Unbreakable Ties: An Arthur Leclerc Story

Chapter 6

"Okay, so there's two rounds of qualifying?" I asked Arthur as we made our way through the parking lot and towards the paddock, trying to remember everything he had told me about the weekend's structure.

After our night together, it had been incredibly difficult to get out of bed this morning, and as a result we had missed our ride to the track with Charles and Lorenzo. I was sure Lorenzo was irritated, probably adding this to the list of reasons why he didn't want me with his brother. I had managed to shake off the awkwardness from the plane while it had just been Arthur and I, but now that we'd be spending the next couple days with his brothers, the anxiety was bubbling in my stomach.

"No, no - three rounds of qualifying," Arthur corrected me as we arrived to the paddock entrance. Arthur helped me scan my pass and step through the gate before continuing. "Five drivers are eliminated in each round based on how fast they are. So, all twenty drivers start in Q1, fifteen in Q2 and the top 10 in Q3."

"Right, right. And the fastest overall is pole position?"

"That's right!" Arthur confirmed. I was trying so hard to get it all right, just hoping that if I seemed like I knew what was going on then maybe Lorenzo wouldn't think I was quite so useless.

As we started walking through the paddock, I quickly became overwhelmed. There were people everywhere - fans, what I assumed were reporters with cameras and team members. It was like a little city had popped up out of nowhere, with buildings for each team towering. I was about to comment to Arthur when we were interrupted by a group of girls.

"Arthur! Can we get a photo?" One of them asked.

"Of course!" He replied with a wide smile and went to pose with them as I stood to the side.

Afterwards they squealed and thanked him. We made it a few more feet before he was stopped again by another group, this time asking for autographs. Again, I stood off to the side and waited for him to finish.

"I haven't seen you around here before," a middle-aged man with curly hair said from behind me and I turned slightly away from Arthur.

"Are you talking to me?" I asked with a confused smile.

He chuckled. "Yes, you. You're a new face and I see you're a guest of Charles Leclerc," he said and pointed to the badge around my neck.

I was slightly taken aback and started to answer, "Oh, umm, I am, but..."

Before I could finish someone interjected, "Buxton, nice to see you."

I frowned and looked to see it was Lorenzo. Great.

"Lorenzo, good to see you man. I was just introducing myself to..." He trailed off, obviously waiting for one of us to give him my name.

Again, I started to reply, but Lorenzo beat me to it, "A friend of the family."

Before the man, who I guess was named Buxton, could say any more, Lorenzo excused us and started to tug me down the paddock.

"Are we not going to wait for Arthur? Who was that?" I questioned Lorenzo.

He only looked mildly annoyed at my questions. "Arthur will catch up, he could be a while now that people know he's here. He'll know to come to the garage," Lorenzo explained.

"Oh. Okay."

"Did he not go over any of this with you?" Lorenzo questioned me as we reached the Ferrari garage.

"Umm, not really. He told me to stay close once we got here, but that was really all."

Lorenzo sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I told him to make sure you were prepped. This is why you should have waited longer to make this public."