back on track

17. the one with the kiss and threat

Q3 was on as I tapped my fingers to my camera. I was nervous, all of us were. Charles had still a hold on pole position. It had been amazing lap. Right after that Carlos had took the P3 and now we very anxiously watching the rest seven minutes of the qualifying.

Bottas managed to take the P3 as we went on and suddenly a united sigh came from the Ferrari garage as Charles crashed into a barrier. Red flag and the quali was over with that. Charles on pole. The atmosphere was chaotic as we wanted to celebrate the pole but at the same time the car was in pieces. No one really knew if it would be back in a race shape for tomorrow but it was impossible to tell from the picture on the screen.

It had been good drive from Carlos too who was going to start from P4 followed by Lando in P5 which was his best qualifying in Monaco ever. Even though Lewis had dropped all the way to P7 we couldn't count him out of the battle.

The next twenty-four hours were the most stressful hours that I had witnessed in my time working for Ferrari. Everyone was talking about the fact that there was a big chance that we couldn't get Charles out to race tomorrow with the problem with the left drive shaft. But the hardest part was watching Charles. He was devastated. This could've been it. This could've been the chance to win, maybe the only chance of the season and he had blew it. In his home race if you wanted to add the disappointment even more. There was nothing we could do or say to  make him feel better.

He couldn't race. The heart-breaking news came in just this morning. The mood around the hospitality was down and everyone had hard time watching Charles and thinking what if. We needed to get over that though, we still had one car on the grid and in the light of the events in P3.

The race started and the first thirty laps were not too eventful but once the cars started making pit stops the fuss started. Bottas was out. They couldn't get his right front tire off the car and that was it for him which meant that Carlos had a hold of second place. The heartbeats went little more up again.

The last lap started but we were too afraid to celebrate just yet, but the closer Carlos got to the checkered flag the harder it got to stay still. We just hoped it would come to us and it did. P2. I knew we had lost some big points Charles being unable to race but I didn't care. I was just happy for Carlos and also the car behind him as Lando took P3.

The team hurried towards the drivers just in time to take Carlos in with open arms. I was still in the stairs away from everything, trying to get some shots of Carlos. I watched in the corner of my eye as Lando hugged his team as well. He looked happy. All of them did and for a reason. After that Lando started to walk straight towards me. I didn't really know if he had seen me or not because of the helmet blocking his face.

I began to walk down the stairs while Lando came up them. We stopped in the middle. I was standing a step higher than Lando so my face was almost higher than his.

"Hi" I smiled to the guy in front of me.

"Hey" he said and I could hear the happiness on his voice.

"Nice job out there" I congratulated him. "You happy?"

"You have no idea" even though all I could see was his eyes I could tell he was smiling. "I'm so happy I could kiss you" he screamed.

"What's stopping you?" I said without realizing what my mouth had just let out.

"What?" Lando looked at me shocked.

"I asked that what's stopping you" I said again with more confidence and pulled the helmet from his head. I leaned my arms on his shoulders keeping the helmet behind his back and he pulled me closer from my sides.

"Are you sure?" he asked and I nodded which was more than enough for him to pull me even closer and close the gap between our lips. The kiss was soft and gentle. It was better than anything I could've ever imagined. I could feel Lando smiling on my lips as he pulled away, but before either of us had a chance to say anything Lando was pulled to the interviews and away from me.