I starred at the trophy on my nightstand.
I started P7 but I fought all the way up to P2.
I finished on P2.
The sound of the crowd cheering as I walked up to the podium was still loud in my ear.
Even though I've washed my hair, I felt like I could still smell the champagne from before in it.
My phone has been flooded with congratulatory messages from my friends and family back home. Even dad gave me a big hug after the race, although Mercedes wasn't on the podium with me.
Charles on P3 and Max on P1 were instead.
It was always amazing standing on the podium but with people I've raced all my life with was a complete different kind of celebration.
You watched the people around you race and fight all their life and now you succeed together and the big boys.
I still had a chance to finish this season in the top three.
With only two more races to go I had to finish P4 or higher in both of them. And I really wanted to prove something here.
I wanted to be the first female to ever be Vice-World Champion.
These last two races I would have to perform perfectly, no mistakes allowed.
And I was convinced I would be able to do that.
I've had a perfect season so far. Always finished in the points, only one DNF. That was what got me my contract with Porsche.
If I would be able to become Vice-World Champion, maybe then I would finally get some recognition from the public and prove that I deserve the seat with Porsche.
And once you're P2 in the world championship, P1 wasn't that far away.
I grabbed the trophy and my phone and sat up straight on my hotel bed.
I snapped a few selfies, not caring about the quality.
Luckily my make up was still intact from the press conferences after the race, so I looked somewhat presentable.
I posted three pictures, two with the trophy, one holding up two fingers.
It was something me and Lando did.
Whenever we scored points or performed well, we took some selfies and posted them on our Instagram accounts.
‚P2 babyy. What a race. Thank you for your support, obrigado brasil.' I captioned the post and sent it off to my 15 million followers.
A while ago my manager limited who could comment on my posts. Only my mutuals and some selected fan accounts were able to.
I hated that I couldn't connect with my fans in that way, but the misogynistic and toxic fans often used my comment section to tell me how undeserved my seat was and how untalented I was.
That variated from a simple ‚You suck', which I could handle, to several death wishes and threats.
It was the sad reality I had to live with. But I promised myself and all the female drivers after me not to let some people on the internet stop me from achieving my dream and walking the way for the women after me.
It's what I owed to them and especially to little-me.
After posting I switched from Instagram to WhatsApp.
There were still a few texts that I had to reply to but I would do that tomorrow during the flight.
I searched the group chat that we had with all the drivers.
„Rooftop bar in 15 minutes. Bring your girlfriends, bring your friends. First round is on me. No excuses for not coming." I sent out the text.
I quickly sent the same text to Ace.
I wasn't sure if he would come but this way it was his choice.
Carlos responded with a fire emoji and Danny sent a picture from the bar and captioned it „Already there."
I jumped off my bed and stripped off my crop top. I exchanged it with a black corset top without straps, that complimented my upper body and all my tattoos on my left arm.
A few years ago, I started getting little tattoos on my upper arm but time after time my whole arm was covered with little patchwork tattoos, each one of them having a meaning to me.
I tattoed 'Aza' in Jules handwriting in the middle of my shoulder, my mom's favorite flower on the outside of my arm, 02, my birth year and starting number on my wrist, just to name a few.
I stayed in my black baggy pants since I've been traveling for the past 3 weeks and didn't have any more pants to choose from. And I didn't feel like wearing a skirt or a dress.
I paired the outfit with my 5-inch black heels, to add a classiness to the fit.
Just as I reapplied some lipstick, I heard a knock on my door.
I set my lipstick down and ran over to open it.
On the other side of it was Lewis.
Dressed in all black too.
Black trousers, black shirt, dark skin and dark sunglasses shielding his eyes.
The only pop of colour on him were his red sneakers, matching my red lips and the sole of my shoe.
„We really need to stop matching on accident." He said as he looked me up and down.
„Great minds dress alike, Hamilton." I winked at him.
I grabbed my purse and threw my phone in it.
"May I?" Lewis asked me and offered me his arm.
"Gladly." I replied as I hooked my arm in his, a wide smile spread on my lips.
We walked down the beige hallway to the elevator.
We drove all the way up to the rooftop.
The door slid open and the blinking lights of Sao Paulo greeted us.
The sun was barely set but the city was lit up by all the different houses.
The rooftop was lighted with little fire places all over the terrace.
The bar was a big square in the middle of the rooftop, light up by what seemed like a thousand LEDs.
A DJ pult was set up all the way in the back, across the elevator.
He was currently playing lofi hits and I anticipated the moment Lando would ask him, if he could go behind the DJ set.
He always ended up there somehow.
Lewis and me made our way over to the bar, Danny waving at us from afar.
„Ayy, look who got here!" He spoke way too loud for the calm ambiance up here.
„Danny, my love. How much did you already have to drink?" I asked him with a teasing smile on my lips.
„About... 3 drinks in. So you guys better catch up." He turned to the bartender.
„Three vodka sodas please. And a round of tequila shots." He ordered.
Lewis looked at me with an asking expression on his face.
„All in tonight or just chill?"
„Oh, all in. All the way in." I replied.
Round after round was served and by the time almost all drivers arrived Danny, Lewis and me were already well drunk.
I'd like to say that I had a high alcohol tolerance due to my workout routine.
But simply because I was way smaller than the guys, I got drunk way faster than they did too.
„I think I have to sit out the next round. If I continue drinking at this rate, I will throw up all over my hotel room." I informed Max to my right.
„Booorringg." Danny shouted to my left.
I rolled my eyes at him and watched him order another round of shots.
I turned around on my bar stool, resting my elbows behind me on the bar.
I watched over the whole rooftop.
Drivers were scattered all over it.
Seb and Valtteri were sitting on a couch, Yuki and Pierre talking, Lando on his way to the DJ. Like I predicted.
He would be behind that pult in the matter of minutes from now on.
Even Ace showed up and made his way over to sit with Valtteri and Sebastian, a beer in his hand.
Moments like this I liked the most.
Just all the drivers, no fans, no paparazzi or reporters just all of us calm and relaxed.
„What the fuck?" I heard someone gasp.
Maybe Danny, maybe Lewis, I didn't know.
I snapped my head in the direction everyone was starring.
The elevator doors opened once again and walking out of it was Charles Leclerc.
Blue jeans, white button up, handsome as always, pulling every set of eyes on him.
ButI was distracted by the people next to him.
There were two gorgeous girls with their phones in their hands, filming every second. And even though they were wearing Ferrari shirts, they looked amazing.
We all hated it.
It was an unspoken rule, that we didn't really film our nights out.
A few occasional fotos and videos were okay, but there was no need to document our nights out when we were all drunk and uncontrolled, since we're being followed by cameras everywhere we go anyways.
And you have no control about the videos someone else takes and what they're gonna do with it after.
And if that wasn't already bad enough they were both in Ferrari shirts.
He brought fans to our after race celebrations.
My celebration.
I was fuming.
„The audacity." I spoke through clenched teeth.
Lewis lifted his shot but I grabbed the glass from his hand and brought it to my mouth.
I threw the drink down my throat, grabbing the next shot glass in front of Max and downing it too.
I shivered at the burn but enjoyed the fire in my chest fuelling even more.
„Woah there." Mick cautioned. „Calm down."
„I have to take a piss." I jumped off the bar stool, stumbling a bit from the force that came with it.
Max grabbed my arm to steady me, but I shook it off.
„I'm fine. Everything's okay."
I subtly nodded at Lewis to reassure him that I was alright.
He looked at me all Lewis-like. Very concerned.
He was the one I voiced my struggles towards Charles the most to.
He knew how much anger I held in myself towards Charles and how much it pained me to do so.
I walked over to the toilets, took a piss, washed my hands and walked back outside.
All while nagging about Charles in my head.
He was welcome to celebrate in his way, but then again, he didn't have to take some groupies to our relaxed evening.
Maybe he just wanted to show off, to us or to them, which somehow made it even worse.
As I walked back to the bar, determined to not let Charles ruin my P2-celebrations, I bumped into someone.
What kind of sick game was this?
Of course it had to be Charles.
I think the universe held some grudge against me. It really tested me today.
I just smiled at him.
I wanted to be as far away from him as possible as fast as possible.
I tried to walk away but he ruined my plan as he grabbed my arm and pulled me back to him.
„Congrats on P2. I didn't get the chance to say it yet."
I raised my eyebrows and just muttered a little ‚thanks'.
I tried to free myself from his grip, but seemed like that just made him hold my arm tighter.
"Why are you glaring at me like that?", he asked annoyed.
I rolled my eyes at him.
"I'm just hoping that you'll randomly combust." I spat at him.
„What's with the attitude? What did I do now?" He asked annoyed. „I was just trying to be nice but you have to ruin every moment."
I shook my head in disbelif.
Once again, the audacity.
„I ruin every moment? What about the groupies you brought up here? You know how we feel about fans in our private celebrations."
It was well known that we liked to keep our parties private, just because of the reasons I named before.
„You said to bring people." he countered.
„I said bring your friends. Not some groupies you picked up on the way here. Or do you not have any friends and have to pick people from the street?"
Charles stayed silent and grinned at me which made my blood boil even more.
„Are you jealous?" he asked me, that stupid grin still on his face.
What the fuck? How did he get that idea?
„In your dreams Leclerc."
„Maybe you aren't jealous but I'm sure you wish you were the one who walked out of that elevator with me tonight. Don't worry, I'm sure we can arrange that for next time." He pulled me even closer to him and winked.
Now I was so close that I could see his delated pupils that I haven't seen before.
They almost covered his iris, the green colour of it barely visible.
He had something to drink before coming up here.
He was as drunk as I was.
„Excuse me?" I exclaimed.
„Aza, I see the way you look at me. At my body in the pool. You may say you hate me but you are attracted to me too, comme je suis attiré par toi."
Shit.
I didn't know that he catched on to all the looks I was giving him.
But no way in hell would I give him the satisfaction of telling him that he was right.
And him switching to french pissed me off even more.
I sucked at french enough sober, no way in hell would I understand him drunk.
And he knew that.
All that together I felt like I was being attacked.
And in a situation between defend and attack, I attacked back.
„You know what. Go back to your fangirls. Maybe if you ask them nicely, they will take your trophy and shove it up your ass!" I whisper shouted, aggressively freeing myself from his grip.
„So you do think about me in bed!" he flashed me his stupid smirk. „One day you'll admit your feelings for me, Aza."
Him calling me by my nickname made my blood boil.
„That's as possible as a T-Rex clapping for you."
„Becaus they have small arms?" he smiled even more.
I started walking away backwards.
„Because they're extinct, you dumbass."
I turned around and walked away from him.
„You know, you never actually said that I was wrong."
I hated that he had the last word in this but I knew that turning back around would only worsen this situation.
Instead I just held up my middle finger for him to look at.
But you are attracted to me too.
Charles's words replayed in my head.
Too.
Did he mean to say that he was attracted to me as well? Or did he just mean that I could hate him and be attracted to him at the same time?
Charles english wasn't the best, so it wasn't uncommon that he didn't find the exact words to say what he meant.
But I had no time to think any more about what he said, since I just arrived back at the bar.
Mick took the seat I sat in before. Instead of fighting him for it, I stood between Lewis legs and leaned against him.
„What was that about?" Lewis asked me.
„I don't wanna talk about it."
I scanned the rooftop, trying to locate the two girls.
As I didn't find them, I brought my attention back to the boys and asked them.
„Where are the two girls he came with?"
„They left. They took a quick video, one more picture with him and left." Daniel answered.
„Yeah, they won like thirty minutes with both of us at some contest. They're actually quite nice." Carlos, who've apparently joined us at the bar, explained.
I scrunched my face, closing my eyes.
Oh, this was bad.
„Why? What did you say to him?" Max asked.
„I shamed him for bringing fans to our private party." I stated just opening one eye.
„And then I told him, that they should take his trophy and shove it up his ass."
I heard a bunch of laughing around me.
„Stop it. I can't think straight anymore and you know how me and Charles are." I scolded them.
The laughing died down and silence came over us.
Just the music Lando was playing radiated between us.
„I still think you two should just fuck. You know, find an outlet for all that anger." Mick said out of the blue.
„Mick!" I smacked his arm while the others chuckled.
I felt Lewis chest vibrate behind me.
„Never, in a million years am I gonna have sex with Charles."
But then it hit me.
„What do you mean ‚still'? You've never said that to me before."
Once again silence fell over us. All of them were avoiding eye contact with me.
„You guys talk about us." It was more a statement than a question.
„We actually talk about you a lot." Max admitted.
„You're like our number one topic when you're not around."
Now I was the one laughing and the others joined me shortly after.
This whole thing was just so absurd.
After the laughing has died down I clapped my hands.
„Okay, now that that's settled. Let's go dance. I wanna forget that any of this has happened. And just so you know." I added. „ Me and Charles will never happen. So you might as well stop talking about us at all."
I pulled Lewis with me, Max, Mick and Carlos following behind us.
We walked all the way over to Lando, yelling song requests and dancing until our feet hurt.
I laughed before at Mick suggesting that me and Charles should fuck.
And I denied when Charles said that I was attracted to him.
But little did we all know that I was lying.
(In honor of the Hungarian GP and Lando on the podium, one more chapter for you guys. Hate to ask for it but vote and comment:)