Mary just graduated from Law School and is setting out for a journey through Europe.
Charles is a F1 driver for Scuderia Ferrari.
How will their lives change when their paths cross?
Storyline starts in 2020, COVID does not exist.
🎶 Unsteady - Erich Lee Gravity Remix — X Ambassadors, Erich Lee 🎶
When I got back to work on Monday, I found a small parcel on my desk, next to my usual mail. There was no sender written on the package but when I opened it, I immediately knew who it was from. It was a framed picture of Charles and me cuddling on the sofa which was taken sometime in the past month. There was a small note attached which just said "For your desk, 5 weeks to go. xx" and there was a small F1 car and lots of hearts drawn around the message.
I wanted to send him also a small present that would remind him of me when I was away. Framed picture? No, too easy to forget either at home or in a hotel when packing. Keychain? He didn't really have keys except to his car, which is at home most of the time so he wouldn't take them with him when traveling. Eventually, I decided to send him a custom phone case with a picture of us from the karting track printed on the back. He always had his phone with him, so he would definitely use it. I just hoped he didn't find it embarrassing and not use it in the end. I postponed this task to this evening since I had to get working, but I made sure to send Charles a thank you message for his gift.
At lunch, I went out with some other trainees and in the evening I met up with Carmen, since George had already left for Bahrain in the afternoon. "Is George coming back between testing and the race?" I asked her curiously. "He is staying down there, but I will use this time to finish up my thesis since I will basically have no distractions." she replied. "Is Charles staying in Bahrain too?" "Yes, Andrea says it's better for his training if he stays in the same climate before the race." I said. "Mmh, Val wanted to go wedding dress shopping this Saturday, so mark it in your calendar" I added. Carmen immediately took out her phone to write a memo in her calendar and said: "I really can't wait, it's my first time wedding dress shopping!!" "Mine too! But I guess that's just because Val is my first friend getting married." I said. We had a nice rest of the evening and I probably had a drink too much, but overall I was just content with my life.
On Wednesday, I tuned into Ferrari's car launch live stream on YouTube and made the window smaller in my desk so that I could still get some work done in the meantime, since I did not understand most of the technical talk anyways. Thankfully, family law turned out to not be as gruesome as expected and I was very happy to have a much lighter workload than before with my previous partner. I talked to Charles in the evening, asking him if he was happy with the car. "I will see that this weekend, but I will keep you updated." he chuckled.
Charles had arrived in Bahrain safely with Andrea and some other members of the team on Thursday and on Friday, he was already on track in the new car. I could not follow the coverage on Sky, so I just decided to check the F1 website for updates since Charles was only driving in the morning. The day definitely did not go to his liking, with him setting just the 11th fastest time. He was a bit disappointed in the evening on the phone since his teammate managed to set a faster time, but he still had two more days to get to know the car.
On Saturday, Val, her mother, her two sisters, Carmen, Annie, our friend from Oxford, and me went to various wedding dress shops and at the end of the day, Val was still indecisive between two, but wanted to take a decision alone during the week. She promised to send us a picture of the dress she would settle on though.
Charles' day was a bit better than yesterday, he managed to place the 6th fastest time and on Sunday, Dad and I watched the Sky coverage of the last testing day, but Charles only finished 10th on the timesheet. Overall, the Red Bulls seemed to be the fastest cars, while Mercedes was setting awful times. Charles said that he did not trust the Mercedes results, in his opinion they did not show the full force of their car yet. He also told me that McLaren seemed to be Ferrari's most direct rival and that they hoped to battle them for the third place.
The next two weeks were quite uneventful, while Charles was still training in the Middle Eastern heat, I spent my evenings with Val or Carmen, I went to watch Chelsea win against Atlético Madrid and being through to the round of 8, as well as them beating Sheffield and standing in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
Finally, the race weekend had arrived and Charles was ecstatic for the season start. We had managed to call each other at least once a day and were pretty proud of our consistency. He was flying to London to see me for a few days the next weekend, which would be also Easter, and I absolutely could not wait for the wait to be over. His Friday was pretty good overall, setting P5 and P12 in the two practice sessions. On Saturday, I watched the Qualifying with my Dad, I had high hopes, since Charles was a solid qualifier. And we were not disappointed, he set the fourth fastest time after Verstappen and the two Mercedes. I was so proud and happy for him and on the phone, he hoped to manage a good race tomorrow and I knew that he silently wished for a podium, being so close on fourth place.
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mary.wright.98 Good luck for the new season 🍀❤️ Lots of love, your #1 fan xx
oli_wright_one_and_only Good luck Charles!!!! val.the.great Go Charles! 🏆 william_stuart_97 We are cheering on you 💪🏼 charles_leclerc I have the prettiest #1 fan ❤️ Thank you 😘
Sunday was less exciting, except for the battle up front between Hamilton and Max, Charles' race was pretty boring, he unfortunately lost two places and ended up being only sixth, but at least finished before Sainz, who finished 8th. Obviously, Charles was disappointed on the phone, but in front of him finished only Red Bulls and Mercedes' plus Lando in the McLaren, which he had pointed out as their main rival already two weeks ago.
Nonetheless, we both were happy that his time there was over and could not wait to see each other for Easter. I had taken the Thursday and Friday off and was ready to spend a long weekend reunited with my boyfriend.
