Love in thirds

5.2 Carlos & Marie

You watch the new dark-haired girl leave in a hurry after she told you that her boyfriend was waiting for her. 'Interesting, her boyfriend works for Ferrari but can leave so soon already? Doesn't really make sense' you muse to yourself before sighing. You see how Carlos overtakes another driver and think about the last few days of this race week.

Thursday was a very boring day for you, you weren't on duty for the first part of the day, but you woke up early due to Carlos ringing you because he wanted to chat with you for a bit. You were walking through the Ferrari garage, watching everyone being busy when you're suddenly pulled into one of the little nooks. "What the fu-" you can't finish your sentence because a pair of lips muffle your words. You'd recognize these lips anywhere since the last few months, so you kiss him back. "Hola mi guapa" says an excited Carlos. "Are you crazy! You almost gave me a heart attack!" you whisper yell, to which he chuckles. "I would gladly perform mouth to mouth to bring you back to earth" he says with a cheeky wink, "I've got to run now though, sorry. Just wanted to see you quickly." He presses a peck on your lips before walking back into the garage. "Carlos, where were you?" you hear one of the PR's say, "Oh sorry, I thought you went that way, I was confused when I couldn't see you!" you shake your head at his lie but can't help the smile that forms on your face.

Friday was a busy day for you, Carlos came up to see you halfway through the day, but you couldn't get away from the hospitality centre. He stayed at the side of the bar, chatting with you, and making you laugh. You tried to be quite because you didn't want the team to be suspicious, but you had the feeling that no one really cared anyways. Carlos was a nice guy; he was always chatting to random people. It wasn't anything weird that he was chatting to you.

Saturday was great, until Carlos crashed during qualification. You saw it happen on tv and gasped. Your heart was beating 10 times faster until you knew for sure that he was okay, physically at least. "Marie, can you go and bring Carlos his usual coffee order, he asked for that." Someone from the garage tells you while rushing past. You nod, making his coffee and walking towards the drivers room. "Just knock before going in, thanks for walking all the way here. He's in a bit of a mood though." One of the mechanics says, smiling apologetically at you. You knock on the door before you hear an annoyed "What?!" "I've got your coffee..." you say hesitantly. Carlos opens the door, his overalls hanging low on his hips with a messy knot. He beckons you inside and closes the door behind you. "Uh, where do you want this?" you point at the cup of coffee. He places it on the table before moving towards you.

He puts his hands on your shoulder and slowly walks towards the wall. "Someone might see us..." you say with a whisper while putting your hands around his neck. He hums, "that's why we need to be careful, I just wanted to be close to you for a bit. You calm me down, you know." You hum while running your fingers through his hair. He closes his eyes before pressing his lips on yours. It's sweet at first, until he presses himself tighter against you. You moan against his mouth when you feel his firm body against yours, and he takes that opportunity to slip his tongue inside your mouth. You feel your knees wobble underneath you from the emotion that you feel in this kiss, and when he pulls away you stare at each other, trying to catch your breaths and comprehend what just happened. A knock on the door breaks the moment, "Carlos, I'm going to come inside now" you hear his manager say. Carlos quickly takes a step back and you try to hide the fact that you were just having one of the most intense moments between the two of you. Carlos walks in and looks at the two of you, "am I interrupting something?" you shake your head dismissively, "no! I was just bringing Carlos his coffee; I was just leaving." You say before waving awkwardly and walking back to the hospitality.

You're ripped away from your thoughts when you hear the commentator says that it's the last round. You see that Carlos is 4th and you smile happily. He will be so pleased after yesterday! You're cleaning up at the hospitality when someone walks in, you look up and straight into the smiling eyes of Carlos. "Hey! Well done you!" you say excitedly, and he nods while smiling bright. "I actually came to ask you something," you hum, and he continues "would you like to join me and a part of the team to celebrate my 4th place?" You look at him before asking if you're allowed to go. He looks a bit confused before nodding, "yeah of course, some PR people are joining as well. You have to sit next to me though." You chuckle before telling him that you'd love to join. He tells you where the team is meeting, before leaving for his last media duties.