𝐔𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐒 - 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝

❥ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄

[𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐍𝐄]
thursday - media day

Max and I were driving to the track to absolve media day for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. We were still in the car, only a few minutes away, checking all his media day activities, when my phone rang. I looked confused about who was calling me now, this early, but when I looked at the phone, my confusion cleared.
"Good morning, Dad! What can I do for you this early?" I spoke into the phone when answering the call. "Hello, sweetheart. Are you already on your way?" My father, Christian Horner, ignored my question and asked another one. I sighted, but still answering: "Yes, Max and I are in the car, only a few minutes away from the track."
"That's great. I need you to come into the meeting room in the hospitality immediately when you arrive. We have something to talk about." This was the last thing I heard before the call broke up. Now I was confused. What was my dad talking about that was this important to not wait until we arrive? I must have made a confused face because a voice next to me immediately asked: "What did your father say, Elayne?" Max put me out of my trance so I was now looking at him. "My dad said we should come to the meeting room, immediately after we arrived. He had something to talk about with us." I explained the situation to Max, who now was the one looking extremely confused. As a reaction I just shrugged my shoulders.

More than five minutes later, we arrived at the track and made our way through the paddock in hurry. We were almost starting to ran when Checo walked in our direction, in a hurry as well. "Did Christian also call you?" I asked out of breath, barely looking at him. "Yes, a few minutes ago", he answered, continuing then: „Have you seen the news this morning?" Max and I looked at him confused, shaking our heads in synchronisation. Checo, also called Sergio, let out a heavy breath before continuing: "Since a few months, there have been rumors about us having an extrem fight with the two Ferrari drivers. Everywhere, they talk about the fact we don't get along and would hate each other off the track. And earlier this morning, an article dropped where Carlos and Charles should have said something against us but our media guys already talked with the Ferrari media employees and it turns out, that it's all AI generated."
"But where is the problem then?" Max asked when we almost arrived to the Redbull hospitality. "We have no proofs that it's AI generated. Our employees asked the Ferrari employees about it since they record every single interview like they need to do but no one knew something about the interview and it's also not marked in the calendars." Checo tried to explain the situation even more. "But then it's easy to just say the truth or am I wrong?" I asked, quietly, when we were going upstairs the hospitality. "No, because the magazine could say the opposite. They could say that we delete it to keep the picture together so on and so on, which is why we need to kill the real rumors so they have no reason to write about this stuff ever again." I wasn't able to ask another question because we were already standing in front of the meeting room, seeing my dad coming along the hallway. "There you are." He said in our direction before opening the door for us to go inside and I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked in. At the other side of the table, were sitting two brunette drivers in red clothes who were more than familiar to me. Especially the one with the more curly hair. It was him.
No one different than Charles Leclerc was sitting there. Next to him were Carlos, Fred and Ferrari's head of media. What the fuck were they doing here?
Max, Checo, my dad and myself sat in front of them, waiting for someone to start the conversation.
"We all know, why we are here today", Fred started to speak before continuing, "Today, an AI generated article was leaked which we have no proofs for so Christian Horner and myself sat together earlier to talk about the things we can do. We came to the conclusion, that we need to kill the rumor itself and show the world the opposite and how our real relationship is like." "That's why we are all here. Because our marketing and media teams had an idea", Dad started to continue with Fred's speech, "They had the idea that it would show our peace if Charles, the golden boy of Ferrari and the most liked driver on social media and Elayne, my daughter and right hand of the team principal of Red Bull, pretend to be in a relationship."
A few seconds of silence, before Charles and I both let out a confused "EXCUSE ME?" Fred and Dad were looking at each other, trying to agree on what they would say next. But I wouldn't let them come to word since I grabbed Max hand and pulled him outside the room with me.

Outside the room, I could breath for the first time since going in. I let out a heavy breath, still holding the hand of my best friend.
"What do you think?" He then asked after a few seconds of letting me get my thoughts together. "I can't do this, Max. You know what...what...happened..." I tried to explain my feelings to him but I couldn't think of what happened a few years ago and for sure I couldn't speak about it out loud. "I know, sweetie. I know. But as your dad said, it's a fake relationship. You just have to spend time with him when you are in public and act like a couple on the internet. It's not that hard." Max then said, neutral like he always was in this situations. "Do it for me and for our team." I nodded, agreeing on this deal which put my heart on the cards but as long as I was doing it for Max and the team, it was worth it.
Max and I went in again and I told everyone that I would agree. Charles also agreed and our team employees showed us the contract, they had made for us.
Conditions were that we had to travel together to the tracks, live together in Charles' apartment in Monaco a few times, show on social media that we were a couple as well as at the tracks. And of course we weren't allowed to tell anyone except the people in the room. Other things were allowed to be sorted by us. Charles and I agreed on everything as well as the announcement post before signing the contract.
When I left the room, going to finally start my work for the weekend, I had one thing going through my head and that was how long it has been since I last was a drivers girlfriend and how I never thought I would be one ever again. Crazy, how life works out sometimes.