Love again? |Charles Leclerc|

Chapter 8.

Charles POV

When I got to the hotel room, Madie was still out and I was glad, I wasn't ready to answer any of her questions.
All I could think about right now was Mia.
Being so close to her tonight brought back all of the emotions I felt five years ago. I was in love again. At least for a moment, she made me feel she's feeling the same as I did tonight. We couldn't forget all the good things that had happened between us. I know we didn't part on good terms, so I hope I get a chance to make it up to her, at least as a friend.

After a long day I was extremely tired and I had to go to bed because I have a tough training session tomorrow. The new season is fast approaching and I have a lot of work ahead of me. I wonder how I'll be able to concentrate after meeting Mia tonight.

****

I woke up the next morning around five o'clock with Madie lying next to me, sleeping. It looked like she had a hell of a night.
That day I had a busy schedule, I wanted to go for a run in the morning, then I had a training session with Pierre and in the afternoon Madie and I had a social event to attend. I hate these things, but it's necessary for us.....

When I went for a run that morning, I passed a wonderful bakery....the coffee smelled for several meters and the smell of fresh baked goods... delicious. I thought about Mia and what a breakfast lover she is so I decided to bring her something.... I'd love to see her again. I get two coffees and something good to go with it.
I ran to her apartment, but I didn't have the courage to see her... so I quickly asked for a paper at the front desk of her apartment... I wrote a note and left the breakfast at her door.
I figured she'd still be asleep anyway.

***
The next thing on my day was training with Pierre. I really missed him through the winter break...

"Kika was at the bar with Madie last night and she said that Madie was pretty wild....everything okay with you guys?" Pierre asked with worry in his voice.
The fact that Madie and I are in fake relationship is only known by the two of us and my assistant.
I don't find it easy to lie to Pierre, but I believe the less people know the whole truth the better.
"I think we're fine..." I waved my hand at that and continued with my training.
"But I saw Mia yesterday..." I said out of the blue.
"Like Mia? Your Mia?" Pierre was confused, probably as confused as I was when I saw her yesterday.
"Yeah..." I shook my head.
"Oh man....things are about to get really messy here" he laughed and then we dropped it and not talked about her anymore.

***

During the whole day, I kept waiting to hear from her...she might still have my number hidden somewhere or she could have contacted me on socials, but she didn't.
Absolutely nothing from her side and I don't blame her. She doesn't own me anything.
Thinking about her has been killing me all day. I had to focus my attention on something else.
Madie and I had this sport event and some interview this afternoon. Everyone has high expectations from me this season, and so do I. Hopefully this year the battle between Max and I will be more even and I can finally beat him. That's all I want. 

After the event was over, Madie and I shot some marketing stuff, took a million pictures and all that crap....I wonder how much longer this charade will last.
Madie is very active on social media about our relationship, everyone knows where, what and how we're doing. Today it was my turn to post a picture of us. The thought that Mia might see it made me anxious. I haven't explained it to her yet, I don't want her to think I haven't changed since then. I hope someday she'll understand. Well still I had to do it so Madie helped me pick one and I posted it.

"Oh my! We look perfect together! Everyone's gonna be thrilled when they see it" Madie was proud of her picture choice.
"Yeah...that's what we want right..." this life was becoming exhausting for me. I was starting to get tired of lying to everyone.
And right now when I met Mia again...it's even worse.
I need to find out a way how can I see her again...

Mia POV - a week later

A week went by since I saw Charles. There hasn't been any mention of him, no text or anything. I wasn't supposed to want it, but I kind of hoped for a call from him...so stupid of me to wanting that.  
Of course, if I wanted to find out where he was or what he was doing, I could and I did.... Only one time and I found out he's having a wonderful time with his girlfriend Madaline.
And oh my god, she was beautiful, she seemed nice. When I saw their picture on Instagram, of course I had to check it out. I wondered who she was, what she was doing and how long they'd been together.
Fuck....a few days ago I didn't care about such things and now I spend hours on it. Stupid me and stupid Charles.

However, today I could only think about Lando and his visit. We agreed to have drinks together and I promised to take Ally with me, I had a feeling they might get along.
The evening was approaching and I was getting a little nervous, of course I'm still in close touch with Lando, but I haven't seen him in so long.
I texted Ally the address where she could find us later, since she was delayed at work and I was going to head out without her.

I walked into the bar and looked around if I could spot him, and I did, but he wasn't alone, Carlos was with him.
"Hey guys!" I ran over to them with excitement.
"Oh my god! Mia" Lando grabbed me in a tight hug. "I missed you so much." He whispered and then let go to get a good look at me.
"You look beautiful." He smiled and then let me to say hello to Carlos as well.
"Chilli, it's so good to see you. How have you been?" I wrapped him in a hug.
"Mia, I'm great, thanks...what about you? Tell me, exaggerate." He asked with great interest and then we all just chatted for hours and hours.

"Well, where's your friend?" Lando winked at me.
"Don't worry, she got stuck at work, but she'll be here." I assured him. 
"And how are you guys looking forward to the next season? It's coming up..." I was excited for them.
"I think this year will be tougher than ever and I'd love if you'd finally come see me again. I'm sure the other guys will be happy to see you..." Lando was hoping for an agreement on my side.
"You know I'd love to be there for you, but I don't know...I don't know if I want to see him again" I lied hoping to drop the subject, because honestly I wanted to see that one guy very much. I was thinking about him again and that's when I heard a familiar voice behind me.

"Hey everyone..." Ally came in with a big smile on her face. "You must be Lando, I'm Ally..." She first walked over to Lan and introduced herself and then noticed the handsome Spaniard next to him.
"And I don't know anything about you..." A slight look of surprise appeared on her face.
"I'm Carlos..." He chuckled and reached out for a hug.

The rest of the evening was amazing. We chatted late into the night, drank, danced.
I missed having these guys by my side so much. I brought Ally along to introduce her to Lando, but as the night went on, she got along much better with Carlos.
I was okay with that because I could kept Lando all to myself. We had some catching up to do.

"So how are you really doing Mia?" he asked carefully with a worried look in his eyes.
"Good, really..." I blurted.
"I'm fine.....after seeing Charles. It's all closed." I lied. It all seemed even more 'not closed' than before. But I didn't want talk about it with him.
"Have you talked about everything?" He was surprised and I knew exactly what he was referring to.
"No of course not...you're the only one who knows and I'd like to keep it that way." I looked around to see if Ally and Carlos had heard us...Lando put his hand on my thigh and gently stroked it.
"I'm here for you if you need anything, you know that." He looked tenderly into my eyes.
"I know, thank you." I smiled gratefully at him and went to get another drink.

LANDO POV

It was great seeing Mia. We've seen each other occasionally over the past five years but it's always been for a small moment and we've maintained our relationship mainly through social media, thanks for that.
It was better for me that way because I didn't have to think about her so it didn't hurt so much. Carlos is the only one who knows how I really feel about Mia.
After she and Charles broke up, we found a much closer way to each other.
I was there for her whenever she needed me. She always thought of me as a good friend, but unfortunately it was different on my side. But I knew there was never going to be anything more than a friendship between us and I had to accept that and deal with it.

***
"Mate....I though we talked about this." Carlos came to me with a drink.
"Yeah yeah...I know, I'm not doing anything..." I said in my defense and took the shot from Carlos.
"I see the way you're looking at her mate, if you're not careful she's going to notice soon and I'm telling you it's not going to end well." I knew he was right, but damn...I'm trying okay... It's so hard.

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