Love, Eternal

Boy Code

The break between testing and the first race of the season was about four days before Charles had to get back to the track properly. He still was training and doing certain things but he didn't need to be at the track all day.
It was Monday, and Charles and Nola were on their way back from the airport dropping Freya off to get her flight back to Monaco. Nola suddenly felt lonely and sad, apart from Charles, sometimes Freya was the only person that she really felt understood her and they connected. Freya was sad to be leaving her friend behind, they were like two peas in a pod, and this would be the longest time they would be away from each other since they first met, so it's was definitely weird. Freya felt like she was missing her right arm without Nola, and Nola was the same without Freya.

"Don't be down Nola, I'm sure you'll ring and text her everyday, plus you get to come see your big brother every weekend" he said. He was right, Nola had agreed to come with him after all, and she would have missed her brother, like before and everytime he went away to race, she missed him far more than she would like to admit, and Nola always wanted to see more of the world, so here they were. "We've got a dinner tonight, me and some of the drivers and their guests, do you want to join?" Charles asked his sister. If she was going to be with him all season, he wanted her to be out with him, experiencing his whole life when they were racing. Dinners, trips, events. Plus he wanted to spend time with his sister, the last couple of years had been intense and busy and he missed her like crazy, so spending as much time as he could with her was what he wanted.
"That would be nice. I don't think I want to be alone" Nola laughed, she wanted to spend time with Charles where she could anyway, but it helped her decision for dinner easily not wanting to be left behind. Charles nodded and he drove along back to the hotel. Nola spent the day in Charles' room, he was catching up with bits that were work related while Nola laid on his bed and watched a movie.

"Nola!" The girl heard her name called as she walked into the restaurant with her arm linked with Charles. Nola looked up and saw the long table of people sitting along it. Carlos was the one who called her name, he was Charles' teammate, she hadn't spoken to an awful lot at the moment but she had met him properly in Monaco last year and seen him a lot with Charles around the garage and things and they had spoken a fair bit, conversing in Spanish together during the testing. Carlos was a warm funny character, so he was easy to get along with. Nola gave him a wave and Charles sat down next to him, and she sat next to Charles. She looked around and recognised majority of the people here. Alex, George and Lando were all very good friends with each other, she saw them often talking together so she knew them, she had also butted into their weird streaming and gaming sessions more than once, and even played games with them before so she knew them fairly well. Nola saw Daniel at the far end of the table talking to Max and then there was people with them she didn't know at all, along with Pierre.

"You okay?" Charles turned to his sister, speaking in French again. Charles worried about his sister often, she suffered with anxiety and sometimes it got the better of her, she liked to convince everyone it wasn't a big deal and she could handle it but Nola never liked to admit that it was the one thing she couldn't handle well but the girl nodded at her unconvinced brother and ordered her drink from the waiter. Nola's anxiety eased as she chatted to people round the table. Pierre was sitting opposite Nola and kept staring.
"Can I help you?" She laughed at the Frenchman. She couldn't remember the last time she properly spoke to him, she spoke easily to him in French and he kept up the language himself, he was French after all.
"Well I nearly sent you flying yesterday so I'm just checking for any bruises" he replied to her.
"Yeah? I'm fine, only bruise is on my ego. I walked into you if you remember" Nola replied back in a joking manner
"You did, you need to be careful not to injure me" he said and winked at Nola. She shook her head and rolled her eyes at him which made him chuckle. Charles nudged his sister lightly, making Nola turned to look at her brother, he gave her a look, his eyes flashing between his sister and Pierre. What he was thinking he could unthink it as far as Nola was concerned. She shrugged and he returned to his conversation with other people.
"Were you speaking in French?" The voice came from next to her, Lando, Nola turned to look at him.
"Yeah?" She questioned, Lando was a nice young guy, he was the same age as Nola, she had only really ever spoken to him through a screen with her brothers presence so it was weird to be finally meeting him and speaking to him. Whenever she spoke to him before she always found herself laughing and joking, with all of them, Lando particularly, so Nola spoke to him now with ease
"Just wondering, can you speak Italian as well like Charles?" Lando asked. He liked Nola, she seemed like a really nice girl, when the guys knew Charles' sister was spending the season with him they all were quite happy to finally get a chance to meet her. He always laughed when she joined in on their gaming sessions.
"I can indeed" Nola replied in Italian. He looked baffled at what she had just said to him.
"She said she can indeed" Pierre replied to his expression, translating easily for Lando, although she forgot he can speak Italian as well.

The rest of the evening went by fine. Nola chatted with most people. Getting to know the gaming buddies better, it was nice to finally speak to them in person and they were all so nice and welcoming. When dinner was finished, Charles and Nola got up to leave and said goodbye to everyone before they walked out of the restaurant.

Pierre had watched her all evening. Growing up being friends and racing with Charles, he knew the Leclerc family very well, including Nola. He had always had this schoolboy crush on her but it was his friends little sister. That was boycode, although in his mind that didn't seem to matter. She had always been a dark haired beauty, fluent in multiple languages, kind, caring, funny. She had grown up to be even more. She seemed to make everything so effortless and make everything look so good. When she left Pierre watched her leave with Charles' arm around her, he was always so protective of Nola, especially since their dad passed. Her long dark hair sat straight down her back, she was tanned, and beautiful.

"Pierre, are you going to dribble any longer?" Someone snapped Pierre out of his thoughts and he looked over at Alex
"I don't know what you mean" Pierre said handing his plate to the waitress trying to be helpful
"She's his sister. You're his friend, I wouldn't even bother" Lando commented, Lando wasn't sure how Charles would take it but he could tell Pierre liked the girl. Pierre rolled his eyes at the group.
"Seriously, not a clue what you're on about" He tried desperately hiding everything and turned to speak to Daniel to get rid of the conversation, although he did nothing to help Pierre's case.
"I mean, she's obviously stunning" Daniel laughed, "but far too beautiful for you mate" he continued, Pierre shot him a look and ignored the rest and their comments. Although he was right, she was stunning, she was beautiful and she was far too good for him, Pierre thought.

As Charles and Nola entered the lift of the hotel, after battling through cameras outside the restaurant and now the hotel, Nola was tired.
"Is it always like this for you?" She asked Charles
"Pretty much, the sport is getting bigger" Nola shook her head at her brother, she never knew how popular he was. Sure he had millions of followers on social media and fans that he always had time for, but the cameras and journalists following him was another level, "Pierre then?" Charles questioned his sister, he saw the way they spoke and how Pierre watched her. Pierre was a friend of Charles' and he loved him dearly, he had been around the whole Leclerc family plenty of times so it didn't actually bother him the slightest.
"Sorry?" Nola asked
"He couldn't stop watching you all evening?"
"I don't know what to tell you. He's your friend, why don't you ask him. But we're all good here" Nola laughed getting out of the lift on their floor where the Ferrari team were staying. She had no idea what her brother was on about, they were just being friendly. The same way she had spoken to Lando, Alex, George and everyone else at the table
"Okay, okay" he said
"I literally have spoken to him today for the first time in a couple of years, and that was that, making something out of nothing" Nola said. Charles simply nodded in response
"Get to bed and get some sleep. I'm going for a run in the morning but we can go shopping or something when I'm done?" He asked. Nola nodded.
"I'll join you for the run" Nola said, Charles smiled and she gave her brother a hug before going into her own room next door to his. She liked running and working out, that was the beauty of having an athlete as a brother, it kept her motivated.
Nola got undressed and into her pyjamas, washed her makeup off and tied her hair up in a bun before settling into bed with the tv on. She then called Freya.

"Hello?" She answered the phone sounding groggy.
"Did I wake you?" Nola asked her friend
"Nola? Hellooooo, it's fine I was just having a nap"
"Was your flight home okay?"
"Tiring but fine. How was dinner?" Freya asked while stretching out
"Pierre was there and Charles said he was staring the whole time"
"Well duh, he's fancied you since we were kids" she said to Nola. Nola gasped
"Don't be so silly!" Nola shouted down the phone, Freya started laughing at how blind her friend was, they had all known it, everyone
"He has! But he never got the chance with you"

Nola and Freya continued the conversation for a little while before they said their goodnights and both got off of the phone. Nola then put her phone on charge. The words ringing in her ears; "he never got the chance with you" she sighed and laid down and let her eyes close. It wasn't important.