Under the helmet | Charles Leclerc

~Chapter 23~

I arrive at the garage, my headache being less severe than this morning after some paracetamol. I go to the ferrari garage in the Melbourne track, and then spot Fred, who looks over me with sympathy, however I sense some slight force with his sympathetic look.

"Maeve, it's good to see you looking alright." He comments, whilst I force a smile and nod.

"Nice to see you Fred, when will Carlos be coming back?" I get straight to the matter, as I just want to be back home.

"He'll be coming back for the Austria Grand Prix, you will be released after Baku and I'll send over the agreed conditions for being our temporary driver." Fred explains to me, whilst Viola walks over.

"Is there any paperwork I need to sign, or is it just, I won't drive?" I ask him before he turns to walk away.

"No, no paperwork, you just won't drive, you'll be allowed in the garage though, it'll be nice to have you with us. You won't have any travelling or hotel perks though after Baku. So if you choose to come with us, costs won't be covered by us. Anyway, I think you and Viola need a word after last night, I'll see you on track Maeve." He finally turns and walks away, the last few words sounding slightly angry, why would he be angry at me? It wasn't my fault.

"So, Maeve, the media-" Viola starts, sounding unnecessarily stern.

"Is going insane, you don't need to tell me, I already know." I reciprocate her stern tone, an angry expression appears on her face, but it's not sarcastic.

"Listen Maeve, I don't mean to be a pain, but those days you said Fred gave me of holiday? I didn't get, and now I'm not getting anymore holiday days, because you go out and stupidly enough get spiked and don't recall anything about it and now I'm clearing up the mess you made-" Viola starts rambling, this all in one breath.

"Don't you dare start to blame me for something I couldn't have changed." I sternly look down at her, as she's slightly shorter than me, and death glare her.

"You could've not gone out?!" She shouts at me.

"Oh, so now I can't enjoy myself, there's always going to be risks with having a bit of fun, Viola, and if I can't have fun, because your my PR manager, then I think you should take a long holiday from being a PR manager." I snap, not realising how hurtful my words are.

"I see you now, Maeve, everyone said you were stubborn and rude, and you were nice to me, and now your just snapping at me-" I cut her off by walking away. I'm not in the right mindset to deal with her yelling at me. "Maeve!" She tries to get my attention back, but I keep walking away. "MAEVE WALKER!" She shouts my name, more and more, but I still ignore her and go back to my car.

"Leave me alone Viola!" I decide to shout back when I hear footsteps approach me.

After I say that, the footsteps stop, and I go back to my car in the car park. I slam my hands on the steering wheel. I slowly lower my head on the steering wheel, wrapping it with both my arms.

"Fuck!!" I shout, lifting my head up quickly, tensing my fingers, and slamming the dashboard.

I run my fingers through my hair, stressing. I can't resist it, I look at my phone, and I see the posts about me, some of them are rude and some are nice. Some say that I'm weak and an attention seeker, whilst some say that this is awful and that they hope I find who did it. There's arguments about it all over the media, this only makes my head hurt more, everything that people are saying and how everyone has such different opinions only mixes my own opinion more. I try to gather myself back, and confirming it to myself that it's not myself and there's nothing I could've done to change it.

I drive back to my apartment and Rosa asks to call me, so I ring her when I get into my apartment and get a glass of water.

Calling: Rosa❤...

"Hey, are you alright, Mae?" Is the first thing she asks, and I break down, right in front of her. "What's on your mind?" She asks, with a soft tone, and genuine look.
"Just, the media, it's mixing with my head, I feel bad, I feel awful. I don't know what happened last night, I'm all over the place, and I have to be ready to sit in a car and drive tomorrow for qualifying." I burden her with my feelings and she just looks at me over the phone, listening to me while I talk.
"Did you have anyone with you? Like when you got back to your apartment, that could explain everything that happened to you?" Rosa asks.
"Charles stayed over, because I asked him too, unintentionally. But I don't think he'll know what happened, although Kika and Lily might." I remind myself.
"There you go, try speak to them, see if they can remind you what happened last night, and maybe go on a walk and clear your head a bit." Rosa advises, she always gives the best advice, I don't know where she gets it from. "Well, I've got a plane to Melbourne to catch, I'm surprising Daniel tomorrow." She smiles, and I smile back at her beaming.
"I'll probably see you tomorrow then, Rosa." I conclude and we say goodbye and we end the call.

I message both of the girls and ask them to tell me if they remember anything from last night and I decide to go over to Charles' apartment, next door from mine, to see if he is in and to ask him if he knows what happened. I put on my shoes and go out the door and simply take a left and his apartment is there. I knock on the door and I get a:

"Wait a minute!" I hear from inside his apartment.

Then I hear footsteps and the door opens quickly, he stands in the doorframe.

"Oh, uh, Maeve hey." He stammers a little, and lets me in.

"Bad timing?" I ask him, intrigued by his behaviour.

"Well, not exactly the best either." He looks at me, with his green eyes. Implying that my timing wasn't exactly great, which intrigues me, but also makes me feel like I should leave.

"Do you want me to come back later or?" I ask, looking at him, whilst he looks at the floor at my question.

"No, no it's fine, I need to speak to someone about it anyway." He sighs a little, he sounds upset and hurt about something, which worries me, he's a good friend of mine.

"Alright, I'm here for you whenever you need, you know that right?" I assure him, putting my hand on his shoulder, trying to reassure him.

He lets me in and we sit on the sofa and he sits down facing forward initially then turns to face me and slaps his hands on his knees like he's about to start lecturing me on something, or about to release a heavy weight off his chest, and it's probably the latter. He looks down and sighs again, making me nervous as to what could have happened.

"It's just my brother got in a bad accident and he's in hospital, but I'm not allowed to see him until tomorrow." He starts, and he tries his best to hide his emotions but I see right through him, his eyes telling me all I need to know. He's clearly upset and his eyes start to crystallise with tears. "I just need to know if he's ok, you know? I'm really worried. It didn't look great in the videos either, no one is allowed to see him yet, not even my mum, and it's worrying me." He continues, his eyes become more full with tears.

Before he says another word I pull him into a hug, I can't imagine how much his brother means to him, I know it must be hard for him. Seeing someone you love in such a state must be terrifying. I decide to just listen to him and just let him do the talking and let him let all his emotions out.

"Do you need anything?" I ask, he looks at me.

"No, I just need someone to stay here, someone to talk to." He explains, looking at me knowingly, knowing he means me.

"I'll stay." I reassure him, wrapping my arms around him on the sofa and he melts into my touch.

I feel his body relax in mine, and I look down on his face and quickly realise that he has fallen asleep. I chuckle quietly, admiring his peaceful, relaxed look while he sleeps. The one time he is calm and relaxed. His chest slowly pumps up and down to a slow rhythm of his breathing, which ultimately relaxes me more as well. I lean my head on his and slowly shut my eyes, and my body starts to relax and get tired. A little voice in the back of my head is telling me to not go to sleep and go home, but part of me doesn't want to leave him here alone and upset, and I don't want to wake him, as he's relaxed. I then let myself drift off to sleep.