Studying Love

Chapter 18: RACEWEEKEND

Lilly's pov

We sit down in the cafetaria and Charles notices that I'm in my head. I tell him I have absolutely no clue how to act right now towards him... He reasurres me that everyone here is very discreet and we could do whatever we want, nobody will be judging you. He places his hands on mine and smiles at me. I start to relax more and am laughing with Arthur about something when we hear a voice. Charles nearly jumps up from his seat and doesn't say anything, pulling his hands off of mine.  He thinks for a second and begins talking about the greatest teammate in the world, Carlos Sainz. Carlos is not buying any of this, I can tell from his eyes and he introduces himself to me. I say that I'm a friend of Arthur, just as we discussed and give him a smile. "Well nice to meet you Lilly, I have to head back to get ready and Charles should do the same", he says while giving Charles a look. "Ah look at the time, flies when having fun no?" He stands up and gives me a wink before walking away. "Well that was weird" Arthur comments about Charles. I giggle "He never calls him 'the best teammate in the world' I guess". A little bit scared about the fact that Carlos probably knows I go watch FP1 with Arthur. He gave me a little tour of the hospitality and we watched from the guest-room. Charles did amazing, he was so quick!

"Come Lilly, I'll take you somewhere" I nod and walk with him when I see we head to Charles drivers room. He opens te door and pulls me in fast. "I can finally kiss you now, how do you like it so far?". I tell him how amazing it has been, the atmosphere is enchanting and everyone at Ferrari is so nice! We grab lunch together in his room, afterwards he walks me to the front where Pierre is already waiting. "I'll take good care of her" he says, winking at Charles as we walk away. "I bet he'll call me if we take a little longer than planned, want to test it out?" Pierre says as we walk away and I laugh. The walk has been great, we went to Alpha Tauri and strolled down the paddock when someone came up to us. "Pierre, mate! Who is the lovely lady you brought over today?" "Hey Lando, this is Lilly, a friend of Arthurs" he says and I see them exchanging a look that I can't quite place. "Oh hello there, nice to meet you." He says while giving me a hand. We talk for a bit when Pierre looks at the time. "We have to go now, I promised to Cha, I mean show Lilly something in the garage. See you out on track in a bit mate." We walk away and I ask "What was all that about?" "Nothing, he is single and falls in love head over heels whenever he sees a girl" I laugh at his comment and we arrive back at Ferrari. I thank him for spending time with me today and head to Charles' drivers room. He asks how it was and I start telling him it was amazing, I even met Lando who was really nice. He clearly does not like that and I tell him it will be fine, we hang up the Arthur story and I believe he bought it. 

Charles has to get ready for FP2 and I go back to the guest room. He does amazing and finishes P1. I'm already so proud off him, I can't believe we're... dating? I text Charles that me and Arthur left before traffic starts and I will see him in the hotel. In the car I'm super excited and thank Arthur for spending his time with me today, I had an amazing time! He smiles at me and is happy it went great. Tomorrow he'll have to do a lot of things and I'll be by myself which will be fine. I know that now. Charles arrives in the hotel and I fly around his neck. "Baby, I had such an amazing time today! And you did great, I'm sure you'll take pole tomorrow!" He smiles and gives me a kiss. He's happy for me, for us. He tells me Carlos and Lando know who I really am and he made sure they tell no-one else. I nod. We order some food and get to bed early. Tomorrow is qualifying day!

As we wake up Charles gets ready for the day and gives me a kiss while I'm still in bed. I get out of bed a little later, get myself ready and go to the track alone. I watch the last part of FP3 in the guest room and head to the cafetaria to grab lunch with Charles. We laugh a lot and he makes sure I'm okay. I'm alone today but I brought my laptop to work a little in advance. I tell him I'm completely fine. He gives me a kiss before he takes off to get ready for qualifying. I stand on the balcony of Ferrari to look at the track when I see a bright flash and someone running away. Shit, someone took a picture of me... I head back in immediately. Charles finishes P1! Pole tomorrow will be amazing, but that picture...

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Charles' pov

I arrive in our room and she jumps up from the bed, flying around my neck. I didn't expect this greeting and get a little out of balance. She's super excited and had a great time today. Exactly what I hoped for.  I put her down and give her a kiss. We order some food and talk for a while. "So remember you told Lando you're Arthurs friend? Yeah he didn't buy it because he already knew who 'Lilly' was.." I say as I laugh. First I see some panicking in her eyes and than she smiles. I also tell her that Carlos knows and she smiles. She already had the feeling he knew something after I acted so weird. We go to bed early, tomorrow is qualifying and I need to focus. 

I get up to head to the track. Lilly is still sleepy and laying in bed. I give her a soft kiss on her head before I leave. FP3 went great as well and this time Carlos is P1. Lilly should be in the hospitality around now and I go look for her. She is in the cafetaria with her laptop doing some reading. She looks at her screen with a huge frown and I see her writing something down. She looks incredibly hot like this. I walk over to her and she starts smiling as she notices me. We have lunch together and laugh a lot, before I know it's  already time to get back in the car. I give her a kiss and leave. Qualifying went great and I'm starting at pole positition tomorrow. I'm so happy and quickly text Lilly to come to my drivers room. She arrives shortly afterwards and I give her a big hug. She kisses me and I notice it's getting a bit passionate. She pulls away and gives me a mischievous look "no Mr Leclerc, not in here" she whispers in my ear and my head falls down. I want her so badly. When we arrive in the hotel I notice she's not into it anymore and I wonder if I did something wrong. "It's just... I saw someone taking a picture of me when I stood at the balcony today.. I'm worried about it.." I nod as I share her concerns. I check social media but no gossip channels have posted something about her. I guess we'll be in the clear. 

The next day is time for the race. Lilly comes to my drivers room to wish me goodluck. I give her a kiss and hug her tightly. In these sports you never know when the last time is you'll see eachother again... My race went amazing and due to some errors at Red Bull it's a 1-2 finish for me and Carlos. We celebrate at the podium and I spot Lilly at the back of the team, giving me a bright smile. I wink at her before Carlos sprays me with champagne. Afterwards I run to my drivers room, I know she'll be in there. She's waiting for me and I hug her and kiss her as much as I can. "This win was for you baby" I say and she smiles, looking at me with so much pride. The team is gonna celebrate the win but Lilly wants to stay in the hotel. She tells me that I definitely should go and I'll see her tonight. I had an amazing night but couldn't wait to get back to her. As I take out my phone to text her that I'll be back in half an hour, Carlos comes to me. "You were on fire today man, I don't know what she does but she better not do it again if I want to have a chance of winning." I laugh, It's just her being herself that motivates me. 

I get back to the hotel to find a suprise. Her clothes lay down in a path to the bed with a note on them "I got you a little present, Mr Leclerc". I feel my blood rushing and quickly follow the clothes to find her bra and panties right before the bed. I look around but she's not in the bed? I hear the bathroom door open and she steps out in just a small towel. She looks at me and drops the towel, leaving me speechless.