Wrong number

9) little get together

Max was home in Monaco and on his computer checking some new strategies when he received an email. He clicked on it and saw an update on his calendar. "Padel session in Monaco with Charles Leclerc". "What the fuck?!" He yelled at his screen.

He looked further in the email and saw some quite horrifying details added. They would spend the entire afternoon doing padel on the field next to the beach, post on social media about that and make sure to be publicly seen as good friends on the beach. It was also preferred for them to go grab something to eat together. Like real friends would do.

In big words, he was doomed.

Charles was having coffee and a pastry in a cafe with his family when he got an email on his phone about something he had to attend. He visibly frowned seeing the email. "Are you alright mon chérie? my darling You seem upset." his mum asked. And he was definitely a bit upset. He simply showed them the email. The title alone could inform them but they read further. The title was : "Padel date with Verstappen"

Arthur snorted while seeing this. His mother softly hit him on the arm to scold him. The rest of the email was detailing the entirety of an afternoon with Verstappen. They had to play padel then grab something to eat at the beach. In resume, a nightmare for Charles. They would also need to post about it.

Their PR's definitely hadn't forgot what they said at the conference. Charles checked the date and saw that it was tomorrow afternoon. "Putain de sa race!" Fucking bullshit! He said angrily looking at his phone. "Charles come on it's gonna be ok don't be mad." His mother tried to reassure him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was now the day after and Charles was getting ready. He kept fixing his hair in the bathroom. Why was he even putting so much effort in his hair anyway? For Max? No.

He took his phone, keys and padel racket and went out. He locked the door and simply walked up to the padel field near his apartment. He tried to avoid fans and arrived by the back. He was already in a not so good mood but when he saw Max sitting there impatiently, it went down to the bottom.

"- Hi Max, he said dryly. Are we supposed to do a few games then "hang out"? he asked mimicking quotation marks with his hands.

- I think so, he replied as dryly as Charles. There's an empty court there, coming?"

Charles followed him in silence, making a mental note to kill his PR for making him do that.

They started playing in silence simply hitting the ball when it came. They didn't talk for a long moment, not even smiling just a grumpy face. Charles suddenly hit the ball not strong enough and it went into the net. Max snickered. "Ha, lame". Charles, that took the ball back and was about to hit it back, threw it at his face. Max caught it before it could hit him. "Woah calm down mate." Charles rolled his eyes. "Oh shut the fuck up."

Max shushed him up and pointed to the camera and the people near them. The monégasque rolled his eyes again. He then got his best PR stunt with his biggest fakest smile and silently told Max to do the same.

They began "chatting" about racing and what they would do after padel. They talked about the things they were told to and learned. They started playing with more enthusiasm and looked like real friends. But if you looked closely you'd see no emotion in their eyes.

The duo took a break and sat down on a bench away from prying eyes and cameras. Their smiles dropped and they talked normally. Which is to talk about what to talk about since they listed everything their PR's told them too.

"- Maybe we could talk about older races or something like that, Max said.

- We could cause maybe there's fans and cameras, but we aren't listened to specifically. As long as we look like we're talking and joking together, it's alright, Charles answered.