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

chapter six

Alya was confused. She had woken up in her bed, and she couldn't remember how the hell she got there. One moment she was on the roof, half unconscious, and the next moment she was in her room. 

She had a vague memory of someone grabbing her, but she couldn't see their face. Maybe someone from the hotel staff had found her and helped her to her room. She decided not to think about it, she was safe and that was all that was important. 

she got up and walked to the bathroom to take a quick shower. Then she styled her hair and put on a bit of make up to cover her dark circles - the little sleep she had gotten during the night was obviously not enough. She wore a pair of beige linen pants and a tank top of the same color. She grabbed her purse, the room key, her phone and her McLaren cap, then walked out of her room.

"Good morning sunshine!" Lando said, when they met in the lobby. "You look horrendous" he said worried. The make up didn't work too well, she had to admit.

"Thank you, really. You're so sweet" she replied bitter and sarcastic. 

"Woah, what's up with you?" Lando asked, a bit hurt by her tone.

"Sorry" she said, sincerely. "I didn't get enough sleep last night" she said. 

"Yes, I can see that. No offence" he said.

"None taken" she smiled politely.

"Why couldn't you sleep? Did you have your nightmares?" he asked, visibly worried.

"No I don't know why. Maybe I was just nervous for your big day" she said. 

"I should be the one who's nervous" he giggled. And then "Thank you for your concern though"

"Yeah, my 'concern' is gonna kill me for too many sleepless nights" she said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, are we going? Who are we waiting for?" 

"Max" Lando said, checking his phone. "He went to pick up Kelly and P from the station but he's not back yet" 

As soon as he said that, someone called Alya's name. She turned around to see a little kid running up to her. 

She smiled, picking up P and smiling at Kelly. "What were you saying?" she said giggling.

"I was waiting for him to text me!" he defended himself. 

"Yeah yeah" she scrolled. Then she looked at P "Hey little one, how are you?" she smiled.

"Good! Mommy and I watched all of your vlogs and I think you needed my hug" she said innocently. Alya smiled.

"I absolutely did, thank you P" she said, holding her tight. 

After greeting Kelly and Max, they walked towards the cars. P wanted to stay with Alya, because she 'hadn't seen her in too long'. So her and Kelly switched the original sitting plan, she went with Max and P and Kelly went with Lando. They got to the track pretty fast, and the three girls immediately walked to the paddock, while the two drivers took some pictures with fans. 

"So, what's new with you?" Kelly asked, while P started talking to another kid. "How was Paris?"

"Yeah it's good. I travel a lot, there are lots of events to attend and sometimes it gets overwhelming. Don't get me wrong, I love my job. It's just that...sometimes it requires too many interactions and poeple skills that I don't have" she sighed. "But it's good. I can do what I love most, no time frames required. I'm filming a vlog of the weekend, if you'd like we can film something together" she added. 

"Paris was amazing. When they say it's the city of love you don't really believe them, but when you're there you can just feel it. Everything screams romance. Every spot is perfect for a picture, and every single café I've been to had the cutest spots for people to chat in. It was crowded, but not in an overtimulating way" she said then. "It was bearable, there's a lot of space for people not to be on each other. It was good." 

"I'm glad you could rest a bit your head" Kelly said. 

"Yeah" Alya agreed. "How's everything with you and P?" 

"Great. We went on holiday for a few days and relaxed together. She's an angel, I was lucky" she said.

"You didn't get lucky, you did an amazing job" Alya said, brushing her shoulder and smiling at her. 

"Yeah, I guess. Max is great with her. I'm glad they're in each other's life, I think they're being good for their souls" she smiled.

"Yes, I think so too" she smiled. 

They had lunch with Heidi and Lily, who had gotten there a bit after them. Then they headed down to the garages. When Alya was about to walk in the McLaren one, someone stopped her by walking in front of her. 

"Hey, how are you?" Charles asked. 

"What?" she asked confused. "Why do you care? You locked me out on the roof last night, don't tell me now you feel bad" she rolled her eyes. Maybe she pushed it a bit too much, but she was angry at him. She really thought he had done it on purpose.

"I didn't mean to!" he said defensive. "I'm sorry, I must've kicked off the piece of wood. I didn't want to lock you out!" 

"Okay" she said, shrugging. 

"Okay?" he asked surprised.

"Yeah, whatever. I don't have the energy to be angry right now. Someone helped me in and everything is okay. I didn't sleep much and I'm exhausted, but I'm okay."

"Someone helped you in, huh?" he said.

She ignored him. "So now you apologized, I forgave your 'unintentional' gesture and we can go back to not talking" she said.

"Why should we not talk?" he asked. 

"We don't like each other. Let's not push it" she said. "Let's just coexist without ripping each other's head off" she said, raising her hand.

"Who said I don't like you?" he said cocky.

"You're insufferable." she sighed. "I don't like you, you pretend to like me and are cocky. Let's coexist without you flirting with me or me killing you, what do you say?"

"Who said I was flirting with you?" he raised an eybrow.

"I hate you" she scoffed, walking past him.

"Okay, okay, no flirting" he agreed. "Coexisting." They shook hands. "Let's sign over a drink?" he winked.

She rolled her eyes. "No." she said, then walked into the McLaren garage. She could feel his eyes on her back, but she pushed the thought aside. Though the smile she was trying to fight in front of him grew on her lips.

A part of her wanted to turn around and look at him, but her pride took over. She wore her set of headphones and wished Lando good luck before he headed to the grid.