking at her, waiting for her to talk. "Something happened between me and my dad," she finally explained, but she didn't want to talk about it. "Let's not talk about it," she said, and he nodded, while she took his hand and started playing with his fingers. "Today's race was amazing, you did a great job," she added.

"Thanks," he responded, and he kept looking at their connected hands.  As their eyes locked in a deep gaze, he leaned in closer until their lips met in a passionate kiss. With every touch of their lips, Alice's heart raced faster, and she felt a shiver run down her spine. She eagerly responded to his kiss, melting into his embrace, and they both lost themselves in the moment, forgetting about the world around them. Their lips moved in unison, perfectly in sync, as if they were meant to be together. It was a kiss that left Alice breathless and craving for more. Once they pulled apart, he whispered against her lips, "What does this mean?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I know you feel the same way, Alice, don't lie."

"I've never said I don't."

"No, but you told me this only complicates things."

"And it does."

"How?" he asked, not paying much attention to the conversation. His eyes were locked, looking at her lips, wanting to lean forward and kiss her again.

She got up from the couch and walked to the opposite side of the room, attempting to clear her mind. "Charles, there are a lot of things going on in my life, and this," she said, pointing at them, "makes things even worse, and we don't even know each other, we just talked sometime before." He stayed still on the couch while she waited for a response. "Aren't you going to say something?" she asked, almost desperate.

"What do you want me to say?" Charles asked, getting up from the couch. "There is nothing I could say for you to change your mind. Maybe you are right; this will only complicate things more." She nodded with her head, looking at him, trying to understand why this conversation hurt so much, even when she tried not to feel something. "That's what you wanted me to say?" he asked, walking towards her.

"No," she whispered.

"I have no idea what you want from me, Alice."

"Neither do I," she accepted the truth, looking away from him. "I wanted you to tell me I was wrong, that maybe..." She stopped talking, looking back at him.

"Maybe what?"

"Maybe there is still a chance," she whispered, before turning towards the door and walking away from his room. Once she reached the door, she turned and looked at him, who was still standing there, not knowing what to say. "I'm happy to finally be able to meet you, Charles. Good luck during this season," she said before opening the door and walking away from there.

Tears were tempting to come out of her eyes, but she didn't let them out. She wasn't going to cry, not again.

"Alice," and there it was his voice, who followed her. She turned, meeting those green eyes, which were as desperate as hers. "Don't run away, please," he said softly, still walking towards her. "We could figure it out, maybe there is still a chance."

"I don't think it will ever be a 'you and me,' Charles. Our paths are different from each other," she said. "Even when I don't want to, the best thing will be getting apart," she finally said, whispering, and her voice broke a little.

"Why can't you just think about yourself? About your happiness? And forget about the others?" Alice pleaded with Charles.

"I was never allowed to be happy. Now, I'm thinking about what's best for me. And even though it hurts like hell, maybe you..." Charles interrupted her.

"Don't say it," he said, knowing exactly what Alice was about to say. He didn't want to hear her say those things, but he still hoped she would change her mind eventually.

"Maybe you and I aren't meant to be," Alice finished, and Charles closed his eyes, hurt. "You should go and celebrate. You won, Charles. You're showing how capable you are of winning, and I'll always be there cheering you on, even when you can't see me. But trust me when I say I'm always going to be there."

"That's not true. You're not here today, and you'll never be," he said, not looking at her.

"Charles, don't say that," Alice said, taking a step toward him. "Maybe someday... this isn't a good moment in my life. Please try to understand me. I'm constantly fighting with my dad."

"Can you please leave them out of this conversation? This isn't about them. This is about you and me," Charles replied.

"There isn't a 'you and me,'" Alice said, not wanting to say those words, but knowing she had to.

"You're right. My mistake," he said, turning and walking away from her, leaving her thinking about how she just messed up the only good thing in her life right now. She stayed there, looking at him until the first tear fell down her cheek.

"I just messed up everything," she said to herself before walking away. And just like that, both of them drifted away from each other, just out of fear.

She continued walking to her car. Once she got in, she let all her tears out. She cried alone in her car, wanting one thing: Charles's arms around her, giving her support and telling her everything would be fine. But that would never happen. She had pushed him away from her life just because she was scared that being with him would complicate things with her dad even more. Alice still hoped that someday her dad would love her and being with Charles would only complicate things more.

When she stopped crying, she pulled out her phone and saw messages Pierre had sent her. She ignored them and called him.

"Alice, I'm sorry about earlier," he said on the other side of the line.

"I messed up everything, and I don't think I made the right choice," she said.

"What happened?"

"I pushed him out of my life, Pierre, and I don't think I can fix it."

"Where are you?"

"I'm in my car."

"Wait for me," he said before hanging up. She stayed in her car, looking straight ahead, but her mind was lost, thinking about every mistake she had made in that conversation. Even after the pain she was feeling, she didn't regret what she said. Charles Leclerc could only mean one thing to her: complications.

.·:*¨༺ AUTHORS NOTE ༻¨*:·.

Sorry about this chapter, it started as a good and happy chapter, and I don't even know it turned into this, but still, I'm happy with the result. Don't worry they'll be together... eventually. I wasn't planning on making Alice and Charles suffer this earlier, but I don't want to rush things between them and still, this is a rival to lovers, I need more tension between them.

And thanks for 5K, it's incredible how fast this fanfic is growing, and I'm happy that you are enjoining this as much as I'm loving writing it. I was supposed to publish this chapter yesterday, but I'm doing millions of things right now, that's why tomorrow they'll be another chapter.

That will be all, thanks once again.

Enjoy 😉