~The Fast Lane~

11.

~Practice 2~

car 33 roars away from the garage and goes on the track. Gianpiero Lambiase talked over the radio with Max. Kate sat beside him studying all the data. 'Say radio check.' Gp ordered and gave her the headphones.

She looks at Gp and waits for the sign to radio Max. He nodded at Kate. 'Max radio check.' Kate says over the radio. Within a few seconds Kate gets a response. 'Hello Kate, loud and clear.' Max answers. Gp gives her a thumbs up. Kate gives the headphones back but Gp refuses. 'No, you do this now. I'll help you.'

Kate looks trough the gap of the pit wall and sees the Redbull of Max flying by. Max is on a fast lap. Few seconds later the McLaren of Carlos passes. The sounds from the cars are satisfying and Kate enjoys every car passing by. She finally forgets Jason and her stolen phone. Only thing in her mind is Max and Redbull.

On a small screen in front, she sees the onboard camera of Max Verstappen. She follows every move he makes. Every Curb, straight line and turn. Max passes again and is now on a cooldown lap. Gp tells Kate to let Max Box. 'Max Box Box.' She says on the radio. 'Copy.'

After 2 minutes the Redbull returned and the pit crew pushed him back into the garage.

————  End Practice 2 —————
'You did great! Kiddo.' Gp says to Kate. 'Yea you did great.' Christian Horner verifies. 'You are the first person that Max does respect on the radio, you didn't get a warning of him.' Gp informs. 'Maybe because he likes me.' Kate jokes and gets off her seat.

'I learned a lot today.' Kate says to Gp and he smiles. 'Good!' Kate enters the garage. Max sees her and waves. Max stands beside the car with his teammate Pierre. Kate walks to him. 'Hi!'  Max says to her. 'Hey Max, hi Pierre.' Kate greets. 'You must see our new Instagram post, it's a video of me leaving the garage in style.' Max tells her.

Kate realises that she lost her phone, well got taken away from her. 'I don't have my phone.' Max looks at her confused. 'What you mean, you don't have your phone?' Max questions. 'Long story.'

'Are the Ferrari drivers in their garage?' Kate asks Max. 'I don't know but it's possible they have interviews, why?'  Kate laughs. 'Nothing.' Max and Pierre look at each other and Max focusses back on Kate.

Kate leaves the Redbull garage and turns right. She peaks on the Ferrari garage but didn't see Charles or her phone. 'God damn it.' She mumbles. 'What are you doing?' Someone says, Kate turns around and it's the first driver of Ferrari, Vettel. 'Your not spying are you?' He says strict.

Shakes her head. 'Ahhh, that's explains why You suck so badly.'  Vettel laughs a bit. 'Thanks.' Kate sniffs. 'Do you know where Charles is?' Kate asks him. 'Maybe he's at the back, you can walk through the Ferrari garage you'll meet him.' Vettel assured. 'Yea but I'm not from Ferrari, so it's weird if enter other teams garage.'

'No worries, I said you can and you already did today it, right?'  Kate nodded and smiles gentle at Vettel. 'Your right, thanks.'  Kate leaves Vettel en walks through the Ferrari garage. No one said something or even looked at her. That's a big relief for her.

She exits the garage and sees a long hallway that she can take left and right. Kate didn't see Charles. Did Vettel fool her? Kate sees a doorway in front but that takes her outside. Kate gives up and maybe Charles left her phone at the Redbull garage. She makes her way to the doorway.

Kate feels someone pulling her away from the doorway. 'What are you doing?' She calls out. Kate gets pushed against a cold wall. 'I can't see you if you keep pushing me into the wall with my face.' Kate says mad.

Kate got turned around and pinned back against the wall. Charles smirks at her. 'You lost something.' Kate rolls her eyes. He has held her against the wall with the his right hand. 'Can you please let go of me?' Kate asks but Charles ignores her. 'Excuse me Mr Leclerc, I'm talking to you.' Kate sounds irritated.

He shows her phone in his free hand. 'Can you give it back?' Charles looks in her eyes and pushes Her phone in Kate's hand. She takes it from him. 'Thanks.' Charles looks around. Kate sees that here phone is 29%. She smiles gratefully at Charles for giving it back.

'Are you hiding from paparazzi cause your acting mysterious.' Kate added. 'No I'm not.' He answers. Charles looks back at her and Kate feels really small. Charles is taller then her. 'You're making me uncomfortable.' Kate noticed that Charles slowly let's go of her. He steps back. Kate gasps for air.

'Be honest with me Charles, you don't like me.' Kate questions. Charles looks away from her. 'Maybe. I don't know, why?' Kate bits on her lip. 'It's obvious, you really make my life harder then it already is.' Kate sounds mad again. Charles didn't answer. 'I can't handle this, you're toying with me... your are such an... sorry. Never mind. did you see any notifications on my phone from a person called Jason!?' Kate changes the subject. Her heart is raising.

Kate didn't want to argue with Charles, he is so stupid cute at this moment. He is sweaty and his hair is messy. Kate wonders why she said it to him. Her feelings for him and the way he makes her feel, it's so hard for her. 'Yes, he called you Babe and he kept sending messages for forgiveness.' Charles says confused. Great, Charles read her messages.

Kate sighs. 'I'm sorry for confusing you, thanks for giving my phone back.'  Kate looks at her feet and then at Charles. Who is just standing there full of confusion. Kate walks through the doorway and fresh air catches her. It calms her down.

'Why am I so stupid!?' She says to herself.