FOUR

The tour had ended and Aaliyah had ended it with fourteen new phone numbers in her mobile phone.

There was only one of them that she actually cared about, that of course being the mobile phone number of Arthur Leclerc, but it was nice to have the others.

Maybe some of them would keep in touch with her and become her friends, just maybe.

The other thirteen numbers that had found their way in to her phone were Jak Crawford, who had been nice to her, understanding her humor and even waited outside the last garage that she had visited in order to give her some food in case that she was hungry, he seemed really nice and friendly.

Another was Juan Manuel Correa, with the Ecudorian boy having acted in a way that had Aaliyah thinking that if he stayed in touch that he could become somebody that she would see as a best friend. He was funny, kind and gentle, the pair had gotten along with each other very well, and she actually hoped that he did keep in touch.

She was trying not to get her hopes up, though.

Gregoire Saucy had been quite shy and quiet when they had been introduced, but he was nice to her and also to her mother. Her mother had been quite pleased to see how respectful he had been, along with Juan, about their religion and she felt like the Swiss boy would be a good friend for her daughter.

Victor Martins was also nice to her, as was Zane Maloney, Roman Staněk and Caio Collet. They didn't mind if she blurted out random thing from her lips, they found it funny how blunt she was. They also found it was hilarious how in awe of Arthur she was, and that she didn't care how their races went, as long as Arthur won.

Lázló Tóth had barely said anything, but he had laughed at her jokes and placed his mobile number in to her phone, which surprised her, but she wasn't complaining. She didn't know much about him, but then again her entire attention had always been on Arthur, so that wasn't really a surprise.

Sebastian Montoya had walked past her when another driver, Pepe Marti, had added his mobile number in to her phone, so the Colombian boy had joined the conversation rather awkwardly and then proceeded to give the girl his number too.

She even received the numbers of Zak O'Sullivan and Franco Colapinto, she had barely remembered meeting them, but she figured that it was around that time where she had been sending selfies back and forth with Arthur, so she couldn't be that surprised that she had barely paid attention to them.

When Oliver Bearman had given her his number, she had smiled at the picture that he had used when inputting it, he hadn't noticed the two fingers placed behind his head by his friend Jak, and when she had finally noticed that it had been able to get in to the actual icon of his face on her phone, well, it made her laugh.

They were a funny duo, Ollie and Jak.

They played pranks on one another, joked with one another, and even joked with Aaliyah, they seemed to know what one another was thinking by only a quick glance and she was pretty confident that she would be safe if she was around them by herself, which was a big thing for her.

Being a Muslim, she had to make sure that she was completely comfortable with people before being left alone with them, and even then, if she didn't feel safe, then she would bolt.

She didn't want to take the risk of being around someone that gave her an uncomfortable feeling, because most of the time, she knew what could go wrong and where it would lead to.

Her mother, Habiba, had left her alone a couple of times to what she had said was, take a phone call, and yet Aaliyah was pretty sure that actually, her mother was testing her.

A mother's intuition knew best, that was a saying that her own mother had always told her when she had been growing up in Egypt.

"Aaliyah! Your phone is ringing!"

Aaliyah Bakhash was jolted from her thoughts by her mothers voice, shouting that she was recieving a call, making the young girl released a groan as she had been in the middle of drawing, and daydreaming.

Her dark eyes glanced down at the portrait that she had been sketching with charcoal, the grey coating at her hand where it had been pressed against the paper, to be met with a very familiar face.

Arthur.

All she had to do was add in small bits of color, to his eyes, and the drawing would be ready to be hung up just like all the others that she had drawn, with all of them, having been of Arthur.

"I'm busy!"

"It could be your boyfriend!"

As soon as the words left her mothers lips, Aaliyah shot up from her spot laying across her bed, not even bothering to put any socks on instead just running with her bare feet, with the Bakhash girl sprinting as fast as she could down the stairs.

Habiba Jawahir grinned as she stood at the bottom of the stairs of their home, her daughters phone held in her hand, giggling to herself as her daughter snatched the phone from out of her grasp before she could even try to stop her or move her hand away.

Aaliyah quickly accepted the phone call, her face lighting up since she had not seen the caller ID, having been too busy in making sure that she didn't miss the call, only to have her chest deflate and her smile drop as she recognised a face that was not her future husband Arthur Leclerc.

"Oh, it's you."

"Well, thanks, I guess?"

Jak Crawford furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion as his eyes fell upon the face of his new friend, Aaliyah Bakhash, having decided to face time her five days after they had first met during a tour of the Prema garage.

He heard snickers behind him which made the American snap his body around to slap the back of his friends heads, the pair of them releasing a loud yelp as his hand hit their heads in a domino effect.

"Was that Arthur?" Aaliyah asked as her eyes widened, having recognised the yelp, which did sound a tiny bit as if she was a stalker, but she wasn't.

"Wha-Yeah, Arthur and Ollie are here and they're idiots." Jak chuckled lightly, seeing out of the corner of his eyes that both of his friends were making silly faces at him.

"Hi Aaliyah!"

Ollie Bearman raised his voice in order for her to hear him, trying to wave at her since he could see her face, however with Jak only showing his stupid face, it meant that she couldn't see him.

"Yeah hi, Arthur is stupid, what do you mean?" Aaliyah raised one of her eyebrows teasingly, hearing a huff leave her future husband lips as he pretended to be offended.

"Hey! I am not stupid! You haven't met my brother, h-he is stupid! I am not stupid, I am cleverer and better than him."

Arthur Leclerc spoke with fake offence in his tone, the smile upon his face giving it away that he was just pretending, causing the three boys to hear the Bakhash girl giggle, a soft pink blush coating at her skin.

Oliver Bearman glanced down as he stared at his hands, not surprised that she still was in love with Arthur, however, the adorable sound of her giggle wouldn't leave his ears, and the bright red blush covering his cheeks and the back of his neck, just never went away.

"Ollie is more stupid than me!"

"Hey! Don't bring me in to this!"

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A/N

What do you think?

This book is being translated in to Spanish by mybearboy so check it out if you haven't and are fluent in Spanish! (I can't remember if I said it in a previous chapter so I'm saying again)

Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and I'll see you all soon for the next one,

I'm so proud of all of you, my loves

Love you all,

-RUBY 🇵🇸🇨🇩