ALL THE LIES, charles leclerc

10. friends support friends

THE LANYARD DANGLED infront of Isabella as Charles held it to her. "Please come, I want you there." He asked, as she sighed, head tilted as she looked at him. "Charles, What will people think?" she asked, carefully taking it from his hands to look at it. The last time Isabella had even seen one of these was Abu Dhabi last year, the last race she'd been to with Charles before the broke up.

Charles shrugged, "I'll tell them that we're friends, and I invite my friends to races for support. Friends support friends, right?" he smiled, knowing she couldn't protest against it. "Ok... How am I going to get there? I cant just take time off, I have meetings." She asked, as Charles had a cocky grin across his face. "I asked your manager, she said you can take this weekend off, that it'll be good for you to get out."

"Charles— You.. You cant.."

"You can come with me, we can go around France for a few days before I have to do media and everything on Thursday. Then, if you want, you can come to practice Friday..." he trailed off, considering other options. "Or you can go around Le Castellet for a bit, Saturday is quali and then race is Sunday. I'll sort out a hotel with you to save you travelling back and forth from here. But once again, if you don't want to go, say it."

Isabella felt a small smile creep onto her face, knowing he'd spent time to plan all of this out just so she could come. "I feel like I can't say no.. can I?" the blonde smiled, as he shook his head, an accomplished look covering his face as he looked down on her. "Ok.. Ok fine. I'll go." Those two words nearly made Charles jump for joy— but he refrained, not wanting to scare her.

"Great! You may need this." He pulled a red cap off the table, once again holding it out for Isabella to take. It was a ferrari cap. A baseball cap with the number '16' in a bold, white font on the corner. "You know, to show who you're there for."

Isabella took the hat, planting it on her head as she tilted her head higher to look at the Monegasque that stood before her, her vision slightly blocked by the cover. "Thank you."

"Anytime, Thank you."

"Anytime."

They both stayed there for a minute, staring at each other before Arthur barged in the front door. "Oh! Bella! Didn't expect to see you here, perdante." he grinned, his girlfriend Carla following in soon after. "Isabella! You're here!... In Charles apartment?" the brunette questioned, as she and Arthur looked at each other, smug looks written all over their faces.

"It's not like that—"

"I was just—"

The couple laughed as Charles and Isabella began trying to explain what they'd been doing prior to Arthur and Carla's arrival. "We don't care, we just came for milk.. too lazy to go to the shop. Anyways, be safe with whatever you're doing, and keep it down if you do dec—"

"Arthur!"

"Alright! Merde.." he muttered, grabbing an unopened carton from Charles' fridge and walking back to Carla, slinging his arm around her. "Anyways, use protection." the younger Leclerc cackled as he pushed his girlfriend out of the room, closing the door behind them as Charles yelled at him. Isabella rested her head against the side of his hip, chuckling as the Monegasque muttered to himself in a mixture of French and English. "I cant believe him, cet enfant stupide.." he shook his head as Isabella looked back up at him again.

It was just like before.