That Little Space Between Never And Ever [completed]

♡ Part 19 ♡

"Alex and George won't be here already." Lando said to me as we stood in front of Charles and Charlotte's house. "They'll come a bit later." I nodded to him, I was so nervous. I was about to meet Lando's best friends from Formula 1. Isn't it crazy to think that meeting those people was a very big wish for me in the beginning and I am now going to meet them as the date of one of their friends. I looked at Carlos' back, he was standing in front of Lando and me. Lando looked at me and smiled. "Are you ready to meet my crazy friend and his sweet girlfriend?" He asked and I laughed, even though I was damn nervous. Yet it also made me really insecure. He called Charlotte sweet. I know, she's Charles' girlfriend and she seems to be a great person, but I still felt like I'm not enough for him... I've felt this way since the beginning, to be honest. I always feel like other people are much better than me in every way. "I think so." I replied uncertainly. Lando put his arms around my waist and whispered in my ear. "If they don't see that you are great, they are either terribly stupid, blind or both." A big smile appeared on my face and a strange feeling went through my stomach. He started to become so important to me and he was so sweet. I put my arms around his arm and leaned back so that my head rested on his chest. "Then let's go." I said softly and smiled at him. We walked to the door with Carlos and rang the bell. I got more and more nervous with every second that passed. Then the door opened and I saw Charles Leclerc standing in the doorway. "Hey, so nice to see you!" He said with a happy smile on his face. I liked him immediately. He slapped Carlos friendly on the shoulder and gave Lando a brief hug. Then he looked at me. His eyes went from my head to my toes and I felt quite uncomfortable under his eyes. I felt my cheeks flush and looked at my feet. In fact, it was only one or maybe two seconds, but it felt like hours to me. Charles looked me in the eye. "Nice to meet you." He said and smiled at me. I took a deep breath and took a step towards him. For a moment we both hesitated, but then he hugged me. He surprised me a bit with that, but I hugged him back. "I've heard a lot about you." Charles said . "Shut up, that's not true at all." Lando responded immediately, his cheeks turned a little red, which was pretty cute. Charles ignored his protest. "Only good things." He winks at me. Had Lando seriously told his friend about me? Only in good ways. ''Let's go inside. You can put your luggage here for now." Charles said, pointing to the hallway. Somehow I was glad Alexander and George weren't already there. It would probably be too many at once and now I could meet them all without getting really overwhelmed. Charles and Lando were already entering the living room. I heard Charles talking to Lando. "I think you found a great girl, a very great girl." He said and it made me smile. "Wait until you get to know her, she will only get better." Lando replied. The weird feeling in my stomach was back, but stronger this time than ever before. I could no longer hear them because they were too far away and spoke too softly. I just stood there, in the hallway, with a big smile on my face. "Are you ready?" Carlos asked me. "Um, yes, I am." I replied, and together we followed them into the living room. I looked around the room, which was mostly white and gray and it was nicely decorated. It looked very cozy, but modern at the same time. In one corner of the room was a piano with behind it a shelf full of trophies, all of Charles podiums and two wins. At the far end of the room was a light beige sofa with a cute flower-bedecked table in front of it. There was a very large TV on the wall and a PS4 with two controllers in the cupboard underneath. I looked around and saw that Lando was in the kitchen with Charles, Charlotte was there too. I walked over to them, very nervous and without any confidence. Carlos followed me and followed me to the kitchen. As we entered the kitchen, Charlotte looked up and a smile appeared on her face. She walked over to me. ''Olivia! How nice to meet you!'' We didn't know each other, but I already liked her. It was just her enthusiasm, her energy and she immediately seemed very sympathetic and loving. She hugged me and smiled at me as we let go. "It's nice to meet you too." I told her. "Would you like something to drink?" Charles asked me. "A glass of water is fine." I replied. He looked a little doubtful at first, then took a glass and filled it with water. "Voila." He said and he handed the glass to me. "Thank you." I thanked him with a smile on my face. I wanted to take a sip from the water when my phone started to ring. I sighed softly, then took my phone out of my pocket and looked at the screen. It was Chloe, my best friend. "Is it okay if I answer it quickly?" I asked. "Yes, of course!" Charles replied immediately, and Carlos, Charlotte and Lando also nodded to me. "It won't be long." I assured them and left the kitchen. I walked into the hall, the phone still ringing in my hand. Before answering the call, I took a deep breath. Chloe and I still hadn't talked after she got mad at me and I didn't want this day ruined... "Heyy, how are you?" I asked when I finally answered the call. "Hi, uhmm..." Chloe began, ignoring my question. "I just wanted to, uhmm, talk to you."
"Yeahh, go ahead." I said and was really surprised. Chloe always knows what to say, she never runs out of words and now she just has no idea what to say to me. "I wanted to say sorry..." Chloe never apologizes and by never I mean never. "You go through so much and you deserve to be happy..." She continued and I pressed my lips together, it was so sweet what she said. "If you want to stay with 'Prince Charming' and think you can make a beautiful fairytale together, that's the only good choice you can make." I could tell from her voice she was smiling and I did the same. "But..."
"But what?" I asked. "But if he's going to hurt you, he's got a really big problem." Chloe said. I laughed and I was so happy that the real Chloe was back, my best friend Chloe. "Thanks Chloe, I love you."
''I love you too, but I'm really going to hang up now. You have to enjoy New years with 'Prince Charming' and his friends. So throw away your phone and have a great time! '
"Monaco babyyy!" We screamed at the exact same time. We both laughed and then said goodbye. With a smile on my face, I put my phone back in my pocket when the doorbell just rang. I hesitated for a moment, wouldn't it be strange if I opened the door? I mean, this is not my house. On the other hand, it's also weird to let them stay outside and it seemed like the others hadn't heard it, so I decided to open the door. "So, I heard there's a party here tonig-" George Russell began when I opened the door. "Oh hi, aren't you Olivia?" He asked, his cheeks turning red. Alexander Albon laughed at him and so did the two girls standing behind them. The girls were both so damn beautiful. "Yes that's me." I answered. ''Well, I'm George Russell, a friend of Lando's and I think you've already met Charles, he's a friend of mine too. And I'm a Formula 1 driver, but I think you know that.'' He said all this very quickly and I felt a little bit bad for him. "Heyy." I said. "It's okay don't worry." I assured him and saw that he relaxed a little. "Come in." I said as I stepped aside to make room for them to enter the house. Alex gave me a hug. 'I'm Alexander, but you can call me Alex. It's so nice to meet you!'' We smiled at each other and I introduced myself briefly, also to the two girls. One of them, she had dark brown hair and beautiful dark eyes, walked up to me first. She hugged me too. "I am Carmen." She greeted me. "And you can call that crazy tall guy my boyfriend." She joked and we both laughed. I did feel very small next to George, with my 1 meter and 68 centimeters. The other girl, who introduced herself as Lily, gave me two kisses on the cheek. She is Asian and looks beautiful, just like Carmen and Charlotte. They were all so nice to me, even though we didn't even know each other yet. I watched my feet as they dropped their luggage in the hallway next to ours and hung their coats on the coat rack. They are all so beautiful, so talented, sweet, social and beautiful. I have none of that, I have no money or status, I am not incredibly good at anything and I am not beautiful. I'm a mess and I don't even like myself. I cry myself to sleep at least once a week and I have no idea what stupid reasons people are going to have to like me for. It made me feel really insecure. I always am, but the feeling was much stronger than usual now. The feeling of being ugly and untalented, being stupid and useless, being nothing and being a failure... I tried to shake this off and enjoy the time here, but it was much more difficult than it seems.