PR Disaster - Charles Leclerc

4

I barged into Charles' room and stood in front of him, just realizing that he was shirtless, "Close the door."

"If this is about how much your burger is-"

"No. But as you reminded me of that, do let me know. Sorry in advanced-"

"I was fully asleep."

"Well, this is an emergency," I responded and gave him my phone, where I had Lissie share the video to me. I let Charles swipe through the photos, a surprised look forming on his face, "One, Maria's gonna hate me. Two, how did we not see someone was taking photos. Three, why did you even kiss my forehead?"

"One, Maria is not going to hate you. Two, they were clearly hiding behind the wall."

"Three?"

"Wishing someone a good night?"

His answer sounded more like a question.

"Maria is not going to hate you. Because you're the driver. But me? I'm just the new content creator. Literally replaceable. I'm fully aware my job is content creating but not like this!"

My last sentence got Charles laughing. As ironic as it was, I was fully scared of Maria. She's the head of PR, how can you not be afraid? These photos would be what headlines Ferrari's week for testing. Not the car or how quick it is, but Charles kissing my goddamn forehead. We've already had one meeting about this and I'm sure as hell not sitting through another one.

"You can ask Mclaren?" He joked.

"Are you serious right now?" That just sent me. Knowing that his job would never be on the line because of a bad PR must be nice. Before my frustration and anxiety worsen, I decided to leave, grabbing my phone off him and reached for the door.

But Charles was quicker than that. He spun me back to face him, with his hands on both sides of my shoulder.

"Hey, I'm sorry, that was insensitive of me. But it will be okay. I'll make sure you won't get fired. Okay?"

As much as I want to lean into his words, I couldn't, "How are you planning to do that?"

"Just trust me. You'll be fine in tomorrow's meeting."

I groaned, "There will definitely be a meeting won't it?"

Charles hummed in response, "Come here." And he pulled me into a hug in efforts to calm me down. My arms went around his torso, my head on his chest, his chin on my head.

He's there for everyone when they're in need. But who was with him when it was his turn?

"Thanks Charles." I mumbled, looking up to him, "Hating you a little less now."

He chuckled, "I think I deserve more than a little."

Everything was still at that moment. My eyes boring into his. Charles reached his hand up to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, his gaze shifting between my eyes and my lips.

I cleared my throat, "I better go."

"Yeah." And his warmth around me vanished, "I'll see you tomorrow."

*

Morning meeting went smoothly. The whole time I was waiting for Maria to say something about those photos but she never did. We focused on the upcoming first race of the season, which was this Sunday in the streets of Baku. My whole day went smoothly. Brainstorming what to post on Ferrari's socials to creating videos with Charles and Carlos.

"Okay, stand there." I said, pointing towards the left, a bit further from where Carlos was standing. Charles nodded and moved to the exact position. They were both in their Ferrari jersey from last year's Miami Grand Prix merch and a pair of jeans.