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I cleared my throat, and she looked up, a small smile forming on her lips.
“Morning,” she said cheerily, taking another sip of her coffee. I could tell she was trying to act as normal as possible, considering what we had done last night.
So we are going to ignore last night. That’s fine,I thought to myself.
“Morning. Sleep well?” I asked, sitting down on the couch across from her. She ignored my question and continued to read her magazine.
Another second went by, and then we both heard a knock at the door. Georgia yelled for Henri to come in and went back to reading. I kept my eyes on her the whole time, not wanting to miss her priceless expression when she saw a group of hooligans walk into the apartment.
And boy, oh boy, she did not disappoint.
As Henri opened the door, in walked Henri, Éliott, and Oliver with what looked like twenty balloons and six bags of food from Georgia’s favorite restaurant and bakery.
If looks could kill, hers would have slaughtered the entire paddock.But just as quickly as she could, her face turned to the biggest, lightest, most cheerful composure I think I had ever seen.
Oh, come on, Georgia, now they’re going to know that smile is fake, I chuckled to myself. But they didn’t. Henri marched up to his sister and gave her a massive hug, eating up her grin and fake excitement as if that was the best breakfast in the world.
“Surprise!” Oliver yelled, picking Georgia up and swinging her around the living room like a rag doll.
“Wow, I didn’t expect this,” she said cheerfully, but her eyes told a different story. Her eyes shifted to mine as if to accuse me of knowing.
I gave her the biggest smile I could plaster onto my face and replied, “What a lovely surprise your brother planned.All by himself.” Henri beamed when I said that, and I gave him a pat on the back. I knew Georgia would get the hint. A few moments later, Hugo and Lily walked into the flat with more balloons and flowers. It was starting to look like a circus in here, and Georgia was the main act.
Before Éliott could take a seat next to Georgia at the table, I took the spot to her right, forcing Éliott to sit across from her. I could see from a quick glance that he was annoyed, but I didn’t care.I was petty and proud. Something about the two of them irked me to no end. I knew they had a history, but after the skirmish with Henri, I felt like Éliott had not-so-innocent intentions for telling me about him and Georgia. Had he known I had asked Georgia out all those years ago? Was he marking his territory? I couldn’t blame him if he was; Georgia was undoubtedly one of the most beautiful women I had seen.
Still, they weren’t together, and I had to remember that.It wasn’t Éliott that made her see stars last night – it was me.
As the brunch started to come to an end, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Henri was behind me.
“Hey, you got a minute?” he asked casually, although he looked nervous. I nodded and stepped away from the table, following him to Georgia’s balcony.
“What’s up?” I asked, leaning on the balcony railing, my eyes drifting off to the view of the water down below.
“So, I… uhh… just wanted to see what was going on between you and my sister?”I sucked in a deep breath and then turned to face him directly, making eye contact with his hazel eyes.
“What do you meanwhat is going on with your sister?” I was a little taken aback by his questions, although I guess after my comment over the weekend about seeing his sister naked, I should have expected it.
“I see the way you look at her. Back on Saturday before qualifying…” Henri paused for a moment as if he was contemplating what to say before continuing on, “…the way you and Georgia were all snuggled up together… it made me concerned.”
“Concerned?” I asked lowly. Truthfully, I wanted to say more than that, but I was really curious where Henri was going with this, but he just sighed in response, and I could tell he was getting frustrated that I wasn’t catching on.
“Look, Luca, I’ll just spit it out. Me and you, we’ve always been honest with one another, so here’s the truth. I can see my sister starting to fall for you.”
I scoffed a bit at his comment and turned my eyes towards Georgia, who was now sitting beside Lily on the couch, laughing away. I could feel my heart leap as Henri said the words, but I stuffed it back down. Henri had already proven today he didn’t know his sister as well as he thought. There was no way Georgia was falling for me – not after I broke her trust all of those years ago. I could tell she could barely stand to be in a room with me.
Before I could get a word in, Henri continued on, “She falls hard and fast for people. And after that asshole she dated back in America, I don’t want to see her hurt again. This might be a fake relationship for you, but I’m worried the lines between fake and real will begin to blur for Georgia.”
I wanted to stop myself, because I knew this was going to sound pathetic, but at that moment, I couldn’t help myself. “And dating me would be so bad?”
“Luca… come on, mate, you’ve never been a serious dater. You said yourself at the beginning of the season that you didn’t want anything serious for another few years. Georgia, she isn’t like that… she doesn’t docasual.” I could tell Henri was trying to be nice about it, but the tone of his voice was almost pleading.
My blood began to boil. How dare he assume what I wanted with his sister. How dare he assume what Georgia wanted.
“I just don’t want you to lead her on, is all. Georgia wants something real, something long-term. Plus, my teammateactuallydating my sister… I mean, would you like me if I datedyoursister?” The truth was, I didn’t like Henri at all right now – and the thought of him dating anyone I knew made me want to punch him.
I eyed him wearily, not really knowing how to respond to this attack. Based on Henri's tone, he clearly didn’t know I had asked Georgia out all those years ago, or this conversation would have been a lot worse.
As far as I saw it, I had two options. I could escalate this argument, but if what Henri said was true and Georgia was actually starting to fall for me, I knew I would lose any chance I could possibly have with her.
