I have to get her comfortable with her success, especially since I know there’s more to come in her F1 future.
We’re seated next to an elderly Brazilian lady who falls asleep during taxiing and remains asleep for almost the entire flight.The F1 fan across the aisle outright asks us why we’re flying economy, and I explain that they were the only tickets available, and we had to change our times.
He seems to buy it.I hope I said it loud enough that someone will post it.No better way to spread a lie than to leak it to someone eager to spread itforyou.I learned that little trick from the shit-hot Rossini press team.
“Can I ask you to dinner?”I say to Chloe as the meal service begins.
“I have no choice.”She’s so curt, ignoring me, flicking through the movie selection.
“Chicken or vegetarian?”I ask, unperturbed.
“Vegetarian,” she mutters.“I’m going to watch a movie, then go straight to sleep.”
“Ouch.Rough date,” I retort teasingly.“What are you going to watch?”
“Something you hate,” she says, grinning.
“Really?” I ask, my lip curling at the choice, as I unclasp her tray table as dinner arrives.“How do you know what I’ll hate?”
“Because the only films we watched together wereFinal Destination,Saw, or literally anything in that horror genre
“I was a teenage boy!”
“Well, I’m going to find the opposite.”
“What’s the opposite of murder?”
“Love,” Chloe says, her cheeks turning a little pink as she says it, settling onPride & Prejudice, the 2005 film.I don’t tell her I’ve seen it a few times already.It’s my mum’s favorite film.
“You know, you’re a lot like the first-half Mr.Darcy,” she says, eyeing me with amusement.
“But not the second half?”I say, queuing the film up.
“Not yet,” she says, grinning.“Oh, come on, Matt, you’ll hate it.”
I ignore her.“Let’s hit play at the same time, so we’re watching it together.”
She shakes her head.“Fine.It’s your funeral.”
After I enjoy a surprisingly tasty chicken and rice, some inedible bread, and a killer chocolate brownie, Chloe and I settle into our film with a plastic tumbler of red wine, blankets pulled up to our necks.
Mr.Darcy is standing at the back of the dance floor looking disgusted by everything, and I can’t help but laugh.Chloe hits me on the arm and whispers, “Shhh,” fixing her headphones on tighter.
When the cabin lights dim, I reach my hand under the blanket and try to find hers, but she squirms away.
“Stop it!Someone will see!”she whispers loudly.
“No one will see,” I say, trying again.This time, I try to reach for the waistband of her pants, and she pulls my hand away.I see the man in the aisle opposite peer across at us, and I quickly give up.
Chloe eventually falls asleep as second-half Darcy beginshis mission to quietly win Elizabeth over with his hard work behind the scenes, sorting out the true scoundrel, Mr.Wickham.Man, Ireallyknow this movie.Maybe too much.
I glance down at Chloe’s sleeping face as her head falls onto my shoulder.She really deserves a second-half Darcy.I reach my arm up and let her head lie against my chest and I sit very still, feeling her body rise and fall slowly as she sleeps.
I am falling for her.There is no denying it.To have her on that grass at Silverstone was one thing, but to have her completely is another.I’ve dated some cool women over the past decade, but none made me feel more grounded and yet more alive than Chloe.She knows my life, she knows my past, and she knows me.Really knowsme.
But what she doesn’t know is what it is like to feel safely cared for.And I’m worried—so worried—that I can’t get that part right.She deserves an arm around her shoulder, a chest to lie on, someone she can really trust.
I wonder which Chloe would emerge under those circumstances.I wonder how much she could truly shine if I pushed her, believed her, and loved her the way she deserves.
