Redemption {Charles Leclerc}

13

A few weeks have gone by in which you've almost done nothing else but focus on your studies. Besides babysitting your nieces every now and then, facetiming with Skyler and the usual eat-sleep-repeat regime, all you've done is studied for your final exams. 

Okay, maybe you've also texted with Charles sometimes. 

Or make sometimes a lot of the time. 

Okay you've been texting with him like every day. 

You honestly don't know what has gotten into you. You're usually never distracted by your phone when you need to study as you don't have a lot of socials and you don't care much about it either. But now you're checking your messages every minute and you're on Instagram literally a second after you've received a notification that Charles has posted something again. 

It's insane. 

You've gone insane and you don't like it. 

It's like you're no longer in control of yourself. You should be focusing on your exams because you really need to pass your first year of your studies with high grades. 

But Charles keeps distracting you, and you're unable to stop him.

Skyler says it's because you're in love with him. But you know that can't be it. How could you be? People don't fall in love over a weekend, and certainly not you. It takes you months to open up to friends and now you're suddenly in love with a boy? A boy you've only met three weeks ago. He's literally a stranger. 

And besides that, you've never been in love. As a kid you were always more interested in other things like reading and karting. You didn't realize you were a little bit different than other teenagers until you were around 15. That's when everyone around you started to get into relationships, go to parties, started drinking. But not you. You weren't interested in all those things. You just never cared much about it. But obviously those who didn't care stood out. 

So you stood out. But you didn't mind. You liked being alone. Surely it felt lonely sometimes but you've always preferred putting your energy into things you actually like than fake relationships.

It was nice to have Skyler though. She was exactly like you so you always understood each other. You both didn't feel the need to hang out every day to build a strong friendship. You were always there for each other when necessary and that's what it's all about in the end. 

You learned that quickly when your parents passed away. That's when you figured out who your true friends were, or rather, true friend. Skyler was the only one that actually supported you, aside from the fake "I hope you're doing well" messages. She's probably the only one outside of your family you truly trust. 

Anyways, you've thus never been really interested in love during your teenage years. And when you finally started to take some interest in boys and boys in you, life happened. 

When you were 18, you started dating a boy. His name was Oliver and he'd already graduated high school. But it never got to be anything serious. You shared nothing more than a small peck on the cheeks. 

When the accident happened with your parents, you dropped out of contact with almost everyone - including him. You've never heard from him again ever since. 

Now that you look back, you probably didn't even like him. All those years of high school turned you into the same sheep that everyone else was. You just wanted to be seen as 'normal'. 

Anyways, the conclusion of all this is, you've never actually been in love so you have no clue what it's like. All you know is that it cannot go this fast. 

Surely you like Charles, but nothing more. He's just a friend. 

You don't even know if he's seeing someone or not. He's a good-looking F1 driver living in Monaco. How could he not be seeing someone honestly? 

You slam your head on your desk in front of you and groan. You really shouldn't be thinking about all of this. You should be studying. 

You decide to turn off your phone but before you can do so, you see Charles has texted you again. You don't want to look but ofcourse you can't help yourself. 

"Hiii Soap! I just want to wish you good luck with your exams 😊 I know you've been worried about it but I believe in you. You're the smartest person I know so I'm sure you've got it! Anyways, good luck and see you in France this weekend 😉"

You smile widely as you get a warm feeling inside. That's the sweetest thing ever. It's just a small gesture but it means so much to you. It's like he's reading your mind knowing that you're stressed like crazy. You don't know how but somehow he sensed that this is exactly what you needed right now. 

"Thank you so much Charlie. That really means a lot to me. I won't be able to talk much the next few days but I'll be there to support you (and Seb ofcourse) in France! Good luck preparing :)" 

You hit send and then finally switch off your phone. 

Fuck. 

He has done it again. 

He has made you think about him, again.

And you've fallen for it... 

Again.