Charles' POV
A breeze was playing with my hair. It felt so enjoyable after spending an hour with a helmet on. The races in Italy have always been so pleasant. Maybe it was because I have spent there most of my life. I was born in Monaco, but a piece of my heart has always belonged to Italy.
Maybe Italy has a piece of my heart, thanks to you. I saw you for the first time in Sarno back in 2012. You used to go around Italy with your dad, watching karting whenever you could. I wanted to talk to you so bad, but I was shy. You were just too perfect with your light brown wavy hair framing your cute face. Your skin tanned by the Italian sun, and your kissable pink lips always carried a smile.
Then you showed up in Ortona next year. I was a bit closer to fall for you. I dared to approach you, but you were already talking with Max Verstappen. God, how I hated that boy. He always got everything. I was so curious about what you two were talking about, so I passed you, but you were talking Dutch, to my surprise. That would explain why you didn't look Italian at all.
My next chance to talk to you came in Sarno again. You were there, and this time I finally approached you. Maybe because I knew it could be my last chance since I was about to race in single-seaters next year. After a year that my mind was full of you, I got to know your name. Y/N. I used to call you by many names in my fantasies, but Y/N suits you perfectly.
I remember the way I stuttered while talking to you because I wasn't very good with courtship. Well, I'm still not good at it. Oh, I don't even want to know what you were thinking about me. I forgot pretty much everything we said, but one thing stuck in my head. I think you're pretty cool. I went to sleep with a smile on my face because a girl I liked said I'm pretty cool.
My voice was shaky when I was asking you for your number. You just smiled and started to dictate digits to me. Your Italian was flawless, so I thought you needed to live there since you were little, but on the other side, your Dutch sounded perfect as well. I was so confused.
In 2014 I raced in Formula Renault 2. We had seven rounds in total, and three of them were in Italy. I texted you before the first race in Imola, and I was so excited to see you again, but you couldn't make it because of school or at least you said so, but next week I watched Formula 3, and you were there in Max's garage.
I saw you earlier than I expected when you showed up out of nowhere in France. I doubt that you had any clue I would be there. Anyway, you were there again with Max, looking like two best friends enjoying their lives. I can't even tell how happy I was when you left Max to greet me. You made me feel important.
But since then, our paths hadn't crossed for a long time. Next time we saw each other was in Barcelona in 2016. I was racing in GP3, and you were enjoying your time with Max. I wasn't surprised when I saw you holding hands and smiling. At that time, it came to my mind that you were probably dating already in France. I just refused to see it. How lucky could that guy possibly be? You just quickly waved at me before giggling at some joke that Max said. I used to see you on TV sitting in his garage, crossing your fingers for him, oh how I wished you would keep your fingers crossed for me at least once.
The scene of you kissing him right after he won his first Grand Prix is gonna be in my mind forever. You jumped into his arms, smiling since you were blissful. At that time, I was standing in the paddock and thought you would never love anyone else. The whole year I was watching you cheering for him. What a lucky bastard, I thought. That pretty much continued next year as well. The only difference was that I was racing in F2. I saw you jumping into his arms again in Malaysia and Mexico. You two were the happiest couple I knew. At that time, I actually started to be happy because you were happy, and that was what mattered to me.
Don't get me wrong when I say that I was delighted to see news that you and Max broke up. I was waiting for that ever since I got to know you two were together. One thing that didn't come to my mind was that when you wouldn't be dating Max, you wouldn't be in the paddock. You weren't there until I dared to invite you for a weekend into Sauber garage. I kinda knew you would accept that because you were following motorsport since you were little. And suddenly, after breaking up with Max, you didn't have a chance to go to garages and being in the middle of this crazy world.
I considered myself the happiest man on the planet when I saw you sitting in the Ferrari garage next year. You were there wearing my red Ferrari hoodie and skinny black jeans. A smile was playing on your face. I could tell it was because we decided to move in together just a few days before. It was wild at the beginning, but we managed. There hasn't been a day that I would regret it. And then the Belgian Grand Prix came, and that time your smile belonged to me. That time you were jumping into my arms because you are mine ever since.
♥︎daily reminder♥︎