Lights Out • 1 • Formula One ✔️

Chapter 101

The buzz of my seat decision had spread thoroughly through the paddock and the press by the time the US Grand Prix had finished. Once again, I had finished the race ahead of my teammate in a respectable fourth, whilst Esteban finished seventh. He did end up having an issue which resulted in an extra pit stop, otherwise he would've finished in fifth behind me still.

My solid performance might have been down to the fact that I was feeling a lot better now that my seat was secure, however I'm sure my little moment with Charles played a huge part in it. I was in a significantly brighter mood now that I was able to forget about the Max and Dilara incident at the Red Bull dinner.

Charles and I were pretty much inseparable. I thought that since we were going to be close rivals next year, he'd back away from the relationship we have, but it doesn't seem to bother him at all. He even flew with me to Mexico, and then had me over for dinner at his hotel room. A condition for him cooking the meal himself was that I had to wear that revealing dress that required no underwear. He didn't want to rush me into anything, but there was definitely some intimate touching involved. I wasn't surprised to find out that he was such a gentleman.

"Charlo, I'll have to call you back. I'm about to meet Christian and I don't want to risk Max knowing that I'm talking to you," I told him, my voice hushed as I walked through the empty paddock. It was a Friday evening so anybody that was still working was in the garage or their designated areas on a break. Christian had asked me to meet him over at Red Bull since we didn't get much of a chance to talk after I made my decision.

"Okay, chamallow. I'm still at Sauber so let me know when you're done and I'll drive us back to my hotel."

"I can always catch a cab."

"No. End of conversation." Before I got a chance to reply, he had hung up the phone. I brought the phone into my line of sight just to make sure that he did end the call, and was surprised to see he actually did. He's getting cheeky.

I huffed dramatically at Charles's stubbornness even though I not-so-secretly found it sweet. It's these little things that make me wish I would've made a move sooner, or that I could've unraveled my true feelings instead of just trying to mask them. I'm sick of comparing every relationship to the one Max and I had. It just hurt to see that what we had wasn't normal, or healthy, as it neared the end.

Walking into the Red Bull area, I immediately felt self conscious from all of the stares. Probably should've taken off my Force India hat. I bit my lip and removed the pink hat from my head, holding it tightly in my hands in an attempt to conceal it. My eyes scanned the room, however it was hard to spot Christian amongst the similar attire.

"Alyssa!" I don't think I've ever been so happy to hear Christian's voice. I turned on the spot and gave him a smile. "I can spot you a mile off since you're the only one other than my wife who would wear pink."

I chuckled and scratched the back of my neck. "I didn't even consider it until people were giving me funny looks."

"C'mon, I'll take you to a quieter corner where we can talk." I followed Christian closely as he lead me through the masses of crew members still, surprisingly, working.

"Force India is never this busy," I said in disbelief.

"Well, we're a much bigger team. Mercedes next year will be even more busy."

"Sometimes I just forget about all of this," I truthfully replied as we came to an eventual stop in an area secluded from the crowds. "I don't get much chance to interact with every member of my team because not all of them know about me."

"I take it you've still got your sights on a win to end all the speculation?" Christian asked, taking a seat at a table. I followed suit, sitting opposite him so that I could easily see his face.