You Belong With Me

25.

Charlie had arrived in the UK alone on the Monday. She had decided to book her own hotel, flights and everything as she felt bad Stoffel doing it all the time and she wanted to be independent. Stoffel had asked her to text him that she had
landed safely which she did, him and Anna would travel out on the Wednesday. Max was also traveling out on the Monday but in the evening.

The UK was a sentimental place for Charlie even though she doesn't remember anything of it, it's where her parents met, got married and where Charlie was born. She had hired a car and decided to travel to her old neighbourhood. While she was there she brought food so she could prepare for her date with max, Charlie had everything planned out.

It was Tuesday and Charlie had just finished making up the picnic basket for her and Max's date. She decided to text max to say she was on her way to pick him up. He was staying near the track whereas Charlie's hotel was further away, she wanted to be a little bit more alone this weekend.

Once Charlie had picked Max up she drove to a place where her parents would always take her for picnics, Charlie doesn't remember it but only knows from pictures. She hadn't told Max where they were going as she wanted it to be a surprise. The car ride wasn't long so they didn't talk much. Max had to admit he felt quite nervous and so did Charlie.

Charlie parked the car up and she led max through this forest, on the other side of the forest was a big open grass space with a beautiful lake. "Wow! This is beautiful" Max said looking around. "I know!" Charlie agreed. Charlie laid out a blanket for them to sit on and started to unpack the basket. Inside was just little picky party food, a beer for Max and a water for Charlie as she was driving.

After they had finished eating they started to get into a deep conversation. "What brings us here then? Any specific reason?" Max asks. "It's where my parents would bring me every other Saturday" Charlie showed him a picture on her phone of Charlie as a baby holding her mothers finger tips learning to walk on the grass with the lake behind them. "My mom would tell me all the time we would come here and obviously I can't remember it and I've always wanted to come back" Charlie continued. "Well you were a cute baby" max chuckled handing Charlie her phone back to her.

"This might sound stupid but, do you miss them?" Max asked. "Yeahhhh I do..... A lot, but then as everyday goes by I'm starting to get used to it. It's just difficult because like when you do well in a race your dad or mom is there to congratulate you, when Stoffel moved into F1 he went straight to his parents. So when I'm reaching milestones so like moving to Monaco I can't share my happiness with them but then I realise I have amazing friends around me." Charlie smiled looking into Max's eyes which looked saddened. He couldn't imagine losing the people he loved the most.

"Do you ever get scared when Stoffel gets into the car?" Max changes topic. "Full of questions today." Charlie giggles. "I just want to get to know you further" max smirks. "Well to answer your question yes 100%. In 2017 I didn't go to any races but when I wasn't doing anything I would watch the races with Stoffel's parents while doing some course work for college. I didn't really understand anything and I wasn't interested in it at all but Stoffel's parents didn't want me being alone because Stoffel was my only friend and when he wasn't there I was alone. But I remember his parents got a fright when he clashed with Massa in Spain but he didn't like spin off or anything but the one were I did jump out of my seat was Monaco where he collided with the wall in qualifying. I didn't really pay attention to anyone else racing, just Stoffel" Charlie giggled. "Yeah I had my few fair shares of spins and crashes, and oh Singapore was bad with rain and the Ferraris" max winced remember the crash. "Ive never watched a race where its rained, I'm far too scared." Charlie remember, she's too scared too many will crash in the rain.

"But god there's been a few crashes this season" Charlie thinks back. "Yeahhh, Brendon and stroll in Canada looked nasty" Max said while Charlie nodded in agreement. "You and Daniel in Baku, my heart was about to come out my mouth" Charlie laughed. "Oh god don't even remind me" max laughed along. "I'm just so glad no major crashes have happened and you and Stoff have been involved" Charlie placed her hand over Max's and smiled, he returned the smile.

Max and Charlie stayed there for a while watching the sun set in a comfortable silence. After a while they decided to make their way back. As Charlie pulled up at Max's hotel he stayed in the car for a bit "I've had such a lovely date, thank you" max smiled. "It was my pleasure" Charlie blushes as she also really enjoyed today. "Well after this weekend I'm going back home to see my parents and Vic and I was wondering if you would like to join us in our family meal" max offered. "That's a lovely offer and I would love to but I don't want to intrude, you don't get to see your family a lot so I'm sure you want to spend alone time with them" Charlie didn't want to feel like she was intruding. "Don't be silly, of course you can come! Vic absolutely loves you and my dad has been telling me how he would love to meet you again." Max smiled. "Thank you I would love to" Charlie blushed as he invited her. Max leaned in closer to Charlie and Charlie started to panic so she just turned her face which resulted in max awkwardly kissing her cheek. "Goodnight Charlie, hopefully I'll see you through out the week" max said getting out the car. "Goodnight" Charlie tried to not laugh at how awkward that moment was between them but as soon as she drove away she burst into laughter.