Stay with me ● Charles Leclerc

Chapter 34

Elena's POV

I woke up to my phone blowing up with drunk photos from last night's celebration night with Max and some of the other drivers along with Kate, as well as photos of photos of Charles with some girl I didn't know, but it didn't really matter I guess.

"Long night?" Karen said as I was taking my sunglasses off while walking in the office. "You have no idea" I said with a small laugh as she sat next to my desk. "You weren't with Charles yesterday, why?" she asked, "we broke up a few days ago" I said with a small smile "so you spent the day with Max?" she looked at me suspiciously as I shrugged "he's like a brother to me honestly, always been there for me whenever I needed him" I replied with a small smile as she squeezed my shoulder while getting up "just be careful okay, please can get so harsh when it comes to the drivers."

I got to finish some of the work I had for the day. I had Charles' chat opened on my phone but I wasn't sure if I should text him with everything going on at the moment. After a moment of thinking I decided to text him. 

Elena
Hey Stranger! Can I take you up on that coffee offer before you leave Monaco?

Charles
Anything for the pretty girl from the paddock😉
I'll pick you up from work in 20 minutes❤️

Elena
Sounds good  to me❤️

Exactly 20 minutes later, I could hear his Pista roaring outside. Not sure if he was being bombarded with fans or not, I stayed inside waiting for him. Soon enough I saw him coming inside with Karen, "look who I found outside" she said before taking her bite out of her croissant "Hi Charles" I said with a soft smile as we both went in to greet each other with a kiss on the cheek "Hey" he said with a smile. Karen looked back and forth between the both of us while taking small bites of her croissant as both Charles and I were looking into each other's eyes, lost completely, that in this moment I had almost forgotten why we were broken up. 

Karen took a few steps back giving us some privacy. "Ready?" Charles said breaking the silence, "yeah" I said in a near whisper before he turned around to walk out the door before I held his wrist stopping him "are you sure we should leave together though?" I asked. He came closer, face inches away from mine with his hand on my cheek "I don't care what they say" he whispered "but if you'd like for us to have coffee here or go separately that's also okay with me" he continued before kissing my forehead "but I'd like to be seen with you in public, even if we're just friends" he smiled softly. "Let's go then" I said softly as he put out his hand in the air for me to hold, which I gladly took before walking out entering his car.

I could already see some phones out taking videos of us getting into the car and driving off. The ride was silent for a while until we came to a red light "so how's Max?" he asked out of the blue glancing at me then back at the car in front of us "he's fine I guess?" I answered in a questioning tone that he just shrugged off. "You believe the rumors don't you?" I asked shaking my head letting out a laugh, he didn't answer. "You're unbelievable" I said looking straight ahead on to the road as he started driving again. "You don't owe me an explanation, we just met" he said with a wink and half smile making me roll my eyes. "You're right, I don't owe you anything."

We got to a far away coffee shop to guarantee that we wouldn't be interrupted. He opened the car door for me as he put his hand out for me to take to help me get out of the car; I ignored his hand and got out of the car on my own walking inside the coffee shop and taking a seat as he ordered out drinks before sitting down as well. 

"I'm sorry" he said softly "I didn't mean it like that" he continued as I nodded. "No it's fine, I overreacted too" I said with a small smile "I do owe you an explanation though" I continued as he watched me intently "Max and I are just close friends and although everyone believes that something happened between us yesterday, I assure you, nothing happened between us, ever." I said as he nodded "For god's sake, I'm so deeply in love with you it's actually insane and your face being plastered all over Monaco isn't making moving on from what we were any easier and I'm not going to sleep with the first guy that's there for me" I said with a pained laugh, he stayed silent just listening to me talk. "Can I ask you something?" I asked as he nodded "Did something happen last night? With that girl" I asked as the waiter brought us our order, "I ended up talking about you all night that she just left" he replied with a laugh that made me laugh. "Sorry I ruined your night, although I'm glad I did" I said reciprocating the laugh. "No, no I'm glad you did, I would have regretted it in the morning" he said reaching out to hold my hand on the table.