Mirrorball - Charles Leclerc

three - the Ferrari gala

Olivia

I follow Charles at a good distance as he walks through the paddock on Sunday, photographers taking pictures of him. They just finished their pre-season testing and now we're headed to the media pen where they'll do some interviews.

"They'll probably just ask stuff about the car. I checked and the guy from the other day isn't here," I tell him, as we both walk into the media pen, and he nods, his eyebrows knitted together which seems to be his favorite facial expression.

"I'll try to rememberer everything you told me yesterday," He says, amusement in his voice. We had an emergency meeting yesterday so that what happened on the first day doesn't happen again. Specially when the season hasn't even officially began.

I let out a loud sigh. "Just tell them exactly what I told you. And be nice." I say as we approach a journalist.

"Whatever you say, Red. I'm at your whim," He says, sarcasm filling every single word. I roll my eyes, now deciding I don't like the nickname.

"Good morning," The journalist says when Charles approaches her. I stand back, out of camera sight, just listening. Luckily, this time everything goes smoothly. When he's going to another journalist, I hear my name being called.

"Olivia!" I turn my head and find my friend Grace smiling at me.

"Grace, hi! I was wondering when I would see you," I say and give her a hug.

"What on earth are you doing here?" She asks, very confused to see me here.

"I'm working as a PR agent for Ferrari," I say and look really quickly to Charles to see if everything is ok, which it seems to be.

"Really? Well, good luck," She says and I laugh a little. This seems to be the common reaction.

"Thank you," I say and see Charles switching journalists. "I have to go. See you around!"

"See ya!" She says and I walk to where Charles is.

"You're doing good," I tell him and he rolls his eyes.

"Thank you so much for your intel, I was looking forward to your approval," He says, sarcastically, and it's my turn to roll my eyes. He doesn't let me respond as he starts talking to the next journalist.

"Excited for a new season?" The journalist asks.

"Very. Can't wait to go back to the car and race," He says, genuinely. The journalist looks at me with a smile on her face and then looks back at Charles.

"I see that Ferrari has a new member on their team," She asks and Charles looks at me, amusement in his eyes. He's very amused today. It's annoying me.

"Yes. This is Olivia, our new PR agent and my babysitter," he says, a cheeky smile on his face.

"I am, in fact, his babysitter because he is a baby," I say, from where I stand and the interviewer tries her best not to laugh. Charles doesn't look at me when he shows me his middle finger and I laugh. The rest of the interviews go on normally, and when the day is over I'm tired and hungry.

I don't have time to rest though because tonight Ferrari is having a fancy gala with the team, sponsors and important people. So, when I get to my hotel room, I shower and get ready. I put on my favorite formal dress, a simple black one, and curl my hair, letting it fall on my back. I do some makeup and when I get a call telling me there's a car downstairs do pick me up, I leave.

Charles

I'm nodding at Carlos, but I have no idea what he's saying. I've been so distracted for the past hour, distracted by her. She's walking around talking to people, and I can tell how easy that is for her. Fred has given up on forcing me to talk to all these people, he knows by now I don't care about any of them.

But her, in the other hand, she intrigues me, and that infuriates me. I don't want to be intrigued by anyone ever again. I have before and that only gave me a broken heart and constant bitterness feeling. But it seems so easy to be intrigued by her, by the way she caries herself around this room. I can never figure out what she's thinking or what she's going to say and she always surprises me. I met her three days ago, how is she doing this to me already? I compose myself. We work together, for fucks sake. She's basically my boss.

"Charles," I hear Carlos call me.

"What?" I ask, focusing on my teammate. He looks at what I'm looking and then looks back at me.

"What are you doing looking at her like that?" Carlos says standing next to me.

"I'm not looking at her in any way," I say and sip on my drink. Luckily, tonight, we can drink whatever and how much we want.

"You were. What's going on with you two?" He asks, his tone telling me he's messing with me. I look at her. She's talking to a man who I think is part of a sponsor's team. She seems comfortable and she's laughing at whatever he's saying and for some stupid reason, that makes my blood boil a little.

"Nothing is going on, Olivia's just my PR agent," I say and down the rest of my drink, setting the glass on the tall table we're standing next to.

"If you say so," Carlos says and looks around the room. My focus remains on her and how she's laughing with the guy.

"What is so funny for her to be laughing like that?" I say and Carlos laughs.

"I thought she was just your PR agent," he says, amusement filling every word.

"Exactly. Mine," I say and start walking in their direction, not letting Carlos say anything else.

"Let me buy you a drink. It can't hurt," I hear the guy say to her as I'm approaching them.

"Might hurt," I say under my breath, but I know he heard it by the confused look he gives me, and I know she heard it too by the annoyed look she throws my way.

"Do you need something, Charles?" Olivia asks, her arms crossed over her chest. Her wavy hair falls perfectly over her shoulders and it looks so much more red in contrast with her black dress. Why am I noticing that.

"I do, actually. I need your help with the speech I'm being forced to give," I lie. I memorized that speech yesterday.

She looks at the guy, smiling. "Excuse me."

She walks away and it takes me three seconds before I walk after her like I'm a puppy and she's holding me by a leash. I'm ridiculous.

I make an excuse when we sit at a table in a corner. I say I don't remember a part at the end and she tells me it. I nod as she recites the speech she wrote for me. When Fred comes over and tells me it's time, I excuse myself and make a promise to stop thinking about her in that way, to stop thinking about her at all. Let's see how long that will last.

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Hello beautiful people!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Sorry if there's any mistakes, I'm too lazy to check lmao

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