DNF - c.l [1]

09:00

"Mia you can't be serious right now," Charles pleaded at her, now standing in front of her with his hand on his chest like he had taken a stab to the heart.

"Yeah what about Charlotte?" I ask, now standing with them, feeling like the room was about to swallow me whole any moment.

"We'll deal with her, but right now you two need to get your act together," say explains, pointing between the two of us.

We both groan, running a hand through his hair Charles looks at me, "don't think for one moment this means we're suddenly friends," he says, pointing at me, I scoff, "please, as if I would want to be friends with someone as narcissistic and sexist as you," I spit back at him, holding my hand out in front of me.

He goes to spit another insult at me but Mia cuts him short, "please, enough, I've already got a migraine, now, you have fan interviews now, you'll go out together and please, for the love of God, don't rip each other apart in front of the fans." she explains, ushering us out the door of the trailer.

I pull my hat onto my head again, fixing my hair into a ponytail. I could feel the UV on my skin as the sun beat down on the morning, not a cloud in the sky.

"Oh and Charles," Mia calls from behind us, "you'll be attending Madeline's birthday dinner on Sunday too," without waiting for a reply she begins to walk to the garage, leaving us alone in the paddock.

"Don't expect a birthday present," he says, walking ahead.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀\ō͡≡o˞̶ ˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

"So tell me Madeline, how is the Ferrari garage treating you?" Lizzie Mackintosh asks me from the other couch, her smile gleaming back at me.

We were on the main stage now, a crowd of mixed fans around us, Charles next to me on the couch and Lando and George on the other one.

"It's going.." I look at Charles next to me and the crowd screams, obviously seeing the wrong side of our relationship from the media, "yeah it's going well, everyone in the team has been so supportive, especially Charles," I give the fakest smile I can to the crowd as they all cheer.

I look to the side of the stage to see Mia and Amanda talking amongst each other, looking back at Charles and I.

"Lando, how has it been having a girl on the track now? turning up the heat a bit?" Lizzie laughs along with the crowd.

Lando laughs nervously as I wait for his reply, "it's definitely been a challenge, as you've all seen Madeline is definitely worthy of a seat on the F1 grid, she also definitely gives us all a run for our money," he jokes and I smile at him, thankful for his reply.

"He's just worried he's going to lose his seat next season," George taunts him, sending the crowd into a frenzy as they all start laughing, including Lando, "I don't know about that George, I think I'm pretty secure for next season, your seat maybe though," Lando says in response.

"Do you think you'll be renewed for another season next year Madeline?" Lizzie asks me and I look at Amanda at the side of the stage for an answer but she's too engrossed in her conversation with Mia to notice what's going on, on stage.

"Well I guess we will have to wait and see," I shrug my shoulders, smiling at the crowd who are all cheering and chanting 'Madeline'

"Let's go to the fans for any questions now," Lizzie says, as we all watch the microphone be passed to a girl in the front row.

"Madeline," the girl starts, and I'm already dreading what she could be thinking to ask me, "Is it true you and Lando are seeing each other?"

I notice Amanda and Mia now paying attention to what was going on now, and I'm taken aback by the question, expecting them to be about Charles and I.

"No, no we're not, we're just very good friends, on and off the track," I reply grinning at Lando who was smiling too but going a shade of red at the question.

The mic get's passed to another fan directing their question at George, asking if he knew if he was going to be renewed for another season.

"I would like to believe so, but now Madeline's here, it's definitely making me bite my finger nails a bit in anticipation," he replies with a smile and I chuckle, playing with the microphone in my hands.

"Charles, is Madeline the reason you and Charlotte have split?" another fan from the crowd asks, capturing my attention.

My body suddenly feels heavy and a growing lump in my throat starts to form. I watch as Charles thinks for a second on how to answer the question without damaging anyones reputations in the process.

"Charlotte and I have had a long run, we're still really good friends, but we've outgrown each other, and I think it's time for new things to begin," suddenly he's taking my hand in his, giving it a squeeze and sheepishly giving me a smile for the cameras.

My face definitely looked shocked from his actions as I was not expecting him to answer the question that way.

Amanda and Mia are giving us thumbs up from the side of the stage and I want to crawl into a hole.

The interview goes on, questions about up and coming races and championships, but Charles never lets go of my hand.

His thumb was rubbing small circles on the back of my hand but he refused to look at me after that, focusing on the crowd and laughing when due.

I watched as the wind swept through the stage, pushing his hair in front of his face as he used his free hand to move it out of the way.

We exit the stage smiling and waving to the crowd before disappearing behind the curtain when Charles finally drops my hand, taking the bottle of water Mia was handing to him.

"Good job, exactly what we needed," Mia says to us, gleaming from ear to ear.

"We? who's we in this? because I don't need this," I shoot back at her, annoyed, "Madeline," Amanda tries to hush me, pointing to the cameras not too far away.

"This is ridiculous," I complain to Amanda as she also hands me a bottle of water. "it has to be done Madeline I'm sorry."

"Guess they got you guys roped up too," George joins us now, Lando following suit.

"Is it true?" another voice joins the conversation, Pierre stands not too far from me, a confused expression laid among his face.

"No, it's not," I say to his questions and he lets out a sigh, "thank god," he says chuckling.

we all look at him, confused at his words, "What? two drivers actually dating would make things impossible on the track," he defends.

Charles was still looking at him, an angered look overtook him and I was struggling to read what it meant.

"Thank you for the invite to your dinner, I'll definitely be there, Yuki too," Pierre smiles at me, touching my arm for a brief second. I give him a nod of approval and a genuine smile as he beings to walk up onto the stage for his interview.

"What was that all about?" Charles ask as my look is brought back to him, with furrowed eyebrows.

"What was what all about?" I cross my arms, looking at Lando and George who were too engrossed in their phones together to see what was going on.

"The arm touch, what the hell was that?" he motions back to a few seconds ago, "it was nothing, why are you deeping it?"

He was really starting to get under my skin now, I couldn't do or say anything right in his eyes.

"I'm not deeping it," he mumbles before sulking away toward the garage.