Still Learning [C.L]

Ladies Who Lunch

Emma and I spent the following morning napping and texting each other from 5 doors down the corridor as the boys had media duties to attend to that day. At 11 o'clock we decided to get up and get ready for the day and met back at our room. As we were getting ready both mine and Emma's phones buzzed and I looked at the notification

*Luisa added you to the group F1 wags 🏎*

I chuckled to myself at the name and opened the chat Luisa had made for the three of us

Luisa
Hey girls, Lando said you were both in London, fancy meeting up for lunch? X

Emma
Omg yes please!! X

Jen
That sounds great, what time? X

Luisa
Is one o'clock okay? X

Emma
Yeah that suits us, just let us know where and we'll meet you there xx

Emma and I continued to get ready and left the hotel at half twelve, ensuring we had enough time to get to the restaurant Luisa had sent us over. Arriving just before 1 we saw Luisa sat at the table and made our way over, both of us greeting her with a hug and sitting down.

"How are things?" She directed the question at me sympathetically "Lando told me all about the Canada drama and how dumb, dumb and dumber missed their flight back" she joked referring to Max, Charles and Pierre earning a laugh from Emma and I
"Yeah we managed to talk it through and things seem to be all sorted" I smiled back in response to her question
"And you trust him?" She continued
"Yeah I suppose so, he's not given me a reason not to" I replied
"I think he really made it up to her yesterday" Emma snickered
"Shut up" I laughed shoving her arm playfully
"Just be careful, you're a really nice girl and I wouldn't want to see you get hurt" Luisa reached for my hand across the table
"Is there something I should be concerned about?" I asked rather directly, confusion evident in my voice
"I really shouldn't say anything, it's not my place to talk about it if Charles hasn't told you himself" she now sounded slightly anxious over the direction the conversation had taken
"You can't just leave us hanging like that" Emma butted in, her head darting between Luisa and I as though she was watching a back and forth at a tennis match

The waiter interrupted the tense moment as he came over to take our order, we hurriedly gave him our order, thanking him as he left and my attention went straight back to Luisa

"Please." I pleaded with her "If you know something that could come out in the future, I need to know" my voice wobbling slightly

She sighed, looking down at her hands in her lap and I could see her internally debating what to do before meeting my eyeline

"He's not told you about his ex girlfriend has he?" I shook my head in response "okay" she prepared herself as my heart started to race
"When Charles first got in to formula one he had a long term girlfriend, maybe about 3 or 4 years at that point, but the more time he had to put in to his career, the less time they spent together and they started to drift apart. Charles decided that he had to do what was best for his career and they broke up but not before she revealed that she had been cheating on him and seeing another guy for the few months since Charles had become distant. It sort of sent him off the rails a bit. He was going out most nights, drinking way too much and started to sleep around, I can only presume to take his mind off of what had happened to him. Pierre was always with him and everyone knows how much that boy loves female attention so he did nothing to stop Charles' wild antics, just glad to have his single friend back. Finally when Sauber pulled Charles in and threatened to drop him from his seat in F1, he got his act together again and stopped all the partying to fully focus on racing. It was just when I heard the stories from Canada it sounded all too familiar with the two of them."

Emma and I sat in stunned silence, staring at Luisa as her eyes bounced between us, showing signs of desperation for someone to say something. I puffed out a large sigh, trying to take in all the information from the story and I could feel both sets of eyes on me

"Thank you" I looked at Luisa "thank you for telling me"
"Please don't say that you heard anything from me" she started to panic "Lando told me about all of it and he's not even supposed to know! He heard it from Carlos when they were together at McLaren"
"Don't worry" I squeezed her hand to stop it from flailing "This stays between the three of us" I turned to face Emma shooting her a telling look to say 'Max hears about none of this'

The waiter returned with our food and we ate in almost complete silence, all of us struggling to muster up small talk after Luisa's revelation. Only managing to talk about the events for the rest of the week whilst thoughts of Charles' past played on my mind.

Should I trust him? Should I trust Pierre? I moved my pasta around the plate with my fork, I'd lost my appetite now that my mind was preoccupied with other things. I listened to Emma and Luisa's conversation about their planned outfits, smiling and nodding occasionally to make it look as though I was still interested.

After an hour of trying to rid the images inside my head of Charles and the fan in Canada, focusing on every little detail of the photo that was now etched in my brain, we paid the bill and headed our separate ways, Luisa leaving in a taxi and Emma and I walking back to the underground.

"You okay?" Emma nudged my arm as we were sitting on the tube
"Yeah, just thinking" I flashed her a smile that didn't reach my eyes, which was obvious to my best friend
"He's changed" she reassured me "He's not that daft little boy that gets with anyone that throws themselves at him anymore. You saw the state he was in, thinking that he'd lost you. That doesn't seem to me to be someone that would chuck this all away for a one night stand with some fan"

She was right, she always knew what to say to bring me out of my slump and I couldn't thank her enough for that.

"And I think he's definitely learnt his lesson not to get on my bad side again" she laughed and a genuine smile tugged at the corners of my lips as I thought back to the sassy one-sided conversation she shouted down the phone at him on Monday

"Thanks" I smiled at her "For always being here when things go shit" a laugh escaped my lips and Emma joined in

~ Author's note ~

We love Luisa really. Should she have told the story or never have brought it up in the first place?? Will Jen bring it up with Charles or just ignore it??
Thanks for all the reads and votes on the previous chapters, you guys are great ❤️
Hope you're enjoying xx