˚　 ⋆⁺₊✦⁺₊ 　 ˚　.˚  .　 ☁.　　. 　 ˚　⁺⋆₊　.˚  .　. ✦⋆⁺₊  　 ˚　. ☁ ˚　.˚　 ✩₊˚.   ☾      ⋆      ⁺₊✧  　　˚　⁺₊ . 　 ˚　.　　⁺₊✦₊　　 ☁  　˚　　 . 　⁺₊✧˚　　 . 　 ˚　⁺₊˚  .

Italy had slowly become Evie's second home. Staying there with Franco, at his own apartment, was liberating. No responsibilites, just pure fun and whimsy. She loved it.

Which is how she found herself there again, just in time for her free week before finals season rolled around.

Franco had argued that he could fly over to her that time, so she wouldn't have to go through the trouble of travelling all the way to him. She'd immediately turned him down, insisting that they'd have more fun in Italy, considering they'd also be left to their own devices.

So, here they were, sprawled out on Franco's couch, after a full day of running around the city, entering store after store, eating all kinds of snacks, and returning to the apartment with overflowing bags that Evie didn't know how she was going to fit in her luggage.

Franco was sitting upright on the corner of the couch, his head thrown back as he held his phone in front of his face, doom scrolling. Evie, on the other hand, was resting her head on his lap, her body comfortably taking up the rest of the space on the couch. Her phone was also in her hands, Twitter being her main form of entertainement at that moment, as they were both trying to recharge after a tiring day. Franco's hand occasionally fell on her head, gently playing with her hair, the familiarity of his touch soothing her.

She'd scrolled so much, that she'd come across several tweets hating on Taylor Swift, hundreds of bots in replies, as well as some mindblowing edits.

She'd been in the middle of swooning over some new Leo Leclerc pictures when she heard the familiar radio sound notification of the F1 app, her brows involuntarily raising as she swiped down to check it.

She mostly expected to see promo about some quiz, or a comment about Lewis Hamilton's start at Ferrari, which were common in the app. However, she didn't expect "BREAKING" to be the first word of the notification. And she definitely didn't expect what came after it.

Her body shot up, sitting upright and startling Franco, who hadn't been paying attention.

"What the hell?" Evie practically yelled, her jaw dropping.

"What? What happened?" a now concerned Franco asked.

"Alpine reserve driver? Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, voice still high as she turned her body to fully face him.

Franco's lips upturned. "Surprise."

"Oh my God." Evie threw herself at him, her hands wrapping around his neck, hugging him tightly. His hands slithered their way around her waist, holding her in place.

"This is so exciting," she continued, her words coming out muffled from the hug. She pulled away, making eye contact. Her cheeks had started to hurt from smiling. "I'm so proud of you," she said, cupping his face with her palm.

"Thank you, amor," Franco responded, bringing his hand up to brush a stray strand of hair away from her face.

Evie leaned in, connecting their lips, her own still upturned in a smile, resisting the urge to pinch his cheek from excitement.

"You know what sucks, though?" Franco asked once they'd pulled away.

"Mhm?"

He let out an exaggerated sigh. "I won't have a pretty girl messing up her words when she sees me on my first day," he explained, causing a laugh out of Evie's lips.

"Oh, stop. Maybe she won't mess up her words, but she'll be there," she assured him.

"She better. I'll need my charm." He traced her jaw with his knuckles, then softly grabbed it, squeezing her cheeks in the process, as he pulled her in for another kiss.

───────

dear reader!

the end! thank u for reading and i hope you enjoyed! thank u toby for this, basically my co-writer lollll. also sorry this epilogue is super short but i kinda love it, it's so cute. next up, i've got a lando book i've been cooking up!!!! see u there soon smooch