Lucía's phone, from the moment she left the track, was pinging with notifications. From people tagging her on Instagram to people messaging her on Twitter. She and Charles were trending on many different platforms, all because of a kiss shared between the two that had blown up on social media. She hadn't expected people to be silent about the announcement of their relationship, however, she did not expect everyone to react like this. This... this was insane. Anyone would think they've just announced they're secretly married with three kids.
After driving through the crowd of fans, with Charles signing hats, posters etc. as they left the track, she began to scroll through twitter, reading any funny comments she came across to her boyfriend.
"Someone said that it was the worst kept secret of the year," she looked up at him as he drove the Ferrari he was using this weekend- perks of the job.
"We just cannot hide our heart eyes for each other, ma chérie." Charles side glanced at her quickly, smiling lovingly. His hand was rested on her thigh and he'd only move it when shifting the gear stick when needed. Every time he did it, Lucía's eyes were drawn to the movement. How can driving a car be so hot? Honestly, Charles made everything look hot. The guy was the definition of beautiful. If he wasn't a driver, Lucía could guarantee he'd be a model.
"And now we don't have too," She grinned shyly, placing her hand on his. He connected their hands, entwining his fingers with hers. She turned her phone off and placed in under her leg so it wouldn't fall anywhere.
"Lu-" Charles hummed after a moment.
"Yeah," She murmured, head lent against the headrest, feeling slightly sleepy after the long day.
"I love you." He told her, genuine and full of love.
"I love you too." She turned her body sideways and reached a hand up to hold it to his cheek. He glanced at her before moving his eyes back to focus on the road. He enjoyed when she stroked his cheek, where his stubble was growing. Her touch was soothing, comforting. Being in her presence made everything perfect.
The day had been exhausting for the two of them, Charles was physically drained, and Lucía was sleepy from having been awake for so long. The both settled in their shared bed, cosy in their hotel room. They had immediately changed into comfier clothes, ordered room service and were now huddled under the bed sheets, watching iCarly on Lucía's laptop. They shared a pizza between the two of them, deciding to both cheat their diets as a celebratory meal. With a huff, not wanting to move from the comfortable position he was in, with his girlfriend in his arms, Charles shifted so he could get up, needing to take a hot shower, leaving Lu to finish watching the One Direction episode that she was invested in.
The episode eventually ended and Lu decided to pause the show, scrolling mindlessly through her phone instead. She liked a few photos on Instagram and reposted Ferrari's post of Charles winning to her story. As she was watching a video, posted by F1, she received a Whatsapp notification from her brother. It was a link to a news article that had already been written about Charles and Lucía. She read through it, pleasantly surprised to see that it was fairly positive. However, it did point out that a large handful of people were not happy with the announcement and instead were taking their displeasure to social media, twitter specifically.
She knew she shouldn't have. She knew she really should have turned off her phone and clicked play on the next episode, but she couldn't help but open twitter and see for herself what people were saying. The couple were trending #3 on twitter and as she looked through the tweets, she saw many positive responses but the negatives were doubled. People not only left awful replies on positive tweets but also tweeted themselves about how she was a 'gold digger'. This one confused her especially, considering she made her own money and a lot of it too.
'Lucia Martinez is the biggest gold digger to exist!!!!!!'
'Wow, I feel so sorry for Charles stuck with a girlfriend like that.'
'Charles could do so much better.'
'Was there really any need to show off that she's dating Charles?'
A few in particular stood out to her.
'Lusia is just begging for attention now. Her tennis career is going to shit, if you can even call it a career. And so now she's bagged herself an F1 driver so she becomes relevant. I hope this girl is given a damn lesson and humbled quickly.'
'Don't tennis players have to be fit? Lucia Martinez needs to lay off the carbs.'
She felt a few tears gather in her eyes as her throat tightened. Hearing the shower turn off, she threw the phone to the end of the bed, far from her grasp. Crossing her arms, she lent back against the headrest of the bed, pulling her legs up to her chest and resting her chin on her knees.
"Lu- which is your toothbrush?" Charles yelled from behind the bathroom door but didn't get a response.
"Lu-" Charles entered the room, the door to the bathroom letting the hot steam slip out when he opened it. He was wearing a towel wrapped around his waist and his hair was wet and messy, sticking up in all directions. He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, frowning when his girlfriend didn't answer again. "Lulu-" He sang, throwing a sock at her.
"Hmmm," She snapped her head up, looking at him.
"Are you okay?" He asked, noticing the far away look in her eyes. She hummed, nodding. "Which toothbrush is yours?" He repeated his question, unsure as to whether she was lying.
"Errr- the one closest to the sink." She thought for a moment before responding, nodding after in confirmation at her decision. Charles went to brush his teeth and throw his sweats back on before he threw himself back onto the bed beside her. Lu was sat watching The Devil Wears Prada, which was one of her comfort movies, which Charles immediately noticed.
"Lu- there's a slice left, you want it-" He picked up the nearly empty pizza box. She shook her head, staying silent. "Are you okay?" He asked again, sighing. She nodded, refusing to speak, afraid that if she did, she'd break down into tears. "Okay, I don't believe you. What's wrong Luce?" He brought her in for a hug, resting his chin on top of her head. Charles was shocked when a moment later he heard her sob, moving her hands to clutch at his shirt as tears streamed from her eyes. "Hey, hey, hey, Lu," Charles ran a hand through her hair, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "What's wrong baby? Tell me what's wrong." Charles wanted to cry with her. He heated hearing and seeing her upset. He hated that something had made her cry. All he wanted to do right then was protect her from everything and everyone in the world. Her happiness was all that mattered in that moment.
She let out a shaky breath and pulled back, furiously wiping under her eyes with her hands. "I'm okay. I'm okay." She told him, getting up from the bed to move to the bathroom. Charles tried to stop her, worried about her but let her go to the bathroom. He tried to think of anything that could have caused her tears but couldn't think of anything. He needed her to talk to him. He was about to get up and knock on the bathroom door when his phone buzzed on his bedside table. A text from his brother, Arthur.
'Hey, is Lu okay? It's pretty brutal on twitter.'
Charles immediately opened the blue app, looking through the tweets, seeing the two of them were trending. He was faced with pure hate. Disgusting, vile and cruel comments, mainly aimed towards his beautiful and gorgeous girlfriend. He tried to contain his anger as he furiously swiped through the comments. How could people be so mean? To a girl they did not know, and to someone who was so amazing. Lu hung the moon, stars, and sun for Charles. She spun his world. One of the tweets were gaining quite a lot of attention. Charles couldn't help himself. He clicked reply and began to type on his phone.
It was a long and angry rant but Charles didn't even check over it before pressing the button, offering his words to the world. He was hit with notifications of people retweeting and liking his comment almost straight after.
He then saw a comment that must have been the main reason for her tears.
'Don't tennis players have to be fit? Lucia Martinez needs to lay off the carbs.'
Instead of replying to the singular comments, he decided to take it to his own twitter account.
To his surprise a lot of his fellow F1 drivers retweeted his tweet, including Max, Lewis, Daniel, Pierre and Lando. He got up to knock on the bathroom door before pushing it open, seeing Lu fuss around with her makeup bag, pretending to make herself busy as a distraction. In frustration she threw down the makeup brushes, hands shaking.
"Hey," Charles wrapped his arms around her, letting her soak in his scent and warmth. "I saw. They're jealous. All of them. Because you are incredible. And amazing. And beautiful." He brushed her stray hairs behind her ears, as she looked away, tears rising to her eyes as she bit her lip.
"What if they're right?" She whispered, her voice breaking his heart.
"About what?"
"Me not being good enough for you. Not good enough for tennis." She began to list off, hands moving around frantically, a nervous tick of hers.
"Stop. Stop." Charles grabbed her hands, holding them tightly in his arm, rubbing a finger over her knuckles. "No. No, you're perfect. In every way. You're flaws- I love them. They make you more you. You're insecurities- make you human. I love you, Lucía. And those people- who hide behind their screen- their cowards. And jealous. And don't deserve to even speak your name." He told her gently, looking down at her as she looked up, eyes glossy.
She sniffled. "What flaws?" She joked, a small smile making its way onto her face. Charles nodded, smiling widely, flicking her nose which made her grin more, letting out a small giggle.
"Your flaws are your perfections, chérie."
"Since when did you become so poetic Leclerc." She wrapped her arms around him, speaking quietly.
"Poetry- it's my backup job if Formula One does not work out." He teased.
"Well, it's a good thing that the Formula One thing is working out." She nudged him playfully, teasing him with her words.
"Ma chérie, that was hurtful," he held a hand to his chest, pretending to be in shock. He was glad she was smiling and laughing. He hated seeing her cry. "You cannot share my chocolate no longer." He noticed her smile fall slightly at the mention of the sugary food. "Do not listen to them, Luce. They're clearly blind." He began to pull on her hands after she nodded, dragging her back to bed.
Lucía checked her phone before she went to bed, seeing a text from her mum.
She had sent her a screenshot of a tweet posted by Charles, adding the caption 'He's a keeper Lu. Ignore the haters sweetheart. Your dad would be proud, I know it. x' She replied back before looking at Charles tweets in response to the hate. She smiled, feeling her heart swell with love for the Monegasque. She honestly couldn't believe she had gotten so lucky, finding who she knew was her soulmate so early in her life. She switched her phone off, making sure it was on charge. She turned around to face Charles who took his shirt off as he climbed into the bed, laying beside her with arms open for her to curl into him. He pressed a kiss to her lips, nudging his nose against hers.
"I love you Charles."
"I love you more Lu."
"Not possible."
🤍
It's me. Hi.