4 weeks later
₊˚❀.ೃ࿔*:･

"Vivian!" I heard my mom calling me.

"Yes?!" I yelled, waiting for her to answer. She didn't.
"Yes?!?" I yelled again, louder so she can hear me. I groaned as I closed my book and opened the door. I was still in my pajamas, and my hair was in two braids. I began walking down the stairs, expecting her to ask me for help with something, "Yeah? What do you -

My jaw was practically on the floor.

"Surprise!!" Chiara and Arthur both said in unison, their faces full of glee and anticipation. Mine was just full of shock.

"How the heck did you guys get here?" I widened my eyes as I took the last step, walking towards them and hugging them, Chiara hugging me extra tight.

"We just wanted to come and see the hype, never been to Lebanon." Arthur shrugged as he smiled.

"That and," Chiara added, "the fact that we missed you, and you're being forced to come with us to the British Grand Prix this weekend." Chiara said with a smile, earning a sarcastic smile from me.

"I hate you." I commented, "but seriously, how did you guys plan this? And where are you guys staying?"

"It was easy actually, i texted your brother, Omar, and he said it was a nice plan, then he gave me your moms number to double check with her," Arthur paused as he sent me a wink, making me gag in the process, "and she said it was fine to stay here for a couple of days."

I was trying to contain the big smile on my face, still not believing that they were both here. "Okay now I love you guys." I leaned in and hugged the both of them, squeezing them as tight as possible.

"Okay you're gonna break my ribcage," Chiara croaked, causing me to let go.

"Come, I'll show you guys your rooms," I grabbed Chiaras hand as we both excitedly ran up the stairs, "wait, mama, Arthur's staying in Adam's old room, right?"

"Yes, basically the guest room now, he's getting married in 5 months." I nodded as we continued going upstairs.

We entered my, kind of messy, but also tidy room.

"I like the nightlight," Chiara pointed out, as regards to my tinker bell nightlight.

"Oh shut up," I went and unplugged it from the wall, rolling my eyes.

"I'm so gonna hold it against you now."

I turned around and gave her a playful death stare, remembering Arthur existed. "Oh shoot."

I opened my room door and saw Arthur carrying the suitcases upstairs. He dropped them to take a breath, "why does she pack so heavy?" He said as he took in some breaths.

I shrugged, "leave them be, I'll show you your room."

Arthur nodded as he walked upstairs. We both made it to the room across from mine; my brothers old room, turned to a guest room. "This is where you'll be staying for..?"

"3 days."

I nodded, "and here," I opened a door, "is the bathroom- oh and my room is that one." I pointed towards the room across the hall. Arthur nodded, "I'll unpack then we can get this party started!" He said excitedly as he walked passed me.

"And he calls me cringe." I mumbled.

₊˚❀.ೃ࿔*:･

"A DNF? Twice in a row?!" I exclaimed as we sat in my car. Chiara, Arthur, and I decided to go for a late night drive- not planning on leaving the garage- just to catch up on everything.

Chiara nodded as Arthur ate the bag of pretzels we got. "The first DNF was fine, yeah he was pissed but, he got over it pretty soon. When it happened again in the Austrian Grand Prix," Chiara chuckled sarcastically as she took a pretzel out of the bag, "he was- is basically emo. Do you not catch up with this stuff?"

"No to be honest, but that explains a lot." I leaned back against my seat.

That's why he seemed off the last time we called.

Flashback

Charles and I were FaceTiming. It was a couple of hours after the Austrian Grand Prix, almost twelve o'clock in both of our timezones.

"How was the race?" I asked him, knowing his race was today, but I didn't really watch it because I was at the beach the entire day.

Charles demeanor changed into something more exhausting, I swear I almost saw his eyes turn into a darker color. "It was fine," he looked away for a second, "what did you do today?" He changed the topic as he got under the covers of his bed.

"Oh, I went to the beach with Omar and Adam and his fiancé. The waves were huge! I have to send you a picture." I said excitedly as I sent him the pictures, including a video of me getting drowned and abused by the waves.

Charles smiled as he looked at the pictures and videos, "oh my god," he laughed.

"Right? It was crazy!" I laughed as well, "I also got stung my a jellyfish."

End of flashback

"He's okay now though," Arthur looked at me with a smirk, disheveling my hair with his hand, "you don't have to worry."

"Get your salty crusty hands off of me," I pushed him away. I hated it when people touched me with unwashed hands. Nasty.

"You're such a drama queen," Arthur rolled his eyes.

"I'm just hygienic, unlike some people," I gave him a look.

He rolled his eyes once again, throwing a pretzel at my face, catching me off guard as I flinched.

Chiara laughed at our interaction, seemingly enjoying us squabble. "You guys are actually siblings in another life."

"Ew no, that's basically incest." Arthur said as he ate another pretzel.

"What?" I furrowed my eyebrows as I looked out him.

Arthur's eyes widened in realization, "I didn't mean it like that."

I wasn't buying it though, as I began looking at him in a more intimidating manner, "then what did you mean by, "that's basically "incest"?" I said with hand quotations.

Arthur scoffed as he looked at me, then Chiara, then me again. His expression now changing to one of defeat. "I-" he paused, "English isn't my first language okay. I speak french." He said quickly.

"Mhmm, sure." I hummed as I turned back around.

"I swear I didn't mean it like that!" He reassured, his tone now worried.

"We believe you Arthur, relax." Chiara laughed, "right viv?"

"Yeah whatever," I yawned as I looked at the time. It was almost 12 and we had an early morning tomorrow. "Let's head back inside, it's late."

₊˚❀.ೃ࿔*:･

Arthur's POV

I was laying down on the bed, staring at the ceiling as I replayed what happened in the car in my head.

I actually couldn't believe I let that slip. Thank God Vivian wasn't too adamant on finding out the truth, Charles would've killed me.

Flashback

It was the day after the Austrian Grand Prix. Charles and I went out for drinks with a couple of our friends at a bar. It was almost 1 am, all of them left, leaving Charles and I there.

"Come on Charles, let me take you back to your place." I said as I grabbed my phone from the table.

A blind person could tell that Charles was clearly drunk. He wasn't the type of person to get wasted, but after DNFING on the last lap- after almost winning the race- he kind of had the right to do so.

Charles scrunched his face as I grabbed him by his arm, steadying him whilst he stood up. "My brain hurts." He groaned as we walked out of the bar. I grabbed my keys as I opened the passenger door, guiding Charles inside and closing it. I went to the other side of the car and sat down, buckling Charles' seatbelt, then mine.

"Just take some medicine in the morning, actually, I'll put them next to your nightstand." I replied to him.

Charles tilted his head back as he blankly stared at the roof of the car. "I'm sorry."

I momentarily looked at him, then looked in-front since I was driving. "For what?" I asked him, the DNF wasn't his fault, his engine basically exploded.

"I could've," he slurred, trying to form the words, "I could've won, I could have."

"Charles," I sighed, "it wasn't your fault mate, the engine was on fire, you couldn't have done anything."

Charles didn't reply, he stayed like that for a couple of seconds. "I'm sorry." He said again.

I chuckled, "for what man?"

Charles sighed as he turned around to face me, closing his eyes as the drunken words spilled out of his mouth. "I'm sorry that I like your friend."

₊˚❀.ೃ࿔*:･

a/n
woah.
kind of a filler chapter but also not rlly cus we get a confession.. anyways don't forget to vote! and comment any suggestions🩷🩷🩷