Pole position // Charles Leclerc

14

Mias POV:

'Are you getting in or are you just going to lay there all day?' He asked, climbing into the pool and leaning against the wall, his arms flexing under the pressure of holding himself up against the wall.

'Give me 5, I just need to let the suncream set in before I wash it off by accident.' I responded, looking towards the hotel doors, watching them open.

The smile on Charles's face dropped when he saw Pierre walking towards us. I, didn't mind. Me and Pierre were done, and could be happy with our friendship we were slowly piecing back together. I wasn't sure why it had hit Charles so deep.

Pierre smiled when he saw us, coming to sit besides me, taking off his shirt and throwing it onto the lounger besides him.

'I didn't know it was a pool day today, I'm surprised you're up this early, Mia.' Pierre chuckled.

'You know I've never been one for hangovers.' I laughed.

'Just don't get them, do you?' He smiled.

'Never.'

Charles cleared his throat, drawing out attention back to him, and his blank expression.

'I'm gonna go and get Yuki in a second, it's gonna be fun to hang out with you both. First day on tour feels great doesn't it?' Pierre said, relaxing.

'It always does.' Charles smiled sarcastically.

I shot him a look and he glared at me harder, gesturing to my cover up that was laying besides me.

We sat in silence for a few more minutes, I waiting for Pierre to leave so I could ask what Charles was doing.

'Give me 5 minutes whilst I go and get Yuki.' He said, leaning down to give me a hug, before heading off inside.

The second he was out of sight, Charles got out of the pool and picked up his towel, along with his tshirt and my clothes too.

'What're you doing?'

'We're going, now. There's a secret pool around the corner. I wanted to speak to you and I can't do that around your ex.' He stated.

'You can just call him Pierre. And I feel bad for leaving him.' I rolled my eyes, grabbing my phone and my towel, following him.

'Don't. Ladies first.' He insinuated, holding out his hand and waiting for me to walk ahead of him.

'I know your game, you sick fuck.' I smiled, jokingly, turning to see him concentrating on nothing but my ass.

'Hurry up before they come back out.' Was all he responded, pulling me down a small alleyway of trees and flowers, barely giving me time to admire it before I noticed the pool under the flower trees.

'This is gorgeous.' I smiled, looking at the few petals floating in the pool.

'I found it whilst clearing my head last night.' He responded.

'Clearing your head?' I frowned, getting into the pool, moving over so he could get in besides me.

'You told me you'd shove your chips so far down my throat if I didn't leave you alone.' He chuckled.

'Charles I am so sorry.' I responded, holding back a laugh.

'That's not why I came out here.'

'So why did you?' I pushed.

'The first race is always the hardest. The pressure, the buildup, the love for the sport is so overpowering it can get stressful.' He explained.

I instinctively reached for his hand, giving it a light squeeze as a way of comfort. He tensed, but gave in a few moments later, rubbing his thumb against the back of my hand softly as he continued to speak.

'My godfather was a racer, died in 2015 after spending 9 months in a coma. He was injured in the Japanese Grand Prix, and yet, I don't find myself scared of dying.' He said, his voice trailing off.  

'So what are you scared of?' I whispered.

'Letting him down.'

I sighed heavily, heartbroken for him but at the same time, somewhat honoured he had chosen me to speak to about all of this.

'Charles, look at what you've done and what you're doing. Nobody could ever feel let down by you.' I said, sincerely.

'He'd be glad I was here. With Ferrari.' He added.

'He'd be glad you were healthy and happy. Everything else is a bonus.' I said softly.

'You're good with what you say.' He chuckled.

'I've got a brother.' I smiled. 

He looked down at our tangled hands, his eyes stopping on my body underneath the water.

'I'm not sure how I'm going to get over seeing you in a bikini.' He said, accidentally licking his lips.

'That bad?'

'That fucking good.'

I looked away to hide how nervous he made me feel, my heart pounding harder when he grabbed me by the jaw, forcing me to look at him.

'Why are you friends with Pierre? After everything he did to you?' He asked, lowly.

'We were young, and we can get over it.' I said, nervously as if trying to please him.

'What he did was unforgivable.'

'For you, maybe. I can't bare to ruin my brothers year through animosity with my ex. He's sincere and he's begging every day to make it up to me, I couldn't ask for more.' I assured him.

He nodded slowly, looking as if he was taking it all in, but I knew he called bullshit.

'Take a photo of me, Charles?' I asked, handing him my phone and grabbing onto the edges of the pool, pulling myself up slowly until I was sat on the side.

He put my phone down and picked up his own, for some reason giving me butterflies, knowing he wanted this memory as much as I did.

He took a few steps back before taking a few photos of me, his smile growing behind the phone, as he asked me to turn to the side.

'These are for my Instagram.' I rolled my eyes.

'Perfect, face away, then. Let's get some from all angles.' He said, huskily, as I complied with what he had asked.

Knowing that these photos were on his phone didn't make me feel anything but secure, and that felt weird with a man. But maybe it was because I knew I'd post them, he wasn't going to have anything special or secret, they were being shared.

But the fact he had wanted to see them first.

Mia. Stop. 

I took a deep breath, holding my hand out when he said he was done, flicking through photos to look at them.

'You're not bad of a photographer.' I smiled.

'It's hard to be a bad photographer when the photo looks like you.' He responded, leaning against the pool wall.

'Youre good.' I mumbled.

'I've been practicing.' He winked.

I rolled my eyes, passing him his phone back, before standing up and wrapping my towel around myself. He frowned, but climbed out also, like a lost puppy who wanted to know where we were going next.