I love you, always | Charles Leclerc ✔

5

Julie finally sat down in the seats of the emergency room, waiting for Jules's surgery to finish. She didn't calm down in the car, the traffic not helping, but fortunately, the driver was kind enough not to ask her questions about why she was in this state. The receptionist in the emergency room was also kind to Julie, talking to her gently with a reassuring smile, assuring her that her brother would be okay.

When she sat down in the chair, she took out her phone and saw dozens of missed calls from Charles. She quickly called him back, she needed him, needed to hear his voice reassuring her.

« Cha Cha... ? »
"Cha Cha... ?"

« Juju ? Oh mon Dieu, enfin ! »
"Juju ? Oh my god, finally !"

Julie didn't say anything for a few seconds, knowing her voice was only going to crack which would lead her to cry again. Charles did the same, the two of them needing a moment to process everything. 

« Est-ce que... est-ce que t'as vu Cha ? »
"Did... did you see Cha ?"

She heard a sigh in response.

« Oui j'ai vu Juju. »
"Yes I did Juju."

Charles's answer made everything too real for Julie. The fact that someone who wasn't even there saw what happened meant that it in fact did happen. Julie dreamt of it being a nightmare but Charles basically confirmed that it was not. She burst into tears, not being able to contain herself anymore. She had seen crashes during the season, but none of them looked as bad as her brother's, him being transported to the hospital was a sign of its severity.

« Il va s'en sortir Juju, il va s'en sortir... »
"He's going to make it Juju, he's going to make it..."

Charles repeated the sentence a few times, trying to convince Julie of it, and surely, himself too. But Julie couldn't help but notice something : Charles didn't promise her Jules was going to make it, as he usually did when he wanted to reassure his best friend. He wasn't actually sure Jules was going to make it. And that only broke Julie's heart even more, she started hiccuping.

« J'ai besoin de toi Cha, je peux pas faire ça toute seule, je peux pas... »
"I need you Cha, I can't do this alone, I can't..."

« Je te promets que dès que j'ai fini mes courses, je saute dans un avion pour te rejoindre. Je ne te garantie pas d'être là en 4 heures puisque je suis en Espagne mais je ferais aussi vite que possible, je te le promets. »
"I promise you that once I'm done with the race, I'll jump in a plane to join you. I can't guarantee you to be there in 4 hours cause I'm in Spain, but I'll do as fast as possible, I promise."

« S'il te plaît Charles, ne te crashes pas. Je ne supporterais pas un deuxième crash dans la même journée. Sois prudent et gagne. Et s'il te plaît, emmène Enzo avec toi s'il te plaît, il mérite de voir son meilleur ami. »
"Please Charles, don't crash. I can't bear another crash in the same day. Be careful and win. And please, bring Enzo too, he deserves to see his best friend." 

« Je ferais attention, ne t'en fais pas. Je ferais de mon mieux pour toi et Jules. Je te dis à tout à l'heure ma Juju, j'arriverai plus vite que tu ne le crois. Souviens toi, je t'aime, toujours. »
"I'll be careful, don't worry. I'll do my best for you and Jules. I'll see you later my Juju, I'll be there sooner than you think. Remember, I love you, always."

« Moi aussi Cha, je t'aime, toujours. À toute à l'heure. »
"Me too Cha, I love you, always. See you later."

They both hung up and despite Julie being literally sick thinking about Charles racing at that moment, she still put the live on her phone. She always watched all of Charles's races and she wasn't going to stop so soon. She was tense during the whole race, gripping her forearms with both of her hands, leaving red hand prints on her skin. The fact that a scenario quite similar to Suzuka's occurred in the first race, in Jerez : a truck was on the track without a safety car. Charles finished 6th in the first race, his driving was bit sloppier than usual but he still did good in Julie's opinion.

For the second race, 5 others pilots had to retire, with an impressive crash between Bruno Bonifacio, Jack Aitken and Anthoine Hubert. Fortunately, everyone was okay and Charles finished the race 7th without a hitch. Charles was crowned vice-champion of the Championship and Julie couldn't be happier for him despite the circumstances.

She let out a relieved sigh when Charles stepped on the second step of the podium while they handed the trophies of the ALPS 2014 Championship. Julie softly clapped along while Charles got his trophy as her eyes slowly filled with tears. She was so sad for her best friend, he didn't look happy at all, standing on the second highest step of the podium. She had hopped for Charles to finish as high as possible and he finished second out of 33 which was impressive. She had wanted for Charles to celebrate this moment with a huge smile on his face but at that moment, Julie could only see Charles's sad eyes. And that made her sob. She sobbed so hard she actually fell asleep waiting on her chair.