The Longest Lap | Charles Leclerc

3

I wasn't sure what to expect as I followed behind Charles. I still hadn't wrapped my head around what was even going on. And finishing off my drink so quickly didn't help. We arrived at an area with a bouncer who quickly moved out of the way when his eyes landed on Charles. The tall man raised his eyebrows at Juliette and me but made no fuss.

Juliette was close to me now, she lowered her voice, "we are in the vicinity of a lot of money right now."

I whispered back to her, "what do you mean?"

"You'll see."

I shrugged her off because I honestly didn't understand at all. Charles led us both to a smaller rounded booth now. Charles slid into it first, I followed, then Juliette. Juliette spoke first, "very exclusive Charles."

"What she mean's to say is, wow this is so nice, thank you."

He laughed, "you two are very different."

Juliette pushed her hair behind her ears, "I need to find a drink."

Charles pointed at a table that was clamored with alcohol, "help yourself."

She said thank you, in French though, that I understood. I was partly glad she would be gone for a few minutes, that was selfish of me though. I turned my body to face Charles a bit more, "so."

He raised an eyebrow, "so."

I crossed my legs, "well I have lots of questions now. But I also wouldn't know who you were if it weren't for Juliette."

His dimples were everything, "then I will just be Charles."

I smiled at him now because his charm was unlike anything I'd ever encountered. He made me nervous, which was something nobody had made me feel for a long time. The lighting was somewhat better here, but still shitty if I'm being honest. But he'd somehow managed to get even more handsome, which didn't even seem possible. Imagine him in daylight I thought to myself. I sucked in a deep breath, "Okay, Charles, have you ever thought about moving away from Monaco?"

He scrunched his nose, "hard question," he thought for a moment, "I would say no, for the time being. I have never had a reason to leave. And what are you doing in Monaco? It is a bit of a weird place to move to yes?"

I laughed, "yes, that is true I guess. It's a long story. But to sum it up, I guess I came here for work. Although I'm not working like an actual job."

"And what do you do for work, or not work as you say?"

I started using my hands to talk, "I just say I'm a content creator. Does that make sense?"

He nodded, "like YouTube?"

"Yeah actually, like vlogging and social media and stuff. I started when I was in college and people liked it, so I just ran with it. It's weird though. But it's not like an actual job, so I hate to say it is."

He was shaking his head at me, "I think that's very cool, and I think it's a job. It's what you are passionate about?"

"Yes, 100 percent. And thank you. And I know, just Charles, but did you always know you wanted to be a Formula 1 driver?"

"More or less, it's a very long story. Longer than yours I am sure, but essentially yes."

There was a flicker in his eye as he spoke. A flicker of what I was unsure of, but I chose not to elaborate more on it. I tugged a strand of my hair, and a chill shivered down my spine when I felt the earth of his hand on the skin just above my knee, "don't look yet, but your friend, Juliette."

I scooted closer to him to the point where our legs were touching and shifted my body in the most nonchalant way possible to set my eyes on Juliette. When I finally saw her she was standing next to another figure, "who is that?"