ᴀɴᴛʜᴇᴍ
ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ | ʀᴇᴅ
"Charles, right?" Hayley smiled ads she held out a polite hand for Charles to shake.
He had two choices in this moment, greet her politely or attempt to charm the pants off of the woman. He wasn't French, though he'd grown up with enough Frenchmen to know what the correct choice was. Taking her hand in his, he relished how dainty and soft her skin was as he brought it to his lips,
"Oui, and you are Hayley," He spoke once he pulled her hand away from his mouth. She flushed a pretty shade of pink as he released the grip on her fingers, and pressed her hand to her chest as she blinked up at him.
Carlos' booming laugh interrupted Charles' smooth moves, and he shoved Charles a little harder than was truly necessary to get his point across, "Leave the poor girl alone, Char."
Hayley let out a breathy laugh as she regained her breath, watching Carlos call his friend out on his blatant flirting. She couldn't say that she didn't enjoy the thick charm that Charles was laying on, but it had came about a little unexpectedly. Still, the warmth in her cheeks revealed to the world how much she'd enjoyed being fussed over for that brief moment,
"Go," Hayley forced herself to say softly as Charles tried to find the words to reply to his friend and keep his charm with the English woman - it was a hard line to find the middle of. He wished that he could tell Carlos to go and fuck himself, though that wouldn't keep his image of charm and grace with the lady, would it? As he looked to Hayley after her her simple word, he felt almost dismissed, before he realised where he was and what he was here to do, "You've got a race to win."
God, if it meant that she'd give him another of those award winning smiles, he'd do anything to win the race today - Carlos be damned.
Hayley watched the race next to Isa in the Ferrari garage. She hadn't visited the place earlier in the day, becoming caught up in the business of singing the National Anthem in front of all of those people... Now that it was out of the way, she wanted to enjoy her first race next to the girl she'd virtually befriended all of those months ago,
"So what happens now?" She asked as Isa handed her a headset which she placed over her immaculately waved hair,
"So," Isa smiled at Hayley's innocent ignorance, "The cars aren't racing at the moment - they're just completing a formation lap to warm up their tyres and then they'll line up back on the grid. The lights on the starting board will light up, and when they go out it means that the race has started,"
"And then... Zooooom?"
Isa laughed as they watched the cars round the final corner, "Yes - and then they go zoom."
She didn't know why her heart was beating so fast in her chest as the lights went out and the roar of the engines blasted across the pit wall and through her headphones, but her eyes remained glued to the screen in front of them - she couldn't see the cars on the track unless she stood up, but her legs felt too much like jelly to risk standing and falling immediately.
Isa pointed out the red car at the front, "That's Carlos, he's gotten away well, but Max is on his tail already... Oh, ay dios!"
Hayley watched on the screen as there was suddenly a car sliding across the track upside down. Isa stood up in shock with her hand across her mouth - as did a lot of the people around them, but Hayley remained seated - eyes wide as she watched the screen.
It felt like a lifetime passed before one of the Ferrari engineers called out to the VIP section of the garage, "He's okay - it's Zhou - he's on the radio!"
Hayley stood up slowly, "Is he stuck?"
"I don't know," Isa's hand gripped on to Hayley's arm as the engineer announced that there was a red flag.
Hayley didn't exactly know what that meant, but got the idea when all of the cars started to arrive back into the pit lane that it meant the race was suspended and would restart whenever it was safe to.
It felt like an eternity had passed before they'd gotten the poor driver who's been stuck alongside the barrier free. Only when they knew that he was okay (or as okay as you could be in this situation) did they start to show the replays of the crash which happened in the first corner of the Grand Prix.
It had led to three cars unable to restart the race, and many more sustaining damage which their teams were frantically trying to minimise out in the pit lane,
"I'm going to see Carlos," Isa announced with a squeeze of Hayley's hand,
"I'll stay here," Hayley breathed, trying to calm her beating heart. She didn't know how Isa could do this every weekend. Carlos had been unscathed in the waterfall of disaster which had struck, and Isa was still concerned for him. If he had been injured... Hayley decided in that moment that the pain was too much to bare - that Charles could flirt with her all he liked, but even to be friends with a Formula 1 driver was to sign up for weekends filled with anxiety and panic.
She didn't notice when a certain Monegasque man entered the garage, pulling his helmet over his head as he beheld the woman on the wrong side of the garage,
"Hayley?" He called as he padded over to Carlos' VIP area, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here with Isa," She motioned to the empty seat beside her,
"Has Isa turned invisible?" Charles' lips rose to a smirk as he glanced down to the seat,
"She's with Carlos," Hayley couldn't help but smile, "Are you okay?"
Charles brushed his hand through his hair - already messed up from it's short stint in the helmet, "Yeah, I ... Yeah. I was ahead of the crash, but I've just watched it back on the replay,"
"It's pretty intense," Hayley's chest rose with the deep breath she took,
"If it wasn't for the halo, I don't think Zhou would be alive," Charles shook his head as he thought back to the man who had deserved a halo on his car, "That was such a nasty crash,"
"The halo?" Hayley asked, and Charles realised quickly that Hayley was not an expert on the matters of motorsport. He took a step closer to where she sat, oblivious to the way her breath hitched in her throat as he took in her view. She could just about see one of the Mercedes cars from where she sat, so he pointed towards it explaining the safety feature which had likely saved Zhou's life.
"Charles," An Italian voice called from his side of the garage, "Abbiamo bisogno di te qui,"
"Sto venendo ora. Scusa, mi sono distratto,"
"You speak Italian?" Hayley asked with a smile, though the display of words was clearly enough to answer her question,
"I do. Do you?"
"No," She laughed, "I tried learning French on Duolingo, but the owl was too annoying,"
"Peut-être que tu devrais réessayer," Charles switched to French with a cheeky grin,
"I don't know what you're saying,"
"Tu devrais me laisser t'apprendre."
Hayley laughed, confusion evident on her features, "Go away and do your job,"
"À bientôt,"
"Goodbye, Charles."
Before the race had restarted, Isa had rejoined Hayley, asking if they'd had any news on Zhou. They hadn't had anymore updates beyond him being taken to hospital, but she hoped they'd find out more information soon. It was plaguing everyone with worry and hope for the man. Charles had looked so sentimental when he was telling Hayley about the halo, as if it had been a personal thing for him as well. She wondered if he'd been in a crash where it had saved his life too.
The race restarted without any accidents, and Isa had jumped to her feet in so much joy when Charles had overtaken Verstappen, who she cited as the biggest rival to the Ferrari boys. Through the radio they'd heard that the Dutch driver was suffering bodywork damage to the car which was affecting his performance, but it had allowed for both Carlos and Charles to keep ahead of him and claim first and second. Now they just had to keep that position for the rest of the race.
Perez and Hamilton were the two names who were closing in on them, and although Hayley knew Lewis more than she did any other driver on the grid, she couldn't help but cheer for the men in red who's garage she currently resided in. Carlos had been nothing but nice and sweet as she had formed a friendship with Isa, so she desperately hoped that he claimed his maiden victory, and as for Charles... Well, she enjoyed his conversation and his flirting. It wasn't new to her to be flirted with at every opportunity - men were usually trying to use her for money, or fame, but she enjoyed that with Charles it felt as though he was her equal. Still, she wasn't looking for anything serious, but it was fun. She wanted him to do well, and looked forward to the celebration that Isa hinted towards if they ended up with two podium positions.
As the race drew close, Hamilton drew closer, and the final few laps found Lewis and Charles fighting their way around the circuit - close to contact on multiple occasions. Hayley hadn't realised her hand gripping Isa's as she watched the pair cross the finish line almost side by side,
"Surely we've got it?" Hayley looked to Isa who glanced towards one of the race engineers,
"We are checking," He responded,
"Come on!!" Isa pleaded, taking the box which connected them to Carlos' radio channel and switching it to Charles,
"I was ahead of him, Xavi!" Charles was stating through the radio, "Tell me that you saw it,"
"Charles, we are checking,"
"Come on, Xavi!"
"We are checking."
There was a beat of silence before Xavi spoke again,
"That's P2, I repeat - that is P2."
Both sides of the garage jumped up onto their feet to welcome the Ferrari 1-2 podium, and before Hayley realised what was happening Isa had begun to drag Hayley out of the garage,
"Where are we going?" Hayley laughed as she stepped foot into the sunlight, though it immediately felt as though her mood was dampened by the presence of a TV camera. It wasn't facing her, but she instinctively flinched away from it and back into the embrace of the garage,
"We're going to the podium," She laughed, "Then we need to plan the celebration,"
"Are there cameras at the podium?" Hayley pulled her hand away from Isa, "Will it be on TV?"
"Yeah, of course it will," She laughed, "Come on!"
"I can't," Hayley took another step back, "If I... I shouldn't have been in the Ferrari garage to begin with - if I'm spotted at the podium,"
"What?"
"Go on without me," She grimaced.
Isa looked as though she wanted to argue, but realising that if she stayed any longer she'd miss out on the chance to get a good view, she nodded and turned.
Hayley did wish that she could watch the podium ceremony - she knew that would be where the big celebration would take place before the evening's festivities, but she didn't want to be seen taking sides. To sing the National Anthem to millions of people had been an honour for her - she would not let a breech of her contract overshadow that. She should not have shown bias to any of the teams or drivers... She couldn't go.
As she entered the emptying Ferrari garage, she sat back down in the empty VIP section and watched the podium celebration alone.