Much to Laura's surprise, and Anna's delight, Charles was waiting for them when they arrived in the Ferrari hospitality the next morning ahead of the race. He'd given her a quick hug and kiss on the cheek, which had earned a couple of raise eyebrows from Anna, in greeting before stepping back a little to greet Anna.
"I was wondering if you'd decided you wanted to watch from the garage or not?" Charles asked, looking hopefully at Laura.
"Of course she wants to go watch from the garage!" Anna squeaked, practically shoving Laura into Charles before she even had a chance to answer him. "You go, I'll go find Josh. I'll catch up with you later?"
Anna had turned and disappeared halfway up the stairs before Laura could say anything else, leaving her to just chuckle awkwardly and shrug her shoulders at Charles. "I guess I'm coming with you then?" She offered.
"Great." Charles grinned. "I just have to get changed, then you can come to the garage with me and I'll introduce you to everyone?"
"Who's everyone?" Laura asked suspiciously, following him up the steps on the hospitality towards his drivers room.
"Just the team and a few people. Nothing to worry about. They'll keep you company while
I'm driving." He waved a hand dismissively. "Come on, let me get dressed then we'll go."
In hindsight, she probably should've waited downstairs. Standing in the small room with him as he stripped out of his clothes and started to put on his fireproofs and race suit was quite the spectacle, and now probably all she was going to think about for the entire duration of the race.
"You're staring." Charles smirked, crossing the small room and using his thumb to unhook her lip from between her teeth.
"Maybe a little." Laura admitted, cheeks turning as red as his race suit. "You're going to win this right? Then we're going to celebrate... like you said?"
The devilish smirk Charles gave back was mirroring her own. "Oh believe me, I've been thinking about that all night. I'm more than motivated."
"Good." Laura smirked, leaning into give him a quick kiss. "Then we better get you in that car and out on the track so you can win me a race and we get to the celebrations part."
"Okay, come on." Charles took her hand in his, leading her back through the hospitality and across the paddock towards the garage.
He stopped to chat to a few people here and there, but Laura had no idea what about, the words being an oddly jumbled mix of French and Italian with the odd English word thrown in if he couldn't think how to say something. She didn't mind though, just following along beside him and allowing him to guide her through the busy paddock.
"How are you feeling?" Laura asked as the two of them continued to weave through the crowd, Charles occasionally stopping to sign something or take a photo with a fan.
"Nervous." He admitted. "I wasn't joking when I said this race hates me... I know I'm starting from the front and there should be a good chance but... well, we've said that before and it didn't turn out so great."
"You can do it." Laura said firmly, giving his hand a squeeze. "I know I don't really know what I'm talking about, but I believe in you."
"Thank you." Charles said quietly, ushering her into the back of the garage. "Come on, let's introduce you to everyone before I have to go."
"The way you keep saying everyone is really unnerving." Laura laughed. "It makes it sounds like it's going to be a lot of people."
Charles didn't answer her, just ushering her along into the garage, his hand on her back pushing her along in front of him. As they walked in he started greeting various members of the Ferrari team, then turned his attention to a small group stood at the back of the garage.
"Mum, Arthur... this is Laura. She's going to watch with you guys today. Laura, this is my mum Pascale, and my brother Arthur." He smiled, his hand still resting casually around her waist as Arthur looked at him with a smirk.
"It's so lovely to finally meet you Laura." Arthur grinned. "You look really familiar, have we met before?"
"No." Charles answered quickly, glaring at his brother. He turned around at the sound of someone calling his name. "I'm going to have to go... are you going to be alright here?" He asked Laura, who was looking at him with wide eyed panic.
"Oh we'll take care of her, don't worry." Arthur smirked. "Go on."
"I'll see you after the race." Charles smiled, pressing a quick kiss to the side of Laura's head, before giving his mum a hug. He turned to Arthur, saying something in French that although Laura couldn't understand it, was quite clearly a threat and Arthur laughed, patting Charles on the shoulder as he headed off to get ready.
He was gone so quickly that Laura had no chance to protest, and was still standing there wondering quite why he'd decided this was the ideal time to introduce her to his family and then abandon him with them, as he climbed into the car and headed out of the garage.
"You know, you do look really familiar." Arthur said as the noise in the garage started to die down. "Ohhhh I know, you're the girl he kept abandoning me in the club for!"
Laura was going to deny it, but she could feel that her face had gone so red there was no point in even trying. "I'm sorry?" She offered.
Arthur laughed. "Don't worry about it, he didn't want to be there in the first place to be fair. We just made him come with us so he wasn't sat at home wallowing about having a shitty race. Looks like it worked in his favour in the end anyway. Are you going to come out with us later?"
"Oh I... I... I don't know." Laura stammered, because in all honesty she had no idea what Arthur was talking about, Charles hadn't mentioned anything.
"You have to!" Arthur grinned. "If he wins this... when he wins this... it'll be the biggest party you've ever seen."
"I don't know if I'm invited." Laura shrugged. "He didn't say anything."
Arthur looked over to where his mum was chatting to someone behind her. "Trust me, if he brought you here and introduced you to mum, you're invited. He doesn't do that."
Laura stared at Arthur blankly, trying to work out what he meant, she was still trying to comprehend how she'd gone from one night in a club and never seeing the guy again to now being stood in the Ferrari garage with his family watching him race. It was enough to give her a headache just trying to figure it out.
"Here, you'll need these." Arthur handed her a pair of headphones. "Have you watched many races?"
"No." Laura admitted. "First time."
"Ah." Arthur grinned. "My time has come, you're about to get a crash course in all things F1."
"As long as he doesn't actually crash." Laura laughed nervously.
YOU ARE READING
Escapism (CL 16)
Fanfiction"Just a heart broke bitch High heels six inch In the back of the nightclub, sippin' champagne Drunk calls, drunk texts, drunk tears, drunk sex I was lookin' for a man who was on the same page"
