Love in thirds

8.1 Charles & Sofia

You look around you for the 10th time since arriving at the street you're supposed to meet Marie and Nell on. 'Would've been useful to learn Japanese before coming here' you mutter while checking your phone again. "Sof!" you hear a familiar voice call out, and you try and locate the sound. "We're up here!" the giggle in Nells voice is audible and you look up, confused, until you see her waving from a rooftop. "Just walk the yellow stairs, you'll see us immediately!" you throw her thumbs up before walking towards the yellow stairs.

You smile when you see your two new friends chatting in the sun. You've all been keeping in contact, texting and sometimes even facetiming. You couldn't travel to the last few races, so it's been a full month since you last saw them. Luckily Charles did manage to come to you for a weekend two weeks ago, so you didn't have to miss him for that long. "Olá minhas amigas" you say happy, sitting down at the table. "Hey! How was work the last few weeks?" Marie asks, and you tell the girls about the things you did.

"That reminds me!" Nell says out of nowhere, "when are you both telling me about your mystery men?" You blush, you talked about this with Charles yesterday, since he said that he told Carlos about her. It was another big step in your relationship, but it made you happy that he wanted to talk about you with his teammate too. The team members in the garage were starting to grow suspicious too, but Charles just ignored that, so you decided to do that too. "Well," you start, and Nell claps her hands excitedly, "we actually talked about this yesterday, so I feel comfortable telling you both now." You look at the girls who look at you with excited faces, before revealing that you're dating Charles.

"I knew it!" Marie exclaims, and you see Nell nod too. "I kind of figured that out in Hungary when you were leaving so early, I was like, which team member will leave so soon. Obviously Charles after his DNF" Marie says, and you chuckle. "If I ever need to investigate someone, I'll be sure to call you" you joke, and she nods, "you should ask me, I'm good. Might pursue a career in that when I'm tired of the F1 world. If that ever happens." Nell smiles at you before squeezing your hand, "you look really happy. Charles was a bit down in Spa and Zandvoort, but I noticed him being happier in Italy. Now I know why." You widen your eyes at her observation, but she just shrugs and winks, "it's hard hiding secrets from me, I see everything."

You and Charles are on your way to Monaco after a successful Japanese GP. You spent a lot of time with Marie and Nell during breaks, and it made you excited that you made two new friends who actually know what it's like to be in this world. Charles has been fidgeting nervously with his hands for the past 15 minutes, and you asked three times already what is wrong, to which he keeps replying "nothing mon ange." You grab his hand softly, intertwining your fingers while rubbing his knuckles. "Please tell me what's on your mind, I don't like seeing you nervous. Did something happen?"

He shakes his head before taking a deep breath, "I wanted to ask you if you'd like to have dinner with my family on Wednesday?" You nod before you start to freak out, but the smile that greets you when you look at Charles makes all your doubts disappear. "Of course, I would like that" you smile at him, and he leans over to you to softly kiss you on your lips. "I can't wait to tell mom; she's going to be so happy! They will all be happy; they've been curious about you since I talked to them about the children subject." He squeezes your hand before kissing you again.

Time flies faster than you would've liked, because it's already Wednesday and you're trying to decide what to wear for the dinner with Charles' family. "You should wear the pink blouse that you love so much" you look over your shoulder to be greeted with a shirtless Charles. He's wearing white jeans only, and you swoon at the sight. "Don't look at me like that mon amour, we don't want to be late" he grins at you, before walking towards his closet to grab a black and white patterned blouse. He winks at you before walking into the bathroom to style his hair.

You settle on the pink dotted blouse with black pants, before putting on some light make up and brushing out your hair. "Tu es magnifique mon amour" Charles murmurs while kissing your shoulder and wrapping his arms around your waist and you smile at him through the mirror, "merci beaucoup" you reply before turning around in his embrace and pressing a soft kiss on his lips. He kisses you again when you pull back, which makes you giggle before stepping away. "Didn't you say that you don't want to be late?" he groans, pouting before taking your hand and walking towards the hallway to put on your shoes.

"I'm nervous" you confess to Charles while you're walking towards the front door of his house. He squeezes your waist before pressing a kiss on your head, "you don't have to be nervous mon chérie, they will love you!" you look at him unconvinced, "you can't say that, how can you know that if they've never met me?" he rings the bell while looking at you, "because I love you, so they will too. Just be yourself, it's going to be okay, I promise" he kisses you quickly before the door opens, revealing his younger brother Arthur.

"I saw that!" he exclaims, winking at you before wiggling with his eyebrows while looking at Charles. "Shut up Arthur" he chuckles, before taking your hand in his and leading you into his childhood home. You look at the family pictures on the wall while following Charles towards the kitchen. "Maman! Nous sommes arrives" Charles shouts, and you chuckle while shaking your head. You smile nervously at his mother and brothers, who are all waiting for you two in the kitchen. Charles hugs his mom first before patting his brothers on the back. He smiles while walking back to you, wrapping his arm around your waist, "this is my Sofia" he says happily. You feel butterflies flutter around your stomach, "my Sofia" sounded a lot better than you expected.

You're shaken from your thoughts when his mother walks towards you with a big smile and open arms. "It's wonderful to finally meet you!" you smile when you hug her back, "I'm really happy to meet you too! Charles has told me a lot about you" she smiles back so brightly that you feel your nerves wash away slowly. Charles introduces you to his brothers who both give you a hug too, before he takes you around a tour of his house. There are family pictures and tributes to his father and Jules everywhere, which is heart-warming to see. Charles tells you about the stories behind all the photos you come across until his mom calls you for dinner.

"Dinner was delicious! Thank you so much for all the effort" you tell Charles' mom shyly. She smiles at you, and you look at Charles who squeezes your thigh. "You're doing great! Told you they'd love you" he whispers, and you smile at him. You help his mother clean up the dishes, while Charles and his brothers talk about the upcoming races. "I was a little shocked when Charles came home a few weeks ago and started talking about children" his mother starts, and you swallow while nodding. "I think he is right though, about his decision. And now that I've met you, I know for sure! I've never seen him like this before" she smiles at you, stroking your shoulder.

"I just hope he won't regret this decision" you tell her honestly, and she smiles reassuringly. "Trust me, Charles makes weird decisions sometimes, but this is not one of them. He loves you, and I know that that's enough for him, so don't worry too much." You talk some more with Charles' mom and find yourself laughing about childhood stories and photos. You all gather around the dining table later that night, pulling out some board games to spend more time together. Charles takes a photo of you and his brothers while you're laughing about something Arthur said, your hand covers a part of your face, but your face shows happiness, nevertheless.

You check your phone when you're on your way to Charles' apartment, and gasp when you see a message from Nell saying "going official? Cuties" in the group chat with her and Marie. "I didn't know you posted a photo" you tell Charles, and he smiles while driving into the parking garage. "You can't see your face fully, but you all looked so happy, I wanted to share it. Did you see it already?" you shake your head, opening his IG page to view his story. You do look incredibly happy, as do Arthur and Lorenzo. "That's a really nice photo, can you send it to me too?" he nods, "you don't want me to take it down?"

You shake your head, "no, it's okay. We agreed to be a little more public anyways. I don't mind." You walk into his apartment before flopping down on the sofa. "I had so much fun, but I'm so tired now" you whine, which makes Charles laugh softly. "Let's put on comfy clothes and watch a movie before we go to sleep mon amour. I want to cuddle with you."