𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄 ➠ C. LECLERC

2

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐅𝐅 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐌𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐋𝐌𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐆𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐇𝐎𝐌𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐃 𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐘. Nowadays the Formula one paddock was rather ghostly without the support of the fans that were supposed to fill the empty grandstands with joy and pride for their favorite driver and teams, waving flags and making noise. 

Isabel sat in the Mclaren garage with a headset so she could hear her brother talking to his engineers during his laps. Since she was a driver herself, she listened rather closely and tried to learn as much as possible for the upcoming season. Although she didn't learn more than she already knew thanks to Carlos' singing.
"I can't take this anymore" The brunette mumbled as she slid the papaya headset off and hung it up on the wall.
"Good luck with that one Tom!" The young Spaniard called out to her brother's race engineer.

She walked to the other side of the garage to greet Lando as he was stepping out of his Mclaren. Simultaneously as Lando was taking off his helmet and balaclava Isabel took a look at Lando's timing chart.
"I could beat that time in my Prema , Norris!"
she smirked playfully as her eyes scanned Lando's annoyed face.

"At least I drive a formula one car, unlike some ''He grinned while Isabel laughed dryly lifting her hand in the air readying herself to smack him. Which made him raise his hands in mock surrender.
"What brings you here Sainz number three?"The young Norris asked in a joking tone. Isabel shaked her head letting out a giggle. 
"Sainz number two was singing too much on the radio so my ears started to bleed '' Lando and Isabel fell into a series of ugly laughter as they joked about her brothers singing.
"Did I hear, Sainz number three?"An unfamiliar voice spoke from outside of the garage on the pitlane. As if rehearsed both Lando and Isabel turned towards the voice. Lando's laughter died down, although Isabel had a harder time keeping it in check. Isabel nodded, biting her lip trying to hold in her laughter from before. Lando walked up to the Monegasque driver and greeted him with a fist bump.
"There is a lot of Sainz's in motorsport" He spoke in his thick French accent, after he greeted Lando in a familiar way Lando greeted him. The young Ferrari driver couldn't help himself but scan the infamous Isabel Sainz's features. The afternoon sun kissed her already tan cheeks and brought out a gorgeous glint in her doe brown eyes, scarily similar to his soon to be teammate eyes. "You would be surprised how many actual Sainz's there are, might as well be as effective as counting sheep" The trio laughed at Isabel's joke. This allowed Isabel to take a good look at the Monegasque infront of her. His hair was quite a mess, but in a surprisingly nice way. Her eyes traveled down towards his toned chest that was on display because of the thin fire proof undershirt. She would be lying to herself if she said that he wasn't attractive, but she stopped herself from admiring him further, she had a career to work for, and she wouldn't want to complicate things for her brother too. 
The three split apart when Isabel saw her brother climbing out of his papaya colored Mclaren."Carlos you need to stop singing! I can't focus and learn when all I hear is your dreadful voice! Father can sing better" Carlos turned around hearing the voice of his little sister and threw his wet towel at her. She screeched and jumped back into one of the pit crew workers. She mumbled a shy 'forgive me' before turning her attention towards her brother again. 
"Runs in the family" mumbled the older Spaniard. They both shook their heads in a playful manner and made their way through the paddock towards the motorhome.

After her brother had changed out of his blue racing suit they sat down in the motorhome for a coffee, waiting for the second practice to begin. Carlos scanned his younger sister's face, clearly worried for her.
"You never told me about what happened yesterday manita?" Isabel looked up from her phone and met Carlos' worried face.
"That, yes it really wasn't anything. The wind was just making my eyes tear up"  Carlos could tell how bad she was lying. And if something was bothering her he couldn't just let it be.
"I met your future teammate in the pit lane actually!" Isabel spoke, trying to change the subject. She has never mentioned the pressure she was feeling of being a Sainz to anyone, and it was clearly not going to change today. Hence the dodge of the subject.
"Isabel, don't change the subject! He spoke in a serious tone. Isabel furrowed her eyebrows.
"I promise it wasn't a big deal! Let it go already" Isabel's eyes started to water just like they did earlier that weekend, it didn't help that her brother raised his voice. 
"You are always like this! You can't shut people out like this, don't you remember what happened last time, I don't have time to drag you up from literal hell again" Isabel shook her head, tears racing each other down her sun kissed cheeks.
"You don't have too" Her voice was weak. The young brunette stood up and raced out of the McLaren motorhome, out on the paddock of Bahrain. Her tears spilled under the chilly evening. She walked, with no destination until she bumped into someone's hard chest. She looked up and locked eyes with a pair of warm brown eyes she already met just hours earlier. 
"Isabel! Qu'est-ce qui ne va pas?" Perhaps it was for her rather confused state after her argument with Carlos. Or maybe it was because she didn't speak French that made her quirk an eyebrow at the sentance the young Lecler just spoke. Charles was clearly worried.  Isabel just shook her head at the silence and made an attempt at walking past the Monegasque. But to no avail. He grabbed her shoulder and studied her face yet again. 
"Merde!" Charles mumbled before embracing the petite shivering body. He stroked her brown locks. Isabel was stunned and her mind was racing back and forth playing her worst memories from the time she was at her worst. It really didn't matter that it was the young ferrair driver that was embracing her, just that someone did. She had met him before with Anthoine, yet they hadn't spoken. Charles whispered into her soft hair, and that word seemed to have calmed the petite Spaniard.
 "Chérie"