I woke up on Friday to find that Charles had gone to the circuit. I turned on the tv to have something in the background while I did my skin care routine. Today, nothing special happened, so I wanted to walk around the city and have a look. I chose to go to the mall to buy new clothes. I wrote to Charles that I was going shopping so he didn't have to think about me when he got back.
I was walking around the shops looking for nice clothes when I suddenly stopped in front of a big sign. It was a picture of me in the newly opened store. I was completely enchanted to see myself modeling for a clothing company. And not just the model, but the face. It was now that it hit me, I have achieved my dream.
I took a picture and sent it to both Charles and Max. I saw a woman approach me. "is that you in the picture" she asked. The answer was obvious, I thought, but I chose to be nice anyway. "yes they are, right" I answer with such a pleasant voice I could only muster in that situation. "Congratulations, you must be very famous then," replied the blonde woman in front of me. "no, I wouldn't want to say that" I answer and I start to wonder where this conversation was going. "If you are the face of a company, you learn to be," she answered and walked away laughing.
I got to the hotel room after three hours in the mall. I saw that Charles had prepared dinner for us. When he saw me, his face lit up. "hey Frankie, I've cooked if you're hungry" I gave him a hug and we went and sat down to eat. I asked how he was doing today and how the course felt. He thought that everything felt good and that he had a good gut feeling about the race on Sunday. "Do you want to come along and be in the garage" Charles asked, noticing that he was nervous. "Of course I want to, I have to help you," I said and laughed.
He started asking about my trip to the mall and was noticeable that I was on a sign in the mall. It was getting late so we put on a movie and get our blankets. I lay in his arms and watched the movie. I felt his fingers stroke the length of my hair. It was cozy and I lay listening to his heartbeat. After about half the movie I fall asleep. I have no idea how long Charles was awake but we woke up the day after his alarm went off and we both fell asleep on the couch.
We got ready and he gave me my access card. Apparently he had it fixed yesterday before he went home. We had to walk a bit before we could go to the track. I didn't notice that Charles had taken a picture of me.
CHARLES_LECLERC POSTED A STORY
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When we arrived and passed all the garages, I saw my brother and father. I got a lump in my stomach and felt the anxiety come to the fore. Me and my brother locked eye contact and he started waving, I waved back but as soon as dad saw me I stopped and started walking faster. This was something that Charles noticed.
"how does it feel to see your father" he asked and put an arm around my waist. I noticed that I was starting to have trouble controlling my breathing. "I think I'm going to have an anxiety attack Charles" I saw how he panicked and we rushed to his room to avoid all the cameras and people. I noticed him pacing around his room panicking. "do you want water" he asked in an attempt to help calm me down. I just nodded and continued to hyperventilate as he ran to the fridge to get me water. He tried to make me laugh which actually helped me.
After a while there was a knock on the door and Charles went to open it. It was Fred. "time to drive now Charles" Fred said before seeing me. "hello I'm Fred. I don't think we've met before" he said and went in for a hug. "Hi, I'm Francesca Russo," I answer a little awkwardly. "so you're Simon Russo's brother" Fred said and gave Charles a look. I nodded in response as the Ferrari guys started talking about their qualifying. We headed out to the garage so I could get a pair of headphones and a quick tour before it was time for Q1.
Q1 went well for both Max and Charles. Simon had a more difficult time because he had to compete against Hamilton. I felt a twinge of guilt that I wasn't standing in the alpine garage cheering my brother on. I hadn't had time to talk to Max since I was sad on the balcony. He didn't know I was standing in Ferrari's garage today, and it would remain so today. Q2 started and I noticed that Verstappen started to drive more aggressively when he was close to Charles.
I heard in the headphones that Charles got angry with Max and started swearing. Simon, on the other hand, drove better this time and managed to get to Q3 with Max and Charles. When Charles came in I could tell he was upset. When he saw me, all the anger and frustration left.
When he was about to go out in Q3, everything started well until Max once again started to drive aggressively towards Charles. There were several times they were about to take each other out, which luckily never happened. Max came p1, Charles p2 and my brother came p3. I was so incredibly proud of all three but most proud of my brother who drove so well today.
When the qualifier was over and we went home I tried to cheer Charles up and saw that he was smiling but knew he was still very frustrated. Once we got off the taxi, we met Max outside the hotel and immediately there was a fight. "What the hell is wrong with you Max" Charles said and I noticed Max looking at me. They argued until I had enough and chose to go to the hotel room myself, so they had to settle their dispute themselves.
There was a knock on the door and I thought it was Charles who had forgotten his key but when I opened it was Daniel standing outside. "what's going on" I looked confused and didn't understand what Daniel meant. "Max and Charles are having a big fight outside the entrance," Ricc said and pulled me back down to check what was happening. When we got down, I heard a lot of screaming and saw the guys yelling at each other.
I chose to watch because I didn't want to get involved, but when I saw that it was getting out of hand, I had enough. "CHARLES, you're coming up with me" I yelled, which silenced them both. Charles did as I said and followed up.
"What the hell are you doing Charles" I asked and gave him an angry look. "He was the one who behaved badly throughout the qualification," replied Charles angrily. As if that would make things better? I didn't reach him and I finally had enough.
"I'm leaving" I said and started to put on my outer clothes. It was only now that I saw his expression change. "where are you going Frankie" Charles said as he tried to hold me. I didn't answer but went straight out the door and slammed it behind me. I went to Daniel's room and knocked.
"Hey Frankie, how are you" he asked when he opened it. "Can I sleep on the couch tonight? Don't want to be in the same room as Charles" he opened the door more and let me in. We sat down on the couch and I told her everything that happened in our hotel room.
He let me sleep with him and I asked him not to tell Charles or anyone else where I was sleeping because I was afraid they would come here and talk to me. I went to the toilet but when I came back I heard Daniel say "both Max and Charles have called me 15 times now". I checked my mobile and I had 24 missed calls from Max and Charles. Lando had also written and asked if I was okay. I chose to just reply to Lando that I was fine. After that I fell asleep straight away.
