Here With Me - A Formula 1 Story

This Is What It Feels Like

It's Monday morning after the Belgium GP. I'm currently waiting for the car that Charles is sending to pick me up to take me to the airport. He just texted me telling me that it's only 5 minutes away so I'm double checking that I have everything ready to go. I've just put mine and Ezra's suitcases by the door when someone knocks. Expecting to see a stranger in a suit, I'm surprised when I come face to face with Charles. He's smiling at me brightly as he takes me in from head to toe, I'm wearing a simple white linen dress that I bought earlier this week at a street market.

 "Wow, you look beautiful." He says as he leans forward to kiss both my cheeks. I narrow my eyes at him when he pulls back and he looks at me questioningly.

"Why are you here picking me up and not a driver like you said?"

"I said a car was picking you up, never said anything about a driver. Although, if you want to get technical, I am a driver. Debatably one of the best drivers in the world." He smiles cheekily and I roll my eyes in annoyance at how cute he is.

"I don't know, I think Max is better. He did win yesterday." I comment as I grab the handle on my suitcase and start walking out of the door. Charles' mouth drops open in shock at my statement and I can't help but laugh. He looks so offended.

"Take that back! He only won yesterday because of a bullshit penalty." He grumbles as he grabs Ezra's suitcase and follows me out the door. I turn back to the door to lock it, when Charles grabs my arm gently grabbing my attention. I look at him questioningly with a smile on my face.

"I missed you this week. I'm excited to spend everyday of the next month with you." He says seriously and I try to ignore the butterflies that erupt in my stomach. I turn away from him and lock the door before answering.

"You might regret saying that in a couple of weeks." I joke as I turn back to him. He smiles sadly at my response but I don't know what he expects me to say. I'm not about to confess that I missed him this week too, because I did. Every time my phone dinged with a notification I was hoping it was him, and surprisingly most of the time it was. He seems to be trying hard to prove that I'm important to him and that he's thinking of me. It's a big difference from how it was just weeks ago, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up about him. Not again. I need to guard my heart because I've come to realize that he could potentially really break it.

"Come on, we have a flight to catch." He tells me as he takes my suitcase from me and starts walking down the stairs toward is Ferrari Pista 488. He tells me to leave Ezra's bag, and that he'll come back for it so I follow him down the stairs where he proceeds to help me into the passenger seat. After he loads up the luggage he climbs in to the drivers seat and immediately connects his music to the car. 'This Is What It Feels Like' by Armin can Buuren starts playing as he pulls out of the parking spot. I'm not sure if his song choice is on purpose or not, so I don't say anything.

Eventually I do ask where we are going though, because he's heading in the wrong direction to the Parma airport. He tells me we are heading to Maranello and I'm confused because I didn't think they had an airport for commercial flights. When I ask about it, he just smiles at me like I'm cute. I decide to stop asking questions, I'll find out soon enough. We have small talk for the rest of the drive, he asks me about my childhood before I got pregnant which wasn't that great. My parents were wealthy, both of their families are big in oil so I was around wealth until I got pregnant and was on my own. I'm hoping that with talking about our childhoods that he'll open up about Jules and his father but he doesn't. I debate just asking about them but it's not my place, if he wants me to know about them he would tell me.

By the time we get to Maranello, I'm quiet and in my own thoughts. Charles seems frustrated that I'm putting up walls, but I'm not sure what else to do. He eventually pulls into a private airstrip and on the tarmac is a jet. I furrow my brows because there is no way we're flying private. I turn to look at Charles who just smiles at me. Glancing back towards the plane, I see Arthur and Ezra walking down the stairs of the plane and I officially feel like I'm going to puke. I'm definitely not comfortable around this amount of wealth. But by the look on Ezra's face, he's determined to make this his future though.