Lights Out - Charles Leclerc

Chapter Nine

Sienna

I wake up in my bed, in my apartment in Monaco. This weekend is the Monaco Grand Prix and even though I was born in France, I spent my whole life in Monaco, so I consider this a home race.

Today is Thursday, which means we have a full day of media stuff to do and I have an early start. I drag myself out of bed and into the bathroom. When I return to my bedroom, my hair in a half up half down and my makeup done, I put on some jeans and my Red Bull shirt and go to the kitchen to eat breakfast. While I'm doing that, I go on my phone and see an email from Evelyn with all the important interviews I have today and the panel I'll be in for the press conference, which is me, Lando, Charles, Pierre and Yuki.

I look up from my phone and out my leaving room window. The weather is beautiful, not a cloud in the sky and I can see part of the circuit, which is not far away from here. I'm walking there since it doesn't make sense to take a car when it's that close and with the weather being so good, I feel like walking.

When I finish my breakfast, I go brush my teeth and grab my smaller backpack with everything I need. I grab a pair of sunglasses, putting them on, and my key card, putting it around my neck. I leave my apartment and when I reach the front door of the building, I put my ear pods in.

I'm in such a great mood today, I don't think anything could ruin it. It's the 7th race of the season and I'm leading the championship. Max is behind me, a few points separating us, and Charles is third, even fewer points separating them. At any point, Charles can go to second and I have to watch my ass even harder.

When I approach the paddock, I scan my pass and go in, taking my ear pods out. A few fans come to me asking for pictures, which makes me stop for a little. I see Evelyn coming my way, so I thank the fans and start walking her way.

"Good morning! How are you feeling?" Evelyn says, when we reach each other. We start walking towards Red Bull hospitality.

"Good morning! I'm feeling great today!" I say, smiling.

"Great! You don't have much time, your panel is in 30 minutes. We have a little briefing before that right now," Evelyn explains as we walk in. I say good morning to the people we pass and we enter the room where the briefing is being held.

"Hello Maximilian," I say when I approach Max after the briefing.

"Hey! Someone's in a good mood," He says smiling and crossing his arms over his chest.

"Why wouldn't I? We're in Monaco!" I say and he laughs.

"That's reason enough," Max says. Evelyn and Max's PR officer approach us.

"So, in the afternoon we're filming a little challenge for the social media and we'll probably be done by 5," Evelyn says and we nod. "Sienna, the press conference is about to start."

"Yeah," I answer. "See you later, Max," He smiles and I leave. When I get to the press conference room, Charles and Pierre are already there talking.

"Good morning," I say and sit next to them on the couch.

"Good morning," They both say, Charles smiling at me with that smile I know it's only for me. And it satisfies me that it's only for me, I'm not quite sure why.

A few minutes later, Lando arrives and takes the seat next to me.

"Morning," He says and I laugh a little at his very sleepy eyes.

"Someone's tired," I say and he sighs.

"I'm not a morning person and they put me in the earliest conference possible," he says and, very dramatically, fully lays down on the rest of the couch, his head touching my leg.

"Hey mate, are you ok?" Pierre asks, which makes me look at them and laugh at their confused expressions. Lando only gives him a thumbs up.

"Princess here needed more time for her beauty sleep," I say patting his head twice and then I lightly slap his cheek, making him stand up with his hand on his cheek as if it had hurt.

"Why so violent Sienna?" He says and I laugh.

"Good morning!" Someone says and I turn my head, finding Yuki smiling.

"Good morning," We all say in unison and when he's about to sit down, Pierre stops him.

"Sienna could you be a sweetheart and sit there on the edge next to Charles so I can talk to Yuki, please?" Pierre asks, making a fake smile and I roll my eyes.

"Yeah, fine," I say and switch seats.

"Hell no, you guys are scotching over. I need someone to talk to," Lando says standing up and sitting between Charles and Pierre, which leaves the order of the couch me, Charles, Lando, Pierre and Yuki.

The conference starts and goes on normally. Charles's leg brushes mine more than once and for some reason, that small action makes my heart beat a little faster every time.

"This one is for Charles," A journalist says and Charles picks up his microphone. "You're third in the run for championship, with both Red Bulls in front of you. How do you think you and the team can improve in order for you to win your first championship?"

"We had a good start of the season, but I think we can do much better. The Red Bulls, so far, have more pace than us, but I'm not very concerned with them," Charles says which makes me loudly scoff.

"Sienna, would you like to comment?" The journalist asks and I pick up the microphone ready to comment.

"I think the Ferraris are very strong this year and we're watching our backs, but Charles should definitely be concerned with us," I say and proudly smile. I look at him and he lifts his hands in a surrender way and smiles.

The conference goes on for a little longer and when we're done, we all stand up and start to leave. The three boys go ahead, while Charles and I stay back.

"Someone's cocky today," I say and he leans against the wall of the hallway. I do the same on the opposite wall.

"You're in a strange mood today, chérie. I like it," He says, cheeky smile on his face.

"I'm in a great mood today, not even your "I'm not concerned with them" is going to put it down."

"Why should I be concerned? I'm a better driver, you know that," Charles says and I laugh a little.

"Is that so? Then why haven't you won a race in the past two weekends?" I say and slowly start to get closer to him.

"I might have not won a race, but I've been on the podium both the weekends," He says and I get closer.

"That's not the same and you know it," I say and stop when I'm so close to him, our noses almost touch. I feel his breath uneven. "How about we make a bet?"

"Oh yeah?" He says, his gaze going from my lips to my eyes.  "What do you want to bet?"

"If you win on Sunday," I say and pause, not really knowing what I could offer. Then I come up with something. "If you win, you can take me out to dinner."

His smile gets wider, those goddamn dimples showing.

"Ok, deal. You should start picking out where we're going to eat," He says and looks both ways in the hallway, checking if someone's coming, then lightly, and teasingly, kisses me on the lips. He looks at me one last time then disappears down the hallway, leaving me there a little stunned by his action.

This weekend is going to be interesting.

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Hey beautiful people!

I think I finally know where I'm going with this story I just don't know how I'm ending it, so it might go on forever :')

Hope you enjoyed it,
xoxo