Charles threw his hands up in the air as he walked up onto the podium and watching outt onto the sea of people. Third place was just about his after he tapped one of Lewis' rear tyres, causing him to spin out but luckily enough he got away with it. The Mercedes crew were not one bit happy about him and amongst those people was Y/n, the young German he had met earlier on. She for sure wasn't going out with him now. He couldn't even pay her to go out now. Charles finished up the podium celebrations and walked out into the paddock with the trophy in his hand, proud. In the corner of his eye, he spotted Y/n walking somewhere with her phone by her ear. He walked up to her, calling her name which grabbed her attention for sure. She let out a frustrated groan and tried to walk quicker. "I'll talk to you later. I have to go." she said quickly before hanging up. "Hey! Where are you going?" he asked finally catching up. "To the Mercedes hospitality. Away from the ferrari guys because one, that move was illegal and you should have got a penalty for it. You really should have Leclerc!" she spat with venom in her tone. Charles knew he should have gotten a penalty but when you get away with it, what are you supposed to do? "What exactly do you want me to do? Go and say itt was my fault?" he asked as she walked up thve steps to the door. "Maybe Charles, just maybe you should." and away she was out of sight yet again.
Charles battled with his thoughts as he walked up the steps to the stewards office. Was he really going to do this? All for the sake of some random woman he mett in the paddock? Maybe but he found himself knocking the door into the office and walking in shortly after. "Hello Charles. Congratulations on the podium. How can we help you?" Charles took a deep breath in. "Erm, I don't think you made the right decision on that incident on the last few laps between me and Lewis." He said sitting down. The stewards all sat forward, confused as they've never witnessed something like this before. "What? And you're sure?" He nodded. "Well Charles, we've already gotten a statement from Lewis and he said that he pushed too hard and made the mistake himself so are you positive that it was your fault?" Charles went through the memory in his head. He remembered exactly what happened. "I ddo think it's my fault. I really do." The stewards sat back and prepared to take Charles' statement. "Well Charles, tell us your perspective then."
Y/n sat in the garage fiddling her thumbs. They'd finished up cleaning everything and had nothing left to do so they decided to take a quick break. A sudden commotion broke out which grabbed Y/n's attention and out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a little flash of red. She looked up and saw Charles handing Lewis the trophy, a look of defeat on his face. Y/n's eyebrows knotted in confusion as she watched him. Charles' eyes kept darting back from Lewis and Y/n. Hopefully he could bring her out now. Everyone gave him a round of applause as he walked out of the garage. Y/n pushed through the crowd of the Mercedes crew, trying to find the ferrari red jacket of Charles. Charles on the other hand walked away with his hands in his pockets, kicking a pebble. He stopped as he heard an angelic voice call after him. He turned around and saw Y/n running towards him.
"Charles! Charles!" she called. He waited until she caught up with him and watched as she stood out of breath and panting. "Are you alright?" he asked. "Just....give me...a....second.....I'm....not really.....athletic."she said in-between breaths. Charles smiled. A little and waited until she spoke again. "Okay, so did the FIA tell you what you did was a bit of a dickhead move?" she smiled. Charles shook his head, which made her very confused. "So why did you give Lewis the trophy?" she asked walking with him now. "I went up and told the stewards it was my fault and then I got a five second penalty, therefore I'm fourth now, not third." Y/n looked at him in disbelief. "You actually went and told them? Why?" Charles looked back down at her and felt his heart skip a beat as the butterflies flew around his stomach. "Because at the end of the day, they're just pieces of metal. Sure they look nice and it's a good story to tell how I wmgot them but I think you're much more important than some trophy because I think you could make me a lot more happier than some cup."
Y/n couldn't response to that. She really couldn't. "Well, I'll see you around then- oh I actually never got your name." he said. "It appears so. It's weird, I've spoken to you all day and you don't even know my name." she chuckled. "I do know your name. I saw it on your badge. I just want to hear you say it." Y/n swallowed the lump in her throat and spoke again. "I'm Y/n." she said. Charles loved her name but when she said it, it sounded like- well that was the thing. He'd never felt this feeling before. "Well Y/n, I'll see you around." She watched as he walked away and stood by herself, feeling guilt in every cell of her body. She wanted to make him feel somewhat better so she'd better get to work.
Charles lay on his bed flicking through the TV channels when he heard a knock come from his door. He let out a groan and walked slowly to the door before opening it. When the door was opened, his eyes were set upon a smiling Y/n in a beautiful black dress. He was slightly confused, he had to admit. "What are you doing here?" he asked stepping out. "Well, I think we should go out and get to know each other better, just like you suggested earlier today." Charles looked at her confused. "Even after I messed up Lewis' race?" he asked. "Well, you decided to go and redeem yourself so I figured I'd return the favour." she replied. "Now go change." Charles smirked and returned into his room to change. He couldn't quite believe his luck. He was going on a date with a girl that was practically his dream girl, what he'd always wanted.
Charles returned a few minutes later in a black polo shirt with a casual jacket over it and some jeans. Y/n bit her lip to hide a smile, a horrible attempt but an attempt none the less. "Well, you clean up nicely." Y/n smiled. "You aren't too bad yourself. Now, shall we?" Y/n nodded and smiled before hooking arms with Charles and walking down the hallway with him, on their first date.
