Romeo and Juliet || Carlos Sainz

The bedtime story

Y/n followed Mattia until they reached the pit wall. They walked to the Ferrari zone and Mattia let y/n seat next to him. She looked at him and he understood she was a bit nervous, so he touched her shoulder to cheer her up and smiled at her. A few minutes later, Charles joined them and Mattia introduced y/n.
"Oh, we've already met!" he winked at y/n and smiled. "That's amazing, today y/n will follow your race in order to be your new track engineer." Y/n suddenly turned to Mattia after hearing those words. Mattia's gaze was full of pride toward y/n and Charles was very excited about it. She felt in the right place, surrounded by people who appreciate her work and dedication, she couldn't wait to sign up for Ferrari.

Charles left the pit wall and went to the track, ready to start another race. Y/n turned her chair and faced all the screens, the buttons and the numbers she had been missing so much in this period. The race was good and Charles won, while Carlos got DNF because he finished into the gravel. Carlos disappeared at the end of the race while Charles celebrated with his mechanics, brothers and Mattia. Y/n followed the crowd and cheered with them. A lot of mechanics hugged her and she felt so happy about it. In Red Bull it was totally different. After the Monegasque and Italian anthem, Charles went down the podium and celebrated with all his mechanics.

"Come here, we have to take the victory picture!" Charles said, getting out of nowhere, grabbing y/n's hand and dragging her where loads of other mechanics were sitting ready for the photo. Y/n found a little spot between two men much taller than her who moved to leave her space as soon as she sneaked there. It was so strange being on this team, surrounded by people who she didn't know instead of her father and people who saw her growing. She smiled at the camera showing the victory sign with her right hand, she was feeling good even if everything was different.

After the picture was taken, y/n saw Carlos shaking Charles' hand and then going somewhere inside the paddock. She followed him with her eyes and didn't realize Charles was in front of her. "We have to celebrate! Wanna join us?" he was very loud and sweating. His face was red and y/n could still see the sign of the helmet that pressed his face during the race, the hair was messed and wet, and his eyes were glowing.
"Okay! Where are we going?" she asked feeling happy for him.
"Oh, we always go to a restaurant, in Fiorano. You'll love it!" he looked like a happy child on Christmas day. "Follow me, we'll leave soon. I need to find my girlfriend first, you'll love her."
She followed Charles into the paddock and they bumped into Isabela who was walking around the hospitality. Y/n and Isa looked at each other in silence, there was something inside Isa's eyes that freeze y/n, it was like she looked inside her soul and y/n felt violated somehow. Charles was looking for his girlfriend and saw Isa passing him by. Suddenly his face changed, he was surprised to see her there. He stopped while Isa entered the restaurant zone. Charles looked at y/n who was thinking about Max's words.

A few seconds later, Carlos appeared, going in the same direction as Isabela, inside the restaurant zone. He was coming from another part of the paddock so he didn't see Charles and y/n who was looking at him.
"Why are they...?" Charles was totally lost, and so was y/n. She didn't say anything so Charles kept on talking "There's an explanation for all of this, I'm sure." Y/n looked at him and smiled forced. "Oh, here you are! Charlotte, let me introduce you Y/n, she will be my new track engineer" He was really happy to introduce them.
"Really nice to meet you officially! But we have already met, Cha. Don't you remember?" said Charlotte with a delicate French accent. She was very elegant in her movements, the way she touched her hair or grabbed her phone looked royal. Y/n stared at her and wished to be like her, but she was stinking of sweat, motor oil, tires and dust. She still had that ponytail and no makeup on. Suddenly she regretted having said yes to Charles. She felt so inappropriate.

"I'm gonna take a quick shower and then we go to Fiorano with the others, okay?" Charles left y/n and Charlotte before the girls answered. Charlotte invited y/n sitting in the restroom and they talked a bit about the race. Not a mention of the moment when the three of them stared at each other or about Isabela. Charles arrived just in time before they were out of topics. "Off we go! I'll drive my Ferrari which has just two seats but you will go with Arthur. He's my little brother but I trust him" Y/n smiled and thanked him but deep inside she didn't want to go to Fiorano. The only thing she wanted to do was go back to the hotel, take a long shower and come back to London. The image of Carlos and Isabela was still on her mind and she didn't want to celebrate with people who didn't know her. But it was too late. Arthur showed up and introduced himself to y/n. The Leclerc family did two masterpieces. 

The dinner was delicious and Ristorante Montana become y/n's favourite restaurant. She loved everything she ate but most of all she loved the company. Arthur was very kind and sweet on the way to Fiorano, but also Charles and Charlotte made her feel comfortable and part of that big family. There was also Andrea, his personal trainer and a couple of other members of Charles's staff. It was very late so they came back to Imola and she could finally take that damn shower she had been dreaming of.

She jumped on her bed and fell asleep in a couple of minutes. That day was very exhausting and even if she couldn't stop thinking about Carlos and Isabel, she slept for five hours straight. She woke up more tired than before but a taxi was waiting for her to go to the airport to go back to London for a couple of days and then come back to Italy, in Maranello, for a meeting with Charles and Mattia.

On Thursday, y/n went to Maranello where Mattia and Charles were already waiting for her. They showed her the headquarter and all their trophies and cars. Y/n felt a strange energy in there. It was like everything was screaming power, pride and strength. All around there were pictures of the biggest pilots in history of Formula 1 she saw on tv or that her father told her when she was younger as bedtime stories.  Schumacher, Lauda, Ascari, Villeneuve, Prost, Alonso were all in that walls, in that trophies and nobody could ever forget them. She spent a lot of time looking at the cars exposed. It was like a dream come true, having the opportunity to see in person those mechanical jewels made her get goosebumps. She was so happy of being here and Charles noticed it.
"I know you don't wanna leave this place, but we have to go outside to show you my car. She looked at Charles and followed him. Y/n could see Charle's car very close and they spent all the afternoon planning a new strategy for the next race. Mattia was very happy about the plan y/n had prepared and so she become Charles Leclerc's official track engineer.
 "Now you can admire Ferrari cars all the time you want" said Mattia shaking her hand. She smiled a lot, she couldn't wait to start working for real.