VERONA
— chapter twenty
MAX'S APARTMENT
monte carlo, monaco
MAX PLACED A SWEET KISS ONTO VERONA'S EXPOSED SHOULDER, the pair had spent the day lounging and enjoying each other's company. they always got along well with each other.
verona had managed to get the weekend free from filming obx3, catching a flight to monaco. there was no way she was missing her favourite grand prix.
it was the week after the spanish grand prix and a week since charles and verona had last spoken.
the blonde girl had let her mind drift away from charles. at first she was upset and confused, she had only been nice to him and he had blocked her. she tried not to care but it irked her, what had gone wrong? now she was trying not to think about it.
however, she didn't know how much longer she could avoid him. all the drivers were invited to a yacht party and max has insisted verona come with him. the blonde agreed.
"i should start getting ready, we have to leave soon." verona smiled at the dutchman, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed a kiss to her lips.
"just a few more minutes." max snuggled his head into her neck and she ran her fingers through his hair.
they, eventually, parted and verona skipped off her max's room to start getting ready. the dirty blonde arrived in the room not long after to also start changing for the party.
———
the new couple walked up to the yacht, they managed to find it pretty easily on the dock by following the loud party music.
there was a fair amount of people on board, verona catching glimpses of pierre and lando and carlos as they walked on. max greeted the host, who verona didn't know, and introduced his girlfriend to the man.
as the dirty blonde continued his chat with his friend, verona excused herself before making her way to her friends.
"let's get this party started!" the blonde danced over to where pierre, carlos, lando and daniel stood. daniel chuckled and passed the girl a drink which she quickly downed.
"dance with me ronny!" pierre pulled the girl's arm towards where people were dancing. the small group all forming their own circle as they grooved to the music.
"enjoying the party?" charles popped his head into the group. the second verona's ears picked up on his voice she grimaced.
verona turned to where his voice came from, her eyes fell on the brunette and her jaw almost dropped.
charles wore a plain white button down, the first few buttons undone, and off white pants. his hair lay messy on his head yet he still managed to effortlessly pull it off.
maybe it was just that she hadn't seen him in a few weeks but he looked different, he looked good.
charles' eyes scanned the group, they landed on verona and stayed there. the pair held eye contact for a little longer then they should have, but it was broken when verona turned and walked away.
pierre wrapped his arm around his best friend, missing the look of pain on his face as everyone continued to drink and party.
charles, however, searched through the crowds for verona. it had been a week since they last talked and charles had been going crazy wondering why.
the brunette had tried texting verona after spain, he knew she'd know just what to say to make him feel better. she always did.
but when his texts didn't go through he was lost, she had blocked him. why?
after charles had blocked her, verona, in anger, had blocked him back. now she was avoiding him too.
the monegasque driver spotted her, verona standing awkwardly near max as he laughed along with some people charles didn't recognise.
charles excused himself from the group of drivers, his eyes locked on the blonde girl he was beelining towards.
charles was determined to to get to the bottom of what happened. part of him had accepted that, maybe, it wasn't in his fate to be with verona but there was no way he was going to lose his friendship with her. he needed her.
verona looked around, not knowing what to do with herself as she casually sipped her drink. max was engrossed in his conversation which she had tuned out, just bobbing her head along to the loud music.
she spotted charles, his determined expression, as he manoeuvred through the crowd towards her. her eyes widened and she turned away slipping into the crowd.
charles let out a frustrated groan as he followed behind the blonde.
the pair snaked through groups party goers inside the main cabin, verona trying to get away and charles trying to catch up. "verona!" he called out as she slipped into a hallway. verona hadn't realised that she had become trapped until she hit a wall behind her.
charles came to a halt, his head slightly tilted to the side as he watched the blonde press her back against the wall and wrap her arms around herself.
verona's body was tense but her eyes soft and full of confusion. neither of them said a word just watching each other.
"why are you chasing after me, leclerc?" verona was harsh with her words.
"why are you running away from me, rousseau?" she bit her cheek and rubbed her arms. "what's going on?"
"you tell me."
charles sighed, he could tell verona was upset and if he knew anything about her it was that she was stubborn as hell. he was upset too but they wouldn't get anywhere if they were both angry.
he had to be calm.
"we haven't spoken in a week.." verona noticed sadness in his eyes, "i tried texting you after spain but you blocked me. why? what did i do, ve?"
verona was shocked, "why? how about you tell me why you blocked me?" her voice cracked slightly. charles' heart hurt at the sight of verona choking up."i was only being nice to you and you told me to stop messaging you."
charles' eyes squinted and his brows furrowed, "what?"
"don't act dumb, charles, i texted you after spain. i tried reaching out to make sure you were okay and you blocked me." she sniffed and held her ground.
"i- i never got any messages from you.."
"you didn't?" verona shook her head, she pulled out her phone and opened their chat, "look."
charles stepped closer to the blonde, he leaned over and looked at the chat. there they were. verona had messaged charles, being nice, and he had blocked her.
charles took out his phone, "this makes no sense." he mumbled. he opened his chat with verona and compared the two screens. his side of the chat had no mention of verona's messages.
someone had deleted them from his phone.
"what that fuck.." verona stared at the two phones, "you didn't text me, did you?"
charles shook his head, "no."
verona's expression morphed as she finally realised what happened, her features shifting from confusion to anger.
"oh my god.." she scoffed.
"what?"
"who had your phone during the race that day?" charles looked at her, now even more confused.
"i gave it lola, in a hurry, before i got in the car." verona let our a breathy laugh and smirked.
"of course, she did."
"are you assuming lola did this?" charles questioned, realising what the blonde girl was implying.
"i'm not assuming, charles, i know she did."
"that's crazy."
"no, she's crazy." verona turned away from the brunette, she took a few steps down the hallway before turning back to look at him. "i didn't think she was actually serious when she told me to stay away from you but i stand corrected."
"what do you mean?"
"in miami, at the opening ceremony, after all of you left to go on stage. your girlfriend told me to stay away from you. she said you were hers and warned me about what she'd do if i didn't listen."
the ferrari driver shook his head as he processed the information that verona had dropped on him.
"you're telling me she threaten you?"
"pretty weak threat but yeah." verona shrugged, "honestly pretty smart on her part though, making us upset at each other."
"more like making you upset at me." charles corrected, "i wasn't upset.. just confused. i thought i didn't something wrong. i wanted to fix it."
verona frowned, she had only now realised how misguided her feelings were. she had been upset that 'he' had blocked her and didn't even think about who she was talking about. charles leclerc, the nicest human on the planet. he would never do something like that. but verona was quick to jump to conclusions.
on the other hand, charles had taken the blame for verona blocking him. never did he think to be upset at her for it. he was truly too good of a person.
"charles," the brunette looked up from the floor, he was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that his girlfriend could have done something like this, "i'm sorry."
"what for? if lola really did this then you have nothing to be sorry for. it wasn't your fault."
"no, it is. i jumped to conclusions. i didn't think about anything other then one text and i got upset at you for something you didn't do."
charles smiled softly, "well i cant fully blame you. i'd be pretty upset too if i was being nice to you and you blocked me."
"no you wouldn't, because you see the best in people." she stepped closer to him and reciprocated the smile.
"it's not always a good thing," charles chuckled nervously, "as seen by this." he lifted the two phones in his hands, giving verona back hers. "i'm going to talk to her about this."
verona nodded, "is she here? i didn't see her."
"no, she didn't want to come out tonight." he confirmed, "but i'll talk to her when i get home. until then.. we're okay?"
verona's smile grew, "we're okay, leclerc."
"good because hear taylor swift so let's go dance." he had a cheeky grin on his lips as he held out his hand, verona laughed and took it as they sped out of the cabin and back onto the deck to dance with their friends.
typing...
not fully proud of the writing 😭 my brain is kinda broken rn lol but yea enjoy!! also thoughts on what lola did?? how would y'all react in this situation and have you ever been in a similar position before? cause i have and it wasn't fun 😀😀 but in the end me and my 'charles' (my best friend) figured out what our 'lola' did and confronted her and the whole situation just brought me and my best friend even closer together woooo 👏👏👏 also enjoy this new charles content from australia :D