Romeo and Juliet || Carlos Sainz

I ruined everything

Y/n watched the free practice and sprint qualifying from inside the Ferrari hospitality. She fiddled with her pass hanging around her neck as she sat at a high table on a stool, heedless of the rest of the jet set swirling around her. She was not interested in being part of it, although it could be very easy for her to get in. She hated the spotlight, she found that world useless, so distant from motorsport, so distracted and superficial. But perhaps she was too much of a stickler to appreciate it, always and only dedicated to her work as she was.

The sprint qualifying went very well, Charles took pole position, behind him, Max, Checo and Carlos unexpectedly fifth. Y/n was surprised by this result, but from the frames it looked like he had no confidence with the car, as if he was distracted. He had had a few track limit warnings and some times cancelled. Fortunately, he had managed to take the front rows anyway.

At the end of qualifying, Y/n, Charles, Andrea, Joris and Arthur went to dinner together. Y/n sat between Charles and Joris and read the menu with them. Joris held it for her, while Charles talked to Arthur.

"I'll have a hamburger," Joris sentenced.
"Yeah, me too," Y/n copied him
"What do you want, Cha?" Y/n was trying to be affectionate towards him, hoping that he might get unstuck towards her as well.

"What did you choose?" Charles approached her to read the menu, keeping his elbows on the table and his fingers crossed between them. He was very close to her face and Y/n felt very warm at that moment. The two of them looked at each other in silence, Charles waited for her to answer him and looked into her eyes, she had forgotten what Charles had asked her.

"We got a burger" Joris replied to help Y/n.
"Let's go for the burger then" having said this, he turned away from Y/n to continue talking to his brother.
As they waited for their plates, the door of the diner opened and a group of boys entered. Y/n recognised them, it was Carlos and his team, Caco, Teto and his new personal trainer, Pierluigi. Y/n lost his breath for a second.

Charles and the others turned towards the group that had just entered and, although he was not particularly happy to do so, like the gentleman he is, he invited them to sit with them. Carlos accepted, probably also prompted more by a desire to be polite than by any real reason for pleasure. The waiters did their best to extend Charles's table and the boys sat down, adjusting their seats, so Y/n found herself seated between Charles and Joris but across from her sat Carlos. It wasn't possible, come on.

The others also ordered and all together they started talking business. Of course Y/n was also included in the discussion, even though she was no longer part of the Scuderia. At one point, the conversations split; Charles ended up talking to Caco and Y/n to Carlos. Y/n's conversation focused on the track limits passed by Carlos and together they analysed the problem more closely. "There's the exit of a corner that I always do badly," Carlos admitted.
"I noticed it, did you talk to Ricky?"
"Yes, but I can't figure out how to improve. I've had two times cancelled for that reason."
"In my opinion there is a way"
Carlos looked at her curiously, then stood waiting for her to speak to him. "There is a point in the straight where you stretch too far, ending up making the corner too late, so on the exit of the corner you go out of the limits."
"I don't understand which point in the straight you're referring to" Carlos unlocked his phone and took a detailed picture of the circuit, stuff they have in Ferrari, secret enough to show Y/n, but he wanted her opinion.

He got up from his chair, he could have shown her the screen and shared the view together across the table, yet he opted for the less obvious option.

He walked around her and positioned himself exactly behind her chair. Charles had noticed this scene and followed Carlos with his eyes, until he saw what they were talking about, after peeking at Carlos' mobile phone screen. It bothered him enough, but after all they were talking about work, after all he didn't know how he felt about Y/n, it could be jealousy, it could be curiosity, he didn't know yet.
As a matter of fact, Charles went back to talking to Caco, turning his back on the two.