❥𝑹𝒆𝒅 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆

Chapter 57

Narrator

»You two seem to have had a nice evening.«
Valerie and Juliette were sitting in the paddock cafeteria during lunch.
Juliette showed her friend some paparazzi pictures on her phone.

»Yeah, we did.«, Valerie chuckled and scrolled through the article.

Juliette withdrew her phone and took another look for herself. »Charles seems like a real gentleman.«

»He is. The best one I've ever met.«

Her friend continued to stare at her screen. She zoomed on something and her brows furrowed.

»Val, is that...?«

Juliette turned around her phone again and pointed at something in the background of one picture at the restaurant from last night.

Or, more precisely, someone.

Valerie pressed her eyes together to see it better.
»Rebecca?« her voice was followed by a sound of disbelief.

Juliette nodded with a confused face expression.

Rebecca was hardly recognizable sitting at a tablet further in the background, a few meters away from Valerie and Charles.
Her face was turned in their direction, not looking friendly.

»What was she doing there?!« Valerie still stared at the picture.

»Maybe she was just... eating, you know.«

Valerie scoffed. »That woman never does anything by chance.«

Juliette put her phone away.
»She's really a pain in the ass.«

Valerie let out a laugh and nodded. »She is.«

They ordered coffee and went on chatting.
After a while, Juliette's face grew a little bit worried.

»Are you alright, love?«, she asked carefully after she took a sip from her cup.

»Yeah, why wouldn't I be?« Valerie raised her head.

»You seem very... thoughtful today. Is something else on your mind?«

Valerie sighed. She couldn't get the conversation with Carlos out of her head.
She wanted to have talked to Charles already, but the right moment hasn't shown yet.
Screw it, there wasn't a right moment for this.

»You remember how I told you that Charles has sleeping problems?«

Valerie wasn't sure if telling Juliette further about this was the right decision, it was somehow private after all, intimate. Not the whole paddock should know that their driver - one of two persons who carries this whole thing - has mental problems.

But she needed to talk to someone, get it off her tongue. Saying out loud what troubles one was never a wrong thing - if it was said to the right listener.

Juliette nodded - slowly.

So Valerie spitted it out, everything. Fortunately, the cafeteria was almost empty, so she spoke freely, but not too loud.
She told Juliette about his restless sleep when she was there, but also about what Carlos had told her.
And that she hasn't got the chance to talk to Charles as well.

»Girl, this is a serious thing. I think he needs help, and I mean professional.«
Juliette slowly put her cup down to the table, still holding the handle.

Valerie's mouth was blocked.
Juliette was right. And she never thought about that.
But she was right.

***

»Please stand a little to your right.«
Charles' eyes were fixed on the man standing behind his camera, ordering him how to pose.
With Carlos next to him, they modeled for the new Ferrari-sunglasses that were sponsored by Ray-Ban.

They had to perform multiple scenes, different postures, different mimics.

When they were done and walked out of the shooting room, Charles checked his phone.
Valerie texted him that she was having lunch with Juliette already.

Usually he picked her up around this time in her office, when they were not together as usual, but today the shooting for Ray-Ban took longer than expected.
Charles sighed.

Carlos clapped him on his shoulder from behind.
»Where are you off to, mate?«

Charles turned around to face his friend.

»I don't know, I've got nothing left for today. You?«

»Yeah, me neither,« he paused for a moment, »how about we go training a bit?«

Charles thought about his offer for a short moment before agreeing. »Yes, sure.«

So they headed out to the paddock-gym and waited for Andrea, Charles' personal trainer, to arrive.

They recorded some clips for the fans between times to keep them updated.

When Charles observed the gym during a short break, he recognized his safety guard training on the other side of the room.
It wasn't a personal gym and basically the whole Ferrari staff could train here, if they wanted to.
But still, it made him feel uneasy.
They weren't the bestest friends after all.

Raphael seemed to have felt the looks on him, he turned his head and met Charles' gaze - from afar.

Even though he was quite a few meters away, Charles could've sworn he saw a confident, gloating flicker in the eyes of his guard.
What was he so smiley about?

Charles just lifted up his head and let it fall down in place to do a short nod as a greeting.
It was more of a "I see exactly what you're doing" nod, and Raphael gave it back.

»Andiamo, continuiamo.« [Come on, let's keep going], Andrea said and pointed to a pull-up bar.

He nodded and accompanied Carlos doing pull-ups.

***

Charles hasn't seen Valerie since the morning and it got him impatient.
Just when he thought about her while he strolled down the hall to his drivers room, the face he missed the whole day appeared around the corner.
With Juliette next to her, Valerie crossed his way.

»Bonjour, ma jolie.«, he greeted her and made a halt.

Valerie chuckled and came towards him.
»Hey, amor.«

He pulled her into a quick kiss and looked around after. You could never know where the paparazzi were hiding.

»I've missed you today.«, he exclaimed and put a hand on her waist.

»I hope you're not offended that I didn't have lunch with you earlier.«, she replied and looked to Juliette who was watching them besides.

»Oh, I feel absolutely insulted.«, he gave back sarcastically.

Valerie just laughed and rested her eyes in his.

»I think you will have to apologize to me, then.« he implied playfully and continued to support her gaze.

She hesitated for a second, but then put her lips gently against his.

When they pulled away, Charles smiled widely.
»That'll do it.«

Valerie also replied with a smile.

»Alright, before you two love sick people continue to stare at each other, we'll go.«, Juliette laughed and pulled at Valerie's arm.

Valerie let herself be torn away, stumbling along the hall.

Charles looked after her.
»I've got some new content for Instagram for you!«, he shouted as long as he could see her.

Valerie nodded, looking behind.

»I love you!«, Charles added before she disappeared behind the corner.

He could hear a muffled »I love you, too.« from her direction. It gave him a soft smile before he kept on heading to his drivers room.

He opened the door and hushed inside.

But he didn't know, that he wouldn't be the same when he came out again.