Childhood Love | Charles Leclerc

Karma

5:48 AM- November 13, 2021

It's the morning of the sprint race. I got dressed and did my hair. I text Charles to make sure it's still ok that I'm coming. Colin is still asleep and doesn't know what time I'll be leaving so, I write him a little note saying goodbye and have fun at the event today.

5:53 AM I start to head down to the lobby to meet Charles. I got into the elevator and shot him a text saying I was heading down.

                                      Charles

V:Hey heading down now!

C:Ok see you in a minute!

He responds really fast. I mean at least I know he's down there quicker. I get down to the lobby and the doors open. I see Charles sitting down in a seat more towards the front.

I start to head over to him. He notices me and stands up. He give me a hug. "Hey Toria, ready to go?" He asks. Toria? My old nickname he gave me. I haven't heard that in a long time. I kind of missed it.

"Yep, ready to go!" I say pulling away from the hug. He pulls a lanyard with a pass for the paddock out of his pocket. He hands it to me. "Merci, bon monsieur!" (Thank you good sir) I say taking the pass from his hand. "Bienvenue madame!" (Your welcome ma'am) He says in response.

We start to walk outside and I see a nice black van sitting outside. "This is our ride!" He says opening the door. "It's nice" I say getting into the back seat.

He joins me in the back seat and the car starts to head to the track. This time we aren't going to the front like we did yesterday. We're entertaining from the driver's entrance Charles said.

We get to the track super quick since it's super close to our hotel. "Oh no" Charles says as soon as we pull up. "What?" I ask worried.

"Paparazzi" he says pointing out the window. Now I'm nervous. There going to take photos of us and if they leak then I don't know how Colin will react.

"Toria a mis ça!" (Toria put this on) he says handing me a hoodie. "Ok" I put it on and put the hood up so that they can't see my face. Fingers crossed.

He opens the door and immediately lights start flashing from the cameras of the paparazzi. As soon as I step out people start shouting. "Charles is this your girlfriend?" What's your name?" "Who are you?" "Charles, Charles?"

Charles pushes me in front of him and we make it to the drivers entrance. As we start to walk further into the paddock the lights go away. I put my hood down. "That was very overwhelming" I say as we start to make our way to the Ferrari paddock.

"Yeah I know, sorry about that, I honestly forgot about them" he says putting head down as he apologizes. "Oh it's ok I understand" I really don't because I've never had this problem but I have to be empathetic.

We finally make it to the Ferrari paddock and he starts to show me around and introduce me to members of the team. We finally get to his teammate Carlos. "Carlos, Isa, this is my friend, Victoria" he says as he introduces me to them. "Victoria, this is my teammate Carlos and his girlfriend Isa" he adds as he introduces them to me.

"Nice to meet you guys" I say shaking both their hands. "Nice to meet you too!" They say in unison. "Do you want to come walk around the paddock with me?" Isa asks. I can already tell she is such a sweet person.