Under the helmet | Charles Leclerc

~Chapter 22~

I wake up, only a few minutes later, from what I can gather, in a pair of strong arms, with a paramedic looking down at my face, shining a torch in my face, to get a response from my pupils.

"She's stable. But you should keep an eye on her for the next 24 hours in case she feels any symptoms such as nausea, headaches, temperatures, etcetera." An unknown voice speaks.

"Can she go home?" I hear a familiar accent ask, it is Charles.

"Yes, I'd prefer someone from here keep an eye on her for the night, though. If anything goes wrong, we'll have security patrolling her apartment, we also have security trying to find any evidence as to who may have spiked her." The paramedic informs us.

I don't listen, instead focusing on my surroundings, facing the dark night sky, strong arms around my limp body which is barely awake and functioning, the strong arms of Charles. I don't see anyone else, instead I hear sirens of security, multiple people talking about what's happened and some people asking if I'm ok. The smell of cologne hits my nose, and fills my lungs. That familiar, yet addicting smell, makes my body shiver and my eyes blink slowly. After a few more minutes of blurred voices, I get taken into a car, and someone starts driving.

"Where...?" I start, not realising how weak my voice is.

"Don't worry, your with me, you'll be fine." He says looking over at me, before accelerating anywhere, putting his hand on my thigh.

His familiar voice reassures me, I know that I'm safe, I don't speak a word the rest of the journey home. It is dark and blurry, I don't have as much nausea or as much of a headache now but I still struggle to see clearly a little bit. He noticeably drives his car a lot slower than he would normally to get anywhere else, such as the way here. I begin to feel guilty. My emotions come back to normal, and I feel bad that I ruined the party and good time everyone was having. Maybe if I didn't agree to have more shots, I would've noticed something? Maybe if I didn't drink at all nothing would've happened? My mind spins, making me overthink about what I could've done differently to prevent this.

"This is going to sound stupid, but, how are you feeling?" A voice emerges, snapping me from my spiral of overthinking.

"Shit." Is all i can manage to say, he just looks at me with sympathy.

"Do you remember anything before you started feeling bad or?" He asks.

"I had a few shots with Kika and Lily, 6 shots of something rather. I think." My voice gets better, and my mind starts putting sentences back together.

"Just you, Kika and Lily?" He double checks.

"Yeah, that's all I remember before feeling a slight poke on my arm and then I felt really shit." I emphasise, trying to recall the moment in my head.

"It's good you remember a few bits, you definitely won't remember it in the morning." He explains, glancing at me, before looking back at the road.

"We'll be back soon. I got Viola to stay over, and keep an eye on you." He reassures.

"Can you stay too?" I ask, not realising what I'm saying.

"Sure, I don't have to get up, as it's only Thursday tomorrow. Daniel is good at planning things way before any race or qualifying things start." He explains, and we pull into the hotel.

"I think I can walk now..." I say, hoping I won't need any help. Whilst Charles goes around and opens my door.

"Here, just lean on me, don't want you falling over." He lends an arm, I take it and wrap it around his shoulder and his arm wraps around my hip, holding me up.