I love you, always | Charles Leclerc ✔

14

Charles and Julie's highlight of the 2016 year would be when Charles won the GP3 Series Championship and was crowned World-Champion at the Yas Marina circuit, in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, in late November. They celebrated by having dinner with his family first and then they went to a club with others drivers who wanted to blow off some steam after the stressful season.

That night, Charles and Julie spent most of their time with Alex Albon, and Pierre Gasly, Charles's other best friend. He was just crowned GP2 Series World-Champion, the same day as Charles got his title so the night meant double celebration. They partied hard. Harder than they ever had. Not necessarily by drinking as Julie and Charles weren't comfortable with getting drunk while their family was there, but Pierre didn't mind, he got so drunk that his teammate Antonio Giovinazzi had to drag him back to his hotel room. Charles and Julie decided for their part, that they wanted to end the night by a walk. They ended up walking together, hand in hand, on the beach at almost 3 in the morning.

« Tu sais Juju, je crois que je ne t'ai jamais remerciée pour cette année. »
"You know Juju, I think I never thanked you for this year."

 « Pourquoi tu devrais me remercier ? Je n'ai absolument rien fait de spécial pourtant. C'est plutôt moi qui devrait te remercier, tu as toujours su me conseiller cette année quand j'avais besoin d'aide. »
"Why should you thank me ? I didn't do anything special though. It should me be me thanking you, you always know how to advise me, especially this year when I needed help."

« Je sais pas, à chaque fois je me dis que je suis tellement chanceux de t'avoir à mes côtés chaque week-end que je sens le besoin de te remercier. »
"I don't know, each time I tell myself that I'm so lucky to have you by my side each week-end and that makes me feel the need to thank you."

Julie frowned and stopped abruptly, making Charles stop as well. He turned around to look at her, confused, which he became even more when she put both of her hands on his cheeks, making him look in her eyes.

« Tu n'auras jamais à me remercier pour quelque chose de si banal Charles, j'ai fait le choix de te suivre à travers le monde et personne ne m'a obligée à le faire. Je l'ai fait en mon âme et conscience parce que ça me rendait heureuse. Je fais enfin quelque de chose de ma vie qui me rend heureuse, et c'est tout ce que j'ai toujours souhaité et je sais que c'est pareil pour Jules. »
"You will never have to thank for something so normal Charles, I made the choice of following you throughout the world and no one forced me to make it. In all honesty, I made it because it makes me happy. I'm finally doing something with my life that I enjoy and it's all I've ever wished for and I know it's the same for Jules."

Charles didn't say anything in response. He was too mesmerized by Julie and how she looked under the soft glow of the Moon. When Julie noticed he wasn't listening to her but simply admiring her instead, she felt her cheeks redden. The moment was quiet, there was only the two of them on the beach and they took all the time in the world to look carefully at each other's face, trying to take in as much details as they could. 

Julie moved her hands from his cheeks to his neck, where she joined them and started to play with a small strand of her at the back of his head. Charles, him, put his hands on Julie's waist, bringing her body closer to his, all while never breaking eye contact.

Inevitably, their faces got closer, slowly but surely, giving the other time to back out in case they didn't want the obvious to happen. Their eyes fluttered close as their lips finally met for a long awaited kiss which was bound to happen for a long time now. They both sighed softly of relief into the kiss. Their kiss was full of love and affection and lasted so long as they had to make up for all the time they had lost.

The only witness of their tender embrace was the glowing moon.

« Julie ? »
"Julie ?"

« Oui Charles ? »
"Yes Charles ?"

« Je t'aime, toujours. »
"I love you, always."