Just Rivals | C. L. | #1

Enchanted

It's Sunday. AKA race day. AKA the day I, Avery Horner, am going on a date with Charles Leclerc.

This has been a great weekend for Max so far, being P1 in two of three practice sessions, and starting from pole position. And this is all amazing, but from what the team told me, we don't have the same race pace as Ferrari, and Charles will probably pass us, starting from P2.

Max is doing the best he can. This win is super important for him, after what was said during the press conference on Thursday, about Charles and I.

He was so upset when he got out of there, and he immediately asked if Charles forced me into anything. I couldn't believe he thought that low of Charles.

I calmed him and told him that we just shared a dance.

When I first saw the conference live, I was feeling a bit disappointed about Charles's answer to that question. I really thought he meant that. That it was nothing. It was more than that for me.

The second he got out of there he texted me on Instagram "Hey, darling. I had to lie to the press since I imagined you wouldn't want your brother, or really anyone to know about our date... Last Thursday meant everything to me :)"

Looking back at it, I'm happy he said it's nothing. I don't want Max trying to kill him on and off track. I want everything to stay private for now. We haven't even been on a date yet, and I don't wanna rush anything.

The race should start in under 10 minutes, all cars are aligned on the grid and I'm watching from the Red-Bull garage, seating next to some of the engineers, since my dad is on the pit wall.

There will be 50 laps of me being anxious. I want Max to succeed, obviously, but more importantly, I just hope there'll be a clean race, with no accidents.

Last night Charles texted me about our date. He told me he'll pick me up from the hotel at 7:00 PM. We're staying at the same hotel but he insisted on going full out.
He also said I should dress comfortably, but also elegant since this is a multi-stop date.

That's all he told me. I have absolutely no idea where he's gonna take me.

I hope it's a private space, so we won't be spotted by some fans. I'm sure Charles made sure of it. He also wants it to be a private date...

I've been so excited all week, like some stupid girl with a stupid crush.

I went back home for a few days after Bahrain. I just needed to take a moment for myself and try to understand everything that happened in those four days.

Olivia slept over at my place for one night and I told her every little detail. Since then, she can't shut up about it. She's more excited than me at this point.

I also had some time to paint. I've missed it. I actually started a painting of the F1-75 Ferrari Formula 1 car. It's the first car that gave Charles a world championship. I was thinking about giving it to Charles someday. It's not ready yet, but it shouldn't take too long.