Say It's Me ☾ Charles Leclerc

42 | Want you to be mine

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John K (ft. Rosie) - ilym:
'I love you more than the bad days ahead. I love you more than the nights that we ended with slammin' doors. Oh, I love you more. There will be times when your heart will forget so I'll say it over and over again so you know for sure. Darlin', I love you.'

"Are you ready?" Charles said a week later when he grabbed Noelle's hand and pulled her closer to him. They had just arrived in Nice where Ferrari arranged a private jet to take them to Le Castellet for the French GP and their hotel for the weekend. "Yeah, I am". She smiled, knowing exactly why he asked her that question, but if she was honest, Noelle would have been ready for anything with him by her side. Charles leaned forward to place a loving kiss on her lips before they exited his car, grabbed their suitcases from the boot and walked towards the lounge where they had to wait for another fifteen minutes. Noelle still felt a little nervous, as she was attending her first Grand Prix weekend since the rumours of their date surfaced, but it had been a few weeks and the response to Charles' press conference had been overwhelmingly positive.

They had spent the last week together, just the two of them enjoying the time they had in between Charles' training sessions and Noelle's work at the gallery. She had been pretty busy sewing the first collection for 'Bijou Belle' and Sophie started preparations for the opening fashion show that was scheduled in a few weeks. Noelle and Charles decided not to go out in public together much, as they wanted to let the story cool down for a moment before they would gain more attention again and because they just wanted to keep things between them private. But as the next race weekend was getting closer, Noelle had felt the nerves around attending the weekend with Charles starting to bubble up. They talked about it often and Charles had reassured her again that everything would be fine and that the journalists would leave them alone after the press conference he held in Azerbaijan.

"Mr Leclerc?" A voice said a little while later and Noelle and Charles both looked at the brunette stewardess standing in the doorway. "Your plane is ready to go". She immediately added and Charles thanked her softly before he stood up and grabbed his backpack. Their other luggage had already been taken to the plane and Noelle smiled when he offered her his hand to help her stand up. "Thank you". She said shyly before she placed a loving kiss on his cheek. The pair of them followed the stewardess outside to where the private plane was and Noelle couldn't believe she was actually about to go on it. "This is incredible". She whispered to herself when they entered the aircraft and she looked around at the luxury wooden panelling, the cream-coloured seats and the mini bar in the front.

The both of them took their seats next to each other and before Noelle knew it, the plane started rolling towards the airstrip for take-off. It had been a while since she had been on a plane in general and she felt her chest tighten a bit when the jet gained some speed. Charles probably noticed her shaking legs because he immediately placed his hand on her thigh and wrapped his other arm around her shoulders to pull her into him. "It's going to be okay, mon ange". He whispered into her hair and Noelle felt herself relax into his touch once they were fully up in the air. Charles didn't remove his arm anymore, the two of them enjoying being cuddled up towards each other and looking out over the French coast while the plane lifted them even higher into the air.

After a few minutes, Noelle noticed the same brunette stewardess walk toward them with a plateau full of food and two glasses of champagne. "Here you go". She said when she placed it on the table in front of them and Charles thanked her again. Noelle smiled shyly at the woman who then turned her back on them again to return to the front of the plane. "I think I could get used to this". She joked to Charles and he chuckled before he grabbed the two glasses of champagne and handed one to her. They clinked their drinks together before they both took a sip and Noelle enjoyed the feeling of the bubbly liquid flow through her throat. "Do you want something to eat?" Charles asked her, which caused Noelle's eyes to glide over all of the delicious options on the plateau before they stopped on a black box in the middle. 'Had that been there the entire time?'