LOVE OR RIDE | LESTAPPEN

Chapter twenty-seven - Ferrari T-shirt

"Tell her I'd love to. And if I win this race I'll even buy her a fucking unicorn." I take the earpiece quickly when I hear the boy cursing. P, however, doesn't seem to be processing this in her head, instead stopping at the moment of the unicorn and agreeing to go with us. Happy starts jumping, and I hand the Ferrari employee the headphones and follow the girl toward the barriers so she can see the cars pulling away.

After a while the red lights go out and the cars starts, at which P smiles broadly and stands in front of me, leaning against my legs.

We stand there for a few laps, and then return to the Red Bull garage, where we spend the entire race. It is won by Leclerc after a little trouble. In second place is Carlos and in third place is Lando. Checo is fifth and the boy who replaces me is tenth. Well, that's how average they were.

I'm standing at the barrier, and in front of me is P, who stands on tiptoe and waits for Charles to get out of the car. I make sure no one crushes her as they start celebrating the win. The girl waves to the Ferrari driver, who puts the steering wheel back in place. He notices this and immediately reciprocates the gesture, which makes P smile. I was afraid that she wouldn't like him, but I can already see that this is unnecessary worry.

The boy runs to his team and hugs them while everyone is screaming. After a while, he walks up to P, who is peeking over the railings and winks at her.

"Hey." She says with a smile, pulling off her helmet.

"Hey!" she replies happily. "May I?" he asks, pointing his finger at the helmet he is holding in his hand. I'm already about to tell her that it's impossible, but the boy overtakes me.

"Just don't lose it." he handing it to her. I unconsciously stare at the boy, who is talking to a girl, and when his gaze meets mine, someone calls out to him, causing him to turn his back to us and go into the interview.

During the anthem, P bragged to everyone on the Ferrari team that she had their driver's helmet, and they pretended to envy her. Eventually, after a moment of crying, she hands over the helmet to engineer Charles, and after all, holding her hand so as not to lose it, I walk toward the parking lot.

"And Charles?" she stops, causing me to do so as well, looking at her, not seeing what to say. He won the race, so he'll take care of celebrating with the team. I lick my chapped lips, thinking how to convey to her that the boy prefers to spend the evening differently. Who would want to go eat dessert with a child and a rival on the track, instead of having a good time in the club with people from the team?

"P, he won, so..." I begin.

"So I'll buy you the promised unicorn." Someone interrupts me.

As I raise my eyes, I notice Charles walking toward us. He smiles, being happier than he has been in a long time. He has managed to change his clothes. Only his hair is still damp. He must have washed them down after champagne.

"But great!" shouts the girl, running toward the car. I open it, and the girl jumps into the back seats, buckling her seat belt.

"You don't have to come with us if you don't want to." I say right away, as soon as I'm sure she can't hear it.

"I know." He looks around and quickly places a kiss on my lips, walking toward the car. Confused, I stand like a fool in the middle of the parking lot, trying to understand what just happened.

After a while, I follow the Ferrari driver to my car and get in. All the way there, I listen to P explain to Charles what kind of princess she reminds her of, trying not to laugh at the serious look on Leclerc's face as he tries to keep up with what the girl is stating. At one point, I put my hand on the brunet's thigh, who surreptitiously glances at me and smiles as I wink at him.