Red past | Charles Leclerc

Always a group thing

"P6 isn't that bad," Arthur muttered as he threw me a bottle of water.

We were in Miami, one of my favourite places to be, and yet I still seemed to find good grip on the track and ended up P6 in qualifying.

"If my father saw, I think he'd say I'm an even worse failure," I laughed quietly, I didn't think it was funny, not at all but I felt like if I didn't laugh it off the other emotions I was feeling would consume me and I would have end up breaking down crying.

"You shouldn't care what your father thinks," he had a stern expression on his face, irritation darted through his eyes as he spoke.

Truthfully, I didn't know how to answer him so I just shrugged my shoulders. All my life I have always tried to seek my father's approval especially when it came to racing, I wanted to prove my capabilities to be as good as I belived I could be. Even with all of the disgust I held for him, he was still my father.

Arthur walked up to the couch I was sat on and held his hands out in front of me, reluctantly I placed my hands in his concerned at what he was going to do.

"C'mon we are off for a walk," He had a confident smirk plastered on his face as he pulled me along with him as he left the hotel room.

"I'm not in the mood to walk," it was a little bit late for that peoce of information, we were already in the elevator heading for the ground floor.

"Aw shame," he made a pouty face and then turned back to the doors of the metal box as the loud ding notified us of our destination.

Our fingers were still interlocked as if he was scared I would run away from him, as if he didn't have confidence in his very convincing way of making me go for a walk.

"It's a shame that you're not a motivational speaker you know with how convincing and helpful you are," I joked pulling our interlocked hands to make a point.

"Do you actually want to be here or is he dragging you along with him," The second I heard the familiar voice I turned around and pulled my brother into a comforting embrace.

"Is Kelly here?

"Hello to you too," He laughed, placing a hand on his chest attempting to look offended, "But no, she isn't, she is still in Monaco with P."

The second his mouth fell closed, he glanced in Arthur's direction, giving him a quick hug before turning back to me.

"See Arthur acknowledged you, so why do I need to?" I joked, I could see Arthur in the corner of my eye failing to hide the smirk underneath the hand he had brought to his mouth.

I didn't get a verbal response from Max he just sighed, looking jokingly irritated at my question.

"Where are you two off to anyway?"

"I getting her to come on a walk with me," Arthur answered, giving me a sided eye as the words fell from his lips.

"Well I'm off to go and meet your brother, Lando and Pierre at this restaurant that Lewis recommended, you can come if you want, that is if you don't mind hitting pause on that walk of yours," I was so sure my answer would be no but the more I thought about it, the more up for the idea I became.

"I'd be willing too," Arthur whispered turning to me before confirming our change of plans.

I nodded, not wanting to speak, afraid I would say how cautious I was of going. I hadn't spoken to Charles since Monaco, not even on his P1 in qualifying from earlier that day.

~

The restaurant was only a small building located on the corner for a street but the decoration seemed bring the whole building together.

The boys were sat in a booth in the corner of the room, Pierre and Lando smiling the second they saw us approaching them. Charles on the other hand was hidden behind the large back of the chair, him not knowing at either mine or Arthur's presence.

He looked eagerly in the same direction as Pierre and Lando excited to see what they were looking at, his face dropping to a neutral expression the second his eyes fell on us.

"Don't look too pleased to see us," Arthur joked when we arrive in front of them.

Max claimed the seat next to Lando leaving me and Arthur to sit with Charles. I don't know how I got in the situation but I ended up in the middle of the two brothers, Charles trying his hardest to avoid all eye contact while Max spoke to Lando about some video game.

"Are you ok?" Arthur whispered into my ear, making sure his voice was only heard by me.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I wasn't, I felt awkward and the one thing I wanted was for Charles to finally meet my eyes but instead he kept his gaze locked on the three boys across from us.

"Because you and my brother kissed and now you're sat next to him," Arthur laughed, it was definitely not the best time for him to bring it up because the second he said those words, the three boys looked at me in reaction to the pure shock plastered on my face.

I soon got them back to their conversation allowing me to get Arthur to elaborate on his statement.

"Who told you?" I whispered back to him my voice barely audible to myself let alone the others

Arthur tilted his head towards Charles quickly, a smile stuck on his face.

Charles told Arthur about the kiss but still couldn't bring himself to look at me. Our legs sat only millimetres apart, the only thing that I could think was what would happen if I closed that gap? What would be his reaction?