You gasp and drop your phone in shock. "No no no...". You can feel your heart in your throat, beating a lot faster than you know it should. Feeling a tear fall down your face you wipe it off and walk to the bathroom to check your makeup.
Luckily you wore waterproof makeup as there was a chance of rain later in the afternoon. You hear a knock on the door but before leaving the bathroom you take a deep breath. You unlock the door and see Arthur standing there. " Charles messaged me to come up, sorry I took a while I was in a meeting." You let him in and tell him not to worry you were fine.
" Oh, your phone must have fallen on the floor" he says as he hands you your phone. "hm? Oh right thanks" You smile at him and take the phone. You go to block the number but realise you can't because it was an unknown number.
"Sh**" you whisper.
"Did you say something Lia"
" Oh just talking to myself" you fake laugh it off. You sit down in a chair opposite Arthur.
"How was your race today, Art?"
"Could have been better, I was on track for a podium but someone crashed in front of me, ruining my chance. Got some good points anyway."
You nod and smile, "How was your and mama's holiday? Spain, right?" You don't reply, lost in a daydream.
"Lia?...Lia!" You snap out of your daydream and see him looking at you with worry.
"Hm?Oh yeah, we stayed with Gabriella's family so nice to see her again. Good to get away for a bit too" You smile back, trying to reassure him, but mostly yourself. That you were around people who loved you and wouldn't let anything happen. But he still looked at you anxiously, all you could hope is that he wouldn't tell Charles.
You carry on talking with Arthur about his race weekend and your predictions for Charles's race. "Art, I really hope Charles' wins, I know it's hard to overtake I know he's starting on pole but Lando has gotten really fast, and especially Oscar, I mean it's his rookie year and he's already had two top three finishes."
Arthur agrees with you, as he's about to say something else his phone rings. "It's Carla, I'm gonna go outside to take it. See you later."
You wave goodbye and sigh as he leaves. To pass time you pick up your phone and scroll through instagram but not long later, you hear footsteps pass in the corridor leading past the drivers' rooms and pause outside, followed by the sound of the door.
A shiver passes through your body as the door opens and you see a body appear. You immediately think the worst and jump up but when Charles enters, you relax.
"You okay princess? You look nervous" You nod at him and sit back down.
"...Okay, In a few minutes we need to go down to the garage because the race starts in half an hour and I need to get onto track" You nod again and smile to reassure him as you hear uncertainty in his voice.
"I watched the driver warm-up" His face lights up.
" Really? I hope you don't mind what I said, I just didn't really know that they would" You shush him.
" Charles, you handled it perfectly, honestly the fact you knew what to do was amazing. I would have just frozen"
You laugh and he smiles back. "Okay let's go down now so I can introduce you to the mechanics"
You nod and grab your bag and head out of the driver room following Charles.
He introduces you to quite a few mechanics, and you really hit off with one in particular, Claire. You agree to watch the race sat with her and as you soon find out you have a lot in common.
