The calm before the storm - Max Verstappen x Charles Leclerc

19

It was 5 in the morning and I had woken up to someone trying to call me. "who is stupid enough to call now" I whisper to myself. I saw that it was Max calling. I got up and went out on the balcony. "Why are you calling now Max" I said annoyed. "can we meet now without Charles" he said nervously. Why did he think I wanted to see him after he hurt me. "Of course, but it has to be quick," I said and hung up. I put on a pair of black tights and one of Charles's sweatshirts.

"Did you sleep well" was the first thing Max said when I met him. "no" I said shortly and felt the anger in me bubble up. it was rare for me to get angry with people, but asking me to meet him and not apologizing after yesterday, I can't tolerate. "What do you want Max" I said impatiently. "I want to say sorry for yesterday" he said and looked down at the ground. "You hurt me Max, now people will think it's Charles who hurt me" I snorted at him.

He looked up and I noticed he was trying to say something but nothing came out. I saw him getting angry again but he had no right to be. "if you don't like being my friend, you don't really need to hear from me anymore" I heard myself say. "what so you don't want to be with me anymore" Max said clearly annoyed. "no I don't want to be with you if you can't handle your fucking anger" I scolded him. "sure, but don't come to me if you need me" he said and turned and went his way.

My anger at him turned to sadness. I didn't understand what he was doing. I liked Max and didn't want to lose him. I carefully walked back to Charles's house. When I entered I saw Charles coming towards me and gave me a hug. "where have you been, ive been worried" Charles said as he took a step back. "What are you doing awake" was the only thing I got out.

"I woke up when I noticed you were gone and I tried to call you but you didn't have your cell phone with you," explained Charles. I felt in my pockets and he was right, I had forgotten my cell phone. "uh – max wanted to meet o-" I didn't have time to finish my sentence before Charles started talking again. "why did he want to meet you".

"He wanted to say sorry but I ended up yelling at him and now we're kind of not friends anymore" I explained as I went up to the bedroom again. When we got back into bed, I explained what we had said. He was so understanding and didn't interrupt me once. After I vented, we went back to sleep.

I woke up again around lunchtime and saw that where Charles wasn't in bed I thought he was in the living room or in the kitchen so I put on Charles' shirt and went downstairs. I looked all over the house but couldn't find him anywhere, so I wrote to him.

Francesca:hi where are you

Charles:I'm at the store buying stuff for tonight. Will be home again soon.

I put my phone away and sat on the couch and turned on something to watch. He didn't sit down long before I heard knocks on the door. At first I was unsure whether to open the door but when I heard a familiar voice call my name I decided to open. "Hello Russo" said the man in front of me, it was Daniel and Lando standing in front of me. "Hey, what are you doing here?" I said, looking at them. "Charles hasn't said anything," Lando said and entered the house. "no he just wrote that he was in the store" I replied as I sat down on the couch next to Lando. I saw how the guys in front of me looked at each other and burst out laughing.

After half an hour of talking with the guys, I heard the door open and Charles came in. He had two bags full of something with him. "Have you been waiting long" he asked and put down the cash registers. "just half an hour mate" Daniel said in a teasing voice. I went up to help Charles but he didn't want my help. "change into a bikini" he said and gave me a kiss on the lips. "where are we going" I asked but he didn't answer that. What was it the guys had planned. I chose not to question them, but got up and started changing.

we went to the car and started loading the stuff we were going to take with us while charles locked the house. "Can you tell me where we're going now" I said as I sat in the front seat. "Then it won't be a surprise," said Daniel, laughing. Daniel thought everything was funny and he could make everyone laugh. Charles started the car and started driving towards the secret destination.

We stopped at a beach a few minutes from Charles's house. When we stepped up to the beach, there were two jet skis by the side. I started walking slower to see where the others were going and they were walking towards the scooters. "What are we going to do" I asked when we arrived. "we're going to compete" Charles said as if it was obvious. "so you compete even when you are on break" I asked and laughed at them. Now I understood why they needed backpacks to carry their things. "we run two teams" said Daniel and got on the scooter. "I'm with Francesca" Charles said and put his arm around my shoulder. "then it's no fun" Daniel laughed and Charles' smile disappeared. Charles and Lando ended up being one team and me and Daniel being the other team.

We started driving and lined up so they could compete. "You have to hold me so you don't fly off," Daniel said laughingly. I did as he said and took a firm grip around his waist. Charles counted down and I wasn't prepared when Daniel started accelerating so I was pulled back a little. I grabbed Daniel tightly as he tried to catch up to Charles and Lando. Of course they had cheated and left before us.

They stopped after a while and started celebrating their win. "you cheat" Daniel shouted at them. When they looked at me, those on the other scooter started laughing hysterically. I must have looked terrified considering the way Daniel was driving. We rode around on the water a bit and enjoyed the weather, we must have been out for a very long time because the sun was starting to set.

"can we eat something now" I said as I felt my stomach twist inside me. The others thought it was a good idea and we started driving towards land again. We had unknowingly gone very far because we went a long way but got no closer to land. I noticed how we started missing down and noticed how Daniel was as surprised as I was. "why are we stopping" I asked when we had stopped completely. "The petrol is out" said Daniel with a slight panic in his tone. I saw how the others had noticed that we weren't following so they went back to us.

"why did you stop" Charles asked. "our gas is out" I explained as I looked around to see how far we had to land. "Can't you go and buy petrol or something" said Daniel annoyed. Charles tried to argue against it as he didn't want to leave me alone but when I explained that it was fine if they hurried, Charles gave up.