𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒, charles leclerc

chapter two

        after watching a random american romantic comedy, juliet gasly decided that she was finally going to eat. she rummaged through the nightstand to find the hotel room service menu and started flipping through it, before her phone rang.

an incoming facetime from her best—and really only—friend victoria. juliet clicked accept and the screen flashed to a photo of the brunette. "juliet! how's austria?" victoria smiled through the phone.

the gasly thought about everything she'd done that day, which was quite frankly a short list. "good, but i've been in this hotel room since i got here. pierre went out with some drivers; i assume george is with him," another thing that pierre's racing career had done was connect juliet with her best friend. victoria was the twin sister of george russell, a current williams racer in f1. "i'm so fucking bored."

"why don't you go downstairs to the hotel bar and get drunk?" the british girl suggested. it wasn't a half bad idea; juliet had weirdly been thinking a lot about her future and career since she arrived and saw how nicely pierre's life was shaping up to be. she was happy for her brother, but wanted her own dreams to come true.

"maybe i will. i'll order food and then go drink my sorrows away," juliet chuckled dryly and deadpanned to her friend. "you're coming to silverstone, right?" she asked, hoping she'd have some company at the next grand prix.

"do you really think george would let me not come to his first home race?" victoria laughed. juliet nodded in agreement and the two girls continued talking for a few minutes and finally ended the call.

juliet ordered a burger and fries up to her room and chomped them down quickly before changing from her sweatshirt into a tank top; she wasn't trying to put an effort into her appearance, but felt that a sweatsuit would be a bit inappropriate. ten F1 teams and probably press people were staying in the same hotel.

she grabbed her purse, room key, and put her glasses upon her head before she opened the door. the girl walked down the hall and entered the elevator, riding down to the lobby where she noticed earlier had a large bar and restaurant.

the girl walked into the lounge area and noticed groups of men seated at different tables mingling. she assumed they were crew members, as she didn't notice any of them to be actual drivers. she threw her purse on one bar stool and sat down on the one beside it, taking her glasses off her head and setting them on the counter.

a bartender soon approached her from behind the bar, asking what she'd like. "a spicy margarita, please," she replied and he nodded, mixing the drink in a few seconds. "thank you so much." she told him as he passed her the glass.

five or ten minutes passed and juliet had almost finished her first drink when a group of guys walked up to the bar. "julie? having fun?" she heard a familiar voice ask. she looked up and quickly realized that the group of guys were five f1 drivers, led obviously by her brother.

"yeah, so much fun," juliet fake-nodded and grinned, hoping that he would take the hint and leave. she noticed the monégasque ferrari driver order a drink and she internally sighed, meaning they'd be staying. charles hadn't even noticed the little conversion between pierre and juliet, and simply wanted a scotch. he independently sat down on a stool, far down the bar from juliet, as the rest of the drivers crowded around and blocked the french girl from his sight.

"charles, we're going upstairs, are you staying?" he felt a tap on his shoulder and looked up to see daniel ricciardo towering over him. he nodded no politely and the four guys left, leaving himself and juliet alone at the bar.

a few minutes went by and juliet finished her drink, ordering a refill. when she spoke up to the bartender, charles realized he wasn't alone. the monégasque watched as the bartender passed the french girl her glass, but juliet caught him. "you can come sit over here, you don't need to be alone," she suggested and he quickly smiled and sat down near the corner of the counter, one bar stool away.

"pierre says you're the smart one in the family," charles said to the girl after a few seconds of silence. "and you're gonna become a lawyer." at their dinner, charles grilled pierre with questions about the girl he found in his room. he had no idea what she'd been up to for the last nine years.

"hopefully," juliet smiled cheekily, "i just wrote the LSAT—the law school admissions test. if i pass, i get to apply to law school." juliet, on the other hand, knew basically everything that he had been up to; pierre was going through the exact same thing. and she used to get little anecdotes from her mother about when charles came home for a few weeks with pierre on f1 holiday.

"are you excited for the race tomorrow? i heard you're starting in p1, bravo," juliet asked the driver. he sipped his auburn liquor and placed the glass down, letting out a little smile. "oui, we're very excited. the car seems strong so hopefully i can keep that position throughout the race."

juliet nodded and chuckled, "don't tell Pierre, but he sucks. maybe i'll cheer for you instead; might make me happier." of course juliet enjoyed watching her brother, but he just hadn't been performing the way she knew he could. he always started in a decent position, but he is easily overtaken by the other drivers. ferrari was a solid team.

"don't say that..." the boy chuckled, "are you coming tomorrow?" juliet hummed and nodded, "that's the reason i'm here. i'm joining pierre for the next few weeks; i wanted to have a fun summer. i'm going back to france after the monza race."

"oh, that's nice. i know we love having support; i love having my parents and brothers come watch the races," he said, "but it does add extra pressure every race."

the monégasque boy and french girl sat and talked about a couple of random topics for around an hour before juliet got a text from pierre. "big brother calls; i'll see you tomorrow...if you could just give this to the bartender, thanks," she stood up quickly and pulled out her money.

she felt charles' hand grab hers as she reached her arm out to place the money on the counter. "please, i'll get them. nice seeing you, juliet." he said and folded her fingers over the money to stop her from paying. she reluctantly shoved the bills into her sweatpant pocket, muttering "okay, have a good night."

— notes!
double update bc
i have like 15 drafts
of this story lol