this is me trying || charles leclerc

Confrontation

From Charles:
Open the door. I've been ringing your doorbell for an hour.

I was at work. When I read his text I was almost home. I could see his Ferrari parked under my apartment. That was strange. He knew my schedule. Or at least I thought so.

He was leaning on his car, stomping his foot on the ground. He was irritated, almost angry. I got close to him, ready to hear all the awful words he was going to say. But to my surprise, once he realized I was still wearing my uniform, his face relaxed. He understood that I wasn't ignoring him.

«Took you long enough» he said. I told him that he couldn't leave his car there, in the middle of the road, but he shrugged his shoulders and followed me inside the building. I hated how arrogant he was.

He asked me where Chiara was. «She's with her grandma - I said - She won't be here for at least a good hour». He nodded and threw his keys and wallet on the kitchen table.
He looked around. He hadn't been here in three weeks. He wondered with his eyes across the room.

«Isn't this apartment too small for two people?»
«That's all I can afford»
And you know it  I want to add, but I didn't want to start a fight. Fighting with him was impossible. He always wanted to win the argument, even though he knew he was wrong.
I hated how tense all our conversations were.

«How do you find anything in this mess?»
«We don't all have a big house and a maid to tidy up our place» I snapped. I could see that he was offended by my statement but his face was hard to read.
«You should find a new job. You do too many hours»
Why all of a sudden was he pointing out all the flaws that my life had?

«What are you doing here?» I said. He had been there a few minutes but I was already exhausted from his behavior.
«I want to change things. This...I don't like this. Chiara should live in a better place, and have her own room. And you should be more present. Your job tires you too much»

I was furious.
«I should be more present? - I repeated - I should. What about you? You spent no more than a day with her and you think you have been present?»
He stared at me. His dark green eyes were locked in mine as he stayed silent.

I went on for a while. Telling him everything that came to my mind. I was full of his shit. I was venting. I needed to let out all that negative energy.

«That's not what I meant»
«Then what did you mean, Charles?»
He waited. I waited. He took his time to answer me. He knew that he had to be careful with his words.
«What I mean is - he started saying while fidgeting with his ring - I want to change things»
I let him gather his thoughts.

«For starters, I want to be with her. I think you should move in with me. And I want to spend any minute I can with her. When I'm away you should come with me»
«Us living together? Charles, we can't stay in the same room for more than five minutes without fighting, how do you expect this to work? And you want me to quit my job? That I cannot do. It is a good job that pays well and I need it.»

Another pause.
«I found you a job. It may not be much but I know people that need cool and innovative designs. You can start with that until you are experienced enough to open your own practice»
I never thought him capable of doing something this selfless.

«I'm sorry. I did everything wrong in this past month. I would like us to cooperate. I know we never got along but I realized that there's something more important: Chiara. Riccardo would kill me if he knew how awful I have been.»

He could see how skeptical I was. I didn't trust him and he knew that. This time I was right and he was wrong. And I may be bad for this but I wanted to enjoy that moment for a while.

«Don't make me beg you. You know it's the right thing to do.»
For once I agreed with him. Somehow, giving up everything I had built in past few years was the right thing to do. I was ready to do anything, for her.
And he was right, Riccardo would have killed him if he knew how things were going.

After all, he was finally making an effort. For God's sake, he even found me a job. How could I be petty?
«Ok. Let's do this.»

We started to pack our things right away. I was surprised when he voluntered to help me. While I was folding my clothes I started to wonder. What happened that made him change his mind? Did someone talk to him? But I decided to set aside those thoughts and concentrate on what I was doing.

We took what we could. We would have come back to get the rest. We thought that it would have been easier to take few things at a time: that way we could have organized everything better.

Besides that, he was going to race in Russia that weekend. It was going to be my first Grand Prix outside of Monaco and Chiara's first ever one.

- Sorry if this is a short chapter. Thank you for the support I'm receiving! I'm busy with work but I'll try to update more.