then you flashed your green eyes at me || Charles Leclerc

chapter one

"Hey everyone! Welcome or welcome back to my channel, if you're new here my name is Alya Ricciardi and I am 20 years old" she said, looking directly in the camera. She felt stupid sometimes. Her job literally consisted of talking to a device and taking pictures to post. At least she was free to travel as much as she wanted though.

She was standing in a corner of Charles de Gaulle Airport, in Paris. She had spent a couple of weeks in France, vlogging whatever she was doing, eating pains au chocolat and drinking cappuccino every day. She took loads of pictures, posted many stories and interacted on social medias with millions of fans: considering that she wasn't much of a people person, she had been exhausted at the amount of talking she had to do.

She turned off the camera, after explaining why she was at the airport and eating her last pain au chocolat of the season. She was flying to Silverstone for her best friends home race.

Lando Norris had always been her best friend, for as long as she could remember; they were just kids when they met for the first time. As she checked the departure boards she almost laughed, thinking about that little kid - so much shorter than her - that many years before just showed her a little seashell and decided that they would be best friends for life. Every year they would meet at that same spot on the beach, spending time together - at first playing, maybe building sand castles and throwing salty water at each other - and then, growing up, they started talking about their interests and their dreams. When they were seven she attended his first karting race, proudly smiling when he got pole. And after that there wasn't much to do. When she cut contacts with her family, Lando and his family were the only people that stood beside her: they took her in immediately and since then, Alya and Lando were impossible to separate.

Now, several years later, they both reached what they wanted in life, they were still close and everything seemed to have fallen into the right place. Everything, beside their love life. They were hopeless.

Her flight got called and she started boarding with everyone else. She never really liked flying first class, mainly because she was alone. Lando's private plane was a dream, they would travel together and talk for hours; sometimes even Max and Daniel would join them and make the trip even more enjoyable. But being alone in a seat where you would get treated differently just because you had money was a totally different story, and she didn't like it. Also it was just a short flight, so why spend so much?

She put her phone in airplane mode, right after telling Lando that she wouldn't be answering because she was going to take a nap. Was it a lie? Probably not, since she could've fallen asleep right there and then. But she didn't want to tell him that she would join him for the race since it kind of was a surprise. Technically he was suspecting it, since she had attended for years since he started racing in Formula 1, but he wasn't sure about it. And that was the only thing she could count on.

A few hours later, she got off the train that connected London to Silverstone. She immediately called Cisca, Lando's mum, to let her know that she got there.

"Hi sweetie" she heard from the other side of the call. "How was the flight? Adam and I are coming to pick you up at the station. Are you okay? Did you eat anything?"

"Hi to both of you! The flight was fine, I drank some coffee on the train. It's almost lunch time, I'll probably just eat at the hotel or something" she answered, smiling. That was the kind of love she never received from her family.

"We could eat together, I think Lando will be happy about it" Adam said. "By the way, we just pulled up. Why is your luggage so small?"

"It was just for a few weeks, and there was a laundry room in the hotel. Also right after the weekend I'll go back to London for a while, so there's nothing to worry about."

"See, Cisca? This is what I mean when I say we should travel light. Not bringing a big ass suitcase for only three days..." he said, scoffing jokingly at his wife.

"Language, Adam" she answered.

"Come on darling, she's not five anymore. I think it's safe to say 'ass' in a sentence, even if she's with us" he replied. Alya giggled at the interaction. That was the kind of love she aspired to experience one day.

"Okay now, sweetie let's go we have to check you in the hotel and surprise Lando" said Cisca, after a cute eye contact with Adam. She smiled, making his husband get the language and then guiding Alya to the car.

While Adam drove to the hotel, she turned on the datas on her phone and opened Lando's chat. 'hey, what are you doing rn? xx' she texted, feeling the wind in her hair while waiting for a reply. Which got there shortly after. 'waiting for my folks to get back. they left half an hour ago to go I don't know where, I'm waiting for them to eat but I'm hungry :(('. She smiled at the little face. 'stop pouting, I'm sure they'll be back soon enough. In fact, why don't you wait for them in the lobby, so that you're ready when they get there?' She suggested, seeing that they were almost at the hotel. She got a voice message that said something like 'bold of you to assume that I'm not already there...I need food.' As soon as she finished listening to the message, the car stopped.

"You go ahead and say hi to Lando, were going to park the car and we'll be right there, okay? Leave the bag in the car, we'll bring it inside" Cisca said. She nodded happily, then jumped out the car and ran into the lobby. She immediately saw him. He was sitting near the reception, pouting at his phone - probably waiting for her reply - and he looked like a lost kid. He was quite literally sinking in the black velvet couch, and his feet were bouncing cause they couldn't reach the ground. Yes, he was very short. Not that she was taller or anything.

She walked up to him, her shadow towering on his figure. He scrunched his nose, glancing up but not paying attention to whoever was in front of him, blocking the light - he was probably thinking that it was someone checking in the hotel.

"Your folks are just looking for a parking spot shawty, they came to pick me up at the station" she said, smiling widely. Lando looked up, eyes widening and smile brightening up. He jumped on his feet, throwing the phone somewhere on the couch, and hugged her tightly as she reciprocated the gesture. She giggled as she heard Lando blubbering, and messed up his hair, as usual. It was a ritual at this point - she would do that every time they saw each other.

"What are you doing here??" he asked, smiling like a kid on Christmas day.

"What do you mean what am I doing here, I'm supporting you of course! It's your home race, I never would've missed it. Also, this year I'm going to be around a lot more" she said smirking.

"A lot more? How much is a lot for you?" he asked.

"I talked to my manager, let's say that attending every race of the year is definitely on the table" she said. When Lando looked at her surprised, opening his mouth but not saying anything, she laughed. That was definitely a happy reaction.

"I'm so glad this is happening, oh my god!! Okay, then we're going to stay in the same hotels and we'll hang out and you'll come to the after parties and I'll be in your vlogs and-" she laughed at his excitement.

"Yes to all the above" she said gladly. "Now shut up and let's go to lunch though" she said, "I reckon you were hungry?"

And with that - after she checked in - they went to the hotel restaurant with his parents, enjoying their first day at Silverstone together. And for a few hours she forgot everything else.