then you flashed your green eyes at me || Charles Leclerc

chapter five

*author's note*
There's a mention of panic attack in this chapter, so I'm going to put ** before it as a tw <3 (and after so you know what to skip)

-§-

The next day went smoothly. Redbull and McLaren were on the podium at the end of quali, Lando had gotten second place and he couldn't have been happier. She had dinner with almost everyone on the grid, sitting between Lando and Daniel, in front of Max, and she had a great time. 

Now she was in her room, wide awake despite the time. It was almost two in the morning, and she couldn't sleep. Her mind was working too hard to make her night sleepless. She grabbed a hoodie and walked out of the room, resigning herself to an awake night. She walked down the hall, took the elevator and reached the roof. It was her favorite place in the world, it had always been.

She used to sneak out of her window, sit on the roof and look at the world from another perspective. It was impossible to hate the world from there. It could always calm her down and let her relax.

When she opened the door and walked towards the edge, she kept some distance from someone who was talking on the phone. Who could talk on the phone that late at night? 

She sat down, looking at the few visible stars. The person on the phone was probably speaking French, since she could understand a few words. They seemed restless. 

"Non maman je t'assure que ce n'est pas comme ça. Je suis très agité. Et si demain ça tournait mal à nouveau ? Je ne pouvais pas le supporter. J'ai peur de décevoir à nouveau les gens. Je ne veux pas que ça arrive, je ne pourrais pas le supporter. Je ne veux pas les décevoir." he was saying. ["No mom I assure you it's not like that. I am very agitated. What if tomorrow it goes bad again? I couldn't bear it. I'm afraid of letting people down again. I don't want that to happen, I couldn't bear it. I don't want to disappoint them"]

She felt bad for him - at least she thought it was a him, judging by the voice. It wasn't easy living in the constant fear of disappointing people. She looked at his back as he was pacing around. He really looked like he could use some help. 

"Désolé maman, je sais que tu as du travail demain. Je te laisse. Je t'aime, à demain au téléphone. A bientôt, bonne nuit." he said, closing the call. He stared at the phone a little longer as if he was trying to put his thoughts in order. Then he turned around. ["Sorry mom, I know you have work tomorrow. I'll leave you. I love you, we'll talk tomorrow on the phone. See you soon, good night."]

She was still looking at the sky, trying to ignore whoever she was sharing the roof with to give them some privacy. But when he talked to her, she freezed. 

"So you're following me now?" Charles said, in a joking tone. 

"Oh, yes" she answered sarcastically. "I couldn't live with the thought of never seeing your face again and I decided to become a stalker." She looked at him annoyed. They just had dinner together. Was he doing that on purpose?

"I mean, how could you live without seeing my pretty face?" he asked. She scoffed. "I get that you don't like me very much? Not that I like you more, you turned me down badly yesterday" he kept going. 

"It's not that I don't like you, I don't know you. I don't like how you act. It gets on my nerves very fast." she said. 

"Got it" he said. "Why are you here?" 

"Couldn't sleep" she shrugged.

"You're not going to ask why I am here?" he asked. 

"It's none of my business, I don't care and I overheard your conversation and got that you couldn't sleep because you're nervous. Too bad we're not friends, I would've helped you" she said.