Rivals - Charles Leclerc

Under the Cover of Darkness

Chapter 10

Ava's POV

I had felt this pit in my stomach ever since the club incident. My mind kept swirling around with hundreds of questions, all of which revolved around my lack of information on what was going to happen next. What this meant between the two of us anyway.

Seriously though, I was stumped. I fell down in my bed, staring straight at the ceiling as I thought over the mess I had gotten myself into. My mind kept going back to the image of his gorgeous eyes looking into mine. The way that his eyes sparkled as they appeared to look into my very soul left a vacant pit where I once felt warmth. I couldn't completely understand it, but I found myself craving his presence. Like my body was hooked on some sort of drug that I couldn't quit no matter how hard I tried.

When Marisa came back to the hotel later that night, it was safe to say that I got a big old, metaphorical, spanking from her for leaving her behind. And in Marisa's defense, it was not my finest friend moment. But her slight anger towards me disappeared once I explained to her what happened though. Instead of shouting at me, she too became speechless.

"Wait so like, he literally chased after you?! Why didn't you stop the car?!" she asked, desperate to know the answer.

I looked down, the words not able to come to me as I sat there quietly for a second. I thought back to that exact moment, my body remembering my hand resting on the door handle as I sat there completely frozen. "Honestly, I don't know," I said quietly. I paused for a second, remembering how Charles stood there looking defeated that I slipped past him. "My mind wanted to stop the car, it really did. But, it was like I couldn't get my body to do anything. Kinda like I was frozen."

Marisa sat there, still, looking at me with an expression I couldn't quite read as she took in what I had just said. Her foot eagerly taped up and down on the floor as she tried to come up with what to say next.

"So like, I guess the only question that's left is...are you going to talk to him?" She asked, making my stomach sink.

Honestly, I had not the slightest idea of what I would even begin to say to him. I didn't have a concrete answer for Marisa, which drove her crazy of course. But no matter how much I tried to dig in and try and ask myself, I felt like I was shouting into an endless void.

It had been a couple of days since I had talked to Charles that night, and I had concluded that the best thing to do was to avoid him at all costs. I had no intention of sparking up an awkward conversation with him. Plus, without knowing what to say to him it was pretty easy to see how a conversation was out of the picture. At least, for me anyway.

"Absolutely not," I answered, making her frown.

"Ava, you guys could be soul mates. Like the real fucking deal," she replied, making me roll my eyes.

"Absolutely not. Not a fucking chance," I said back to her, walking out of the room before she could say anything else.

My goal was simple, focus on the race and nothing but the race. After all, I still had a job to do at the end of the day and no matter how much I wanted an answer to whatever this was between Charles and me, I had to make sure that I could still drive to the best of my abilities. After all, everyone thinks that the two of us hate each other anyway so staying away from him shouldn't be too hard.

Boy, what a mess this was.

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-Australia Grand Prix-

It was hot as ever at the racecourse, as fans fought for their life to try and cool down the paddock. The hype around this race was at an all-time high, as people flew from all around the world in hopes of catching, what people were hoping to be, another drama-filled race. The Buzz around what happened between Charles and me at the last race was all anyone wanted to talk about, as I fought for my life to avoid all their questions. Crazed fans making focusing on the actual racing part more and more of a challenge with every passing day.