Under the helmet | Charles Leclerc

~Chapter 33~

Arriving in Spain, the nerves immediately set in, along with the pressure, my leg is shaking in the taxi, while Viola is sat in the front seat, Charles and I sit in the back. He notices my shaking leg and places his hand on my thigh, it makes me gasp slightly, he can clearly see I'm nervous.

"It's alright, amore." He whispers, so that Viola can't hear. My leg stops shaking at the feel of his touch.

I look up at him and smile at him weakly, while he gives me a reassuring smile. The car drive continues to be relatively quiet, Charles' hand remains on my thigh throughout the whole journey, we exchange glances too, some of which make us giggle a bit. Viola asks a few media questions to me, of which I answer.

"Maeve, people are wanting to interview you in Barcelona considering your performance in Australia, would you mind to have a full schedule?" Viola asks me.

"I-" I start, but Charles interrupts me.

"Give the girl a break, it wasn't her fault, tell all the people who want to interview her for her previous performance to fuck off and to mind their business." Charles snaps, more stern than angry.

"I asked Maeve." Viola snaps back, angry at Charles, turning around briefly.

"What Charles said." I confirm to her, Charles chuckles under his breath and Viola gives an expressionless nod at me. "Thank you." I whisper to him, he nods at me and gives me a knowing smile.

The car ride is silent, tension rises between Charles and Viola, making me feel awkward.

"Ok we are here, you guys have a while so settle in, and Maeve, please let me know when your friend needs picking up as I will go and get her." Viola informs me.

"Thank you, she'll be here at around 8pm if her plane takes off on time." I say to Viola, she nods at me.

"Also, there are no other teams in this hotel, most of them went to the other one nearby." Viola adds before walking over to the bar area.

"Thank you Viola." I respond, raising my voice so she could hear me. She waves us off.

"I was thinking of calling Carlos, if you wanted to speak to him?" Charles offers as we both walk to the elevator.

"That would be nice, I'll drop my bags off in my apartment then I'll come over?" I offer and he nods.

I open the door to the apartment in Spain the apartment is beautiful, very modern and absolutely spotless. I drop my bags into the bedroom on the bed and I turn to go out the door to find Charles in his apartment, and secretly do a bit of comparing as to who got the better apartment. I find his door not too far from mine and knock on it. He opens the door and smiles at me and lets me in.

"Hey, shall we phone Carlos?" Charles asks, sitting on the sofa in his apartment, and I can already tell, his is the better one.

"Yeah sure, and your apartment is better than mine." I complain the second half, while he laughs at me.

"I'll call Carlos." He says, still laughing under his breath and presses a few buttons on his phone and he rings Carlos.

"Smooth operator." I say when he picks up, making him and Charles laugh.

"Mae and Charles, how are you both?" He asks over the phone.

"Good, good, preparing for Spain, thought we'd give you a call." Charles responds to him.

"Yes, Mae said she'd win it for me, no pressure Mae. I didn't see your Australia race, how did that go?" Carlos asks, my body drops a little, Charles looks at me, and nods.