PR Disaster - Charles Leclerc

12

Charles in fact, did not come over this morning. Which was what I wanted, even though a small part of me hoped he did.

Lissie had her day packed, and so did I. With the both of us sleeping through our alarms, we rushed out of our room as soon as we got up. Lissie had her outfits planned before coming to Bahrain and I on the other hand, did not. She always look put together and I always look like her homeless best friend.

I decided to wear black baggy cargos with a black baby tee and a vintage Ferrari bomber jacket, knowing it'll be cooler when the sun sets. As usual, making coffee was the first thing I did as soon as I scanned myself into the paddock. The atmosphere was there, people bustling left and right from different teams, guests and fans. The paddock is always busiest on Sundays.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder as I was about to leave the guest paddock to the actual paddock. I looked to see who it was but it wasn't anyone I recognized. It was a brunette, with blonde highlights, very dressed up for the occasion, with a Mercedes lanyard across her neck saying "VIP", telling me that she was one of the guests Mercedes invited for this race. She looked familiar.

"Hey, aren't you the girl from qualifying yesterday? The one who got Charles asking if you got comms?"

I stood still awkwardly with my piping hot oat latte in my hand, "Yes?"

"So is it true, you and Charles?" She pressed, "What's your secret?"

"My secret?"

"Getting in with him, duh." She said, "Is he good in bed? Do you have an extra paddock pass for Ferrari?"

"Sorry?" I asked in disbelief.

Stacy Smith. That's who she is. Influencer. Loves the clout.

Stacy stood still, waiting for a reply. I genuinely had no idea what to say besides 'are you mental'. But that wouldn't be nice, especially when you're working under Ferrari's head of PR management.

"No, she does not have an extra pass unfortunately. And Charles is looking for her." Carlos said as he came up to us.

Talk about timing.

I gave Stacy a fake smile and walked off with Carlos.

"Definitely have better media training than I do." I said.

Carlos chuckled, "Good timing eh?"

"Very. Did Charles actually asked for me?"

"In the morning he did, he asked the whole garage. He even went to Mclaren to ask Lando."

"Oh?"

"I don't know what happened between you two but yesterday in the elevator, very unpleasant."

"You can blame your teammate for that. Wait why are we going to the drivers' room? Media shoot isn't til fou-" And Carlos pushed me inside to one room.

I heard a click, telling me that he locked the door.

"CARLOS!" I yelled, banging on the door, "What the fuck is this!"

"You two need to talk it out! It's bad PR if people picked up on it!" He yelled from
the other side of the door.

"Are you serious?" Charles commented from behind me, making me yelp.

Of course Carlos would lock Charles and I in a room.

"I'll give you guys two hours!" Carlos added, his voice fading into the background, telling us that he was walking away.

"You can't possibly just leave me here with him!"

"I can hear you, you know." Charles said from the back.