Behind Closed Doors

5. Take the win

We all take a deep breath after Charles makes it into q3, but we still got so see if he is able to beat the other 9 drivers to take pole.

Alex is currently using the bathroom while we wait for q3 to starts leaving me in charge of Leo. Im sat next to Arthur and Her on the couch with Leo on my lap, jumping around and trying to lick my face and I start giggling

"Leo, come on. Calm down" I laugh distracting him with some butt scratches

I smile at his little tail wagging at full speed

"You two look cute together" Arthur says, moving his hand to pet Leo as well, intentionally touching my hand with his fingers before moving to actually pet Leo, glancing at me with a smile to see how I react to his touch, which is exactly how he wanted me to react. I hold my breath, turn slightly red and I start at his hands

"Thank you..." I just say before Leo jumps on Arthur and jumps around on him, licking his face and I can't help but smile at this scene Leo is the cutest dog ever and giving how I've been feeling about Arthur, it only makes it harder not to stare at them

"I see get got you two wrapped around his fingers too" Alex giggles as she sees Leo go absolutely crazy on Arthur and me just smiling at them both

"Can you blame us?" I ask her as she sits down besides me again

"No way, he got his manipulative ways" she says and Leo recognises her voice and jumps on me to make his way to Alex again showing no sign of slowing down

Q3 starts and gets us on the edge of our seats, in the last minutes Charles takes provisional pole with a second gap to Norris. It was Charles last attempt so we are just waiting for the Mclaren, Mercedes and Max to cross the line

Piastri already has a purple sector one and a personal best sector two, taking the last corner on the start finish straight we all hold our breath until he crosses the line 1,5 tenths away behind Charles time, Norris behind him with the an incredible second sector lost to much time in the first sector placing him third behind Piastri all eyes are on the second Ferrari car as Sainz get two purple sectors coming into the final turn, my hands move to cover my face afraid of seeing whats gonna happen he crossed the line and his name moves up to third place finishing the last round of qualifying

We all jump up from our seats and cheer filled with excitement at this massive achievement, since Monaco is a track where it's difficult to overtake on track, its only a matter of Pit strategy leaving Charles home race win in the hands of hit race engineer and pit crew

"HE DID IT! OH MY GOD POLE POSITION" I say excited and hug Arthur and he wraps his arms around me carefully, only as I feel my body reacting to him I back away and give him an awkward smile before turning around and hug Alex too to make it seem casual

Ever since Charles and I were kids and I joined him to his karting races, he only ever talked about leading his home race, securing a win in-front of his friends and family in the streets where he grew up in and tomorrow he finally has that chance.

"Oh my god, this is incredible" Alex says not sure if she is believing what she sees in the big screen

I just love seeing his entire family be so excited for him, its crazy how close they all are even if I basically grew up with them

We all start talking about it and the room just heats up and I decide to get some fresh air

I sit down on the top of the stairs looking over parts of the track, I wouldn't exactly call it fresh air since it smells like burned rubber but its close enough

"Is that seat taken?" Arthur asks me and points the the place next to me on the step

"Go ahead its all yours" I tell him and continue staring down on the track, trying to take the win of saving that baristas life but I can't

"You got out of there quickly, you okay?" He asks me as he is sat next to me

"Yeah, I just wanted to grab some fresh air. The air is quite bad in there" I respond

"And now the truth?" He asks again and I sigh

"What do you want Arthur?" I ask

"Well first of all for you to stop lying to me" he says

"What are we doing Arthur? You should be in there celebrating your brothers pole with your family and so should I" I say

"Well, you walked out first so why should I be in there if you aren't?" He responds and I groan

"Because you got it all wrong, I'm not a surgeon because I put other people first, I'm a surgeon because I couldn't safe my mom when she had a heart attack. Its why I chose Ortho because 99% of the time I don't have to deal with Patients with a heart attack and which is why I can't count saving that barista as a win because it just reminds me that I could've helped my mom" I say dumping my trauma

"You were 8 Nick, its not your fault. You did everything right calling an ambulance and waiting for instructions" he tells me, I never told him what happened that day but I'm guessing he overheard me and Charles talk about it

"I could have been faster" I say blaming myself

"Or you were as fast as you could be, I lost my dad too and he was in good hands in the hospital and they still couldn't save him. Its not fair but not all lives are meant to be saved" he says and places his hand on mine

"When did you grow up to be this wise?" I smile at him

"I tried to impress someone" he tells me

"And how is that working out for you?" I ask him

"Well I believe im slowly getting there" he says and squeezes my hand

"You are..." I just say without looking at him I clear my throat to distract him from what I just said and move to another topic

"So do you think Charles is gonna be cooking anything good for dinner?" I ask

"Well, its Charles so I think we both know the answers to that" he answers, taking the distraction and we both laugh

—————

After we finally got home and Charles cooked his more then al dente pasta making us nearly bite our teeth out, we somehow managed to eat enough to be full, we talked about tomorrows race and which strategy they most likely will be going for.

Charles goes to bed at a reasonable time again and today I join him in going to bed early, knowing its the best to avoid the one on one conversations with Arthur

I scroll through instagram, my discover page is filled with videos, interviews, analysis and pictures of the drivers including the videos where the family members get shown and I see a video of Arthur talking with Lorenzo and His mom, however never looking at them for more than a second but looks into the distance, where Alex and I were talking, the video replays more then I would like to admit until I realise my mind shifting

Nick get your shit together, Arthur is off limits...