LOVE OR RIDE | LESTAPPEN

Chapter twenty-seven - Ferrari T-shirt

Max

I laugh, looking at P, who is running around in a Ferrari T-shirt, while everyone at Red Bull is trying to catch her to put a Red Bull sticker on the tag. The girl laughs as she runs between the mechanics, who specifically pretend they can't catch her. Kelly asked me if I could take care of her until tomorrow, and I, because I love the little one, immediately agreed. However, I didn't think such a girl had so much stuff. I could barely fit her suitcase into the sports car. She must have had a bag under her feet anyway. If I had known, I would have come by truck, not by car.

As for Christian, I wrote to him yesterday and he agreed to talk to me tomorrow. And today I showed up here, pretending that I had misplaced my appointment. I don't tell anyone this, but I'm here for Charles, who was sleeping like he killed himself yesterday and I had to carry him to bed from the couch, not wanting to wake him up. I look around the track, spotting Leclerc in the distance talking to the mechanics. He looks much better than he did yesterday. FiA with difficulty and really long negotiations, but agreed to let him go today. From feeling bad, it suddenly came out as a serious situation that ended up in the hospital. Carlos is a strong fighter and actor, but thanks to him Charles can go today, and I know he wanted to.

"Max!" I turn toward a laughing P, who has a plethora of Red Bull stickers on his jersey. I crouch down as she comes up to me and sighs resignedly. "Shall we go to dessert later?" she asks hopefully.

"Sure it is." I smile, removing the sticker from her cheek, at which she starts laughing.

"And will Charles come with us?" she asks curiously, reciprocating my smile.

"Charles?" I furrow my eyebrows.

"Well, yes! In fairy tales, the prince always looked at his chosen one in a way in which it was clear that he loved her very much. You also look at Charles this way. That means you love him, right?" She asks quietly still smiling.

I look at her in silence, listening to her words. He is just a child, and he says smarter things than many adults. I bite my lip, watching her face. The cars have just started on a formation lap.

"True." I reply quietly, to which her smile widens. "Let's do it like this, now we'll watch the race, and then we'll ask Charles if he wants to go to dessert with us, what do you say?" I ask, hoping she'll agree, because I'm not going to go to Engineer Leclerc now and ask him to ask him to go to dessert with us.

"No." She says quietly, immediately stopping smiling. "Please, Max, ask now." She makes a face that heralds that she is going to cry. Well, fuck me.

"Okay, okay, let's go. We'll ask." I curse in my mind and get up, grabbing the girl's hand, who contentedly follows me.

I walk up to the people in the Ferrari, meeting surprised looks not only from them, but also from the other people nearby. I can already see the pictures and headlines. P stands next to me, squeezing my hand tightly and looking hopefully at the men in red shirts.

"Hi, well... Can you ask Charles if he will come with me and P to the dessert after the race?" I ask, feeling like an idiot. And he looks at me that way, too. "Add that he asks P." I add quickly, feeling even more like running away. I am so damn embarrassed, and P almost jumps with happiness.

The man glances at the girl and smiles at her, nodding his head, meaning that he agrees probably only for P's sake. The man takes off his headphones and hands them to me. I put it to the girl's ear so she can hear what Leclerc is going to say and I myself lean in out of curiosity to hear something, but not enough to make it visible.

"Charles, P asks if you will go with her and Max after the race for dessert." The boy speaks into the microphone and steps back, letting us hear the answer.