𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗗, carlos sainz jr.

𝐱𝐢𝐯.

song of the chapter
late night talking by harry styles

❝  now you're in my life,
i can't get you off my mind  ❞

―

Camila deeply regretted driving to the race with Lewis that morning. As a result, she had been stuck waiting for him to finish his interviews and talk to the Mercedes team before they could head back to the hotel. She had been waiting in his driver's room scrolling on her phone for what felt like hours. She had gone through every post on her Instagram, accidentally liked a post from a Kanye West hate page, posted about the win on Twitter, and scrolled through hundreds of videos on Tiktok. She  felt like her brain was melting.

Finally, Lewis had finally finished his press and race analysis, and the moment he did, Camila was dragging him out of the paddock and to the car. She needed to get to the hotel with enough time to get cleaned up and ready before Carlos came to pick her up. Her hair and clothes were still sticky from champagne, and she needed to change into a nicer outfit. Carlos refused to tell her where they were going, but Camila wanted to change out of her shorts just in case it was a fancy restaurant. She silently hoped it wasn't though, they were halfway across the world, she wanted to explore not sit down in a cold restaurant for dinner she could get anywhere.

After finally getting to the hotel, Camila took the quickest shower of her life, her hair soapy from shampoo, trying to rinse out all of the champagne. Once she was out and dried off, she decided on a green summer dress, one that was fancy enough for a nice restaurant, but not too fancy if they did something else. She barely had time to blow dry her hair straight before her phone was ringing, Carlos's contact name flashing on her screen.

"I'll be down in a minute, let me just get my shoes on." Camila said into her phone before Carlos could even greet her, running to her suitcase and pulling out her sandals. It was way too hot in Bahrain to wear anything else.

After pulling on her shoes, which she struggled slightly with (sandals were unnecessarily complicated), Camila left the hotel room, calling goodbye to Lewis who was getting ready for a night out with some of the drivers and mechanics. They would be spending the night at some underground hidden night club. Camila had been invited, but she had declined, much to Lewis's confusion. Even the revelation that Susie was going didn't make her change her mind. She was too excited for her dinner with Carlos.

Camila made her way down to the lobby, passing by George and Carmen in the hallway, but only stopping to talk for a minute. She cringed when they asked where she was going. The excited look on George's face when she revealed she was going out for dinner with Carlos said it all. She also ended up riding down the elevator with Christian Horner, which was more than a little awkward. The saving grace was Geri, who Camila almost combusted when she saw. She had grown up in the UK, of course she loved the Spice Girls. Ginger Spice was her favorite. She somehow managed to stay normal though, making small talk with the woman, talking about the race earlier in that day. They had some playful argument about Mercedes versus Redbull, which Horner couldn't help but interject in, wasting no opportunity to talk up his team. Camila could have punched herself when she let slip that she was meeting Carlos for dinner, though. She had been slightly hoping that no one would know about her meeting the Ferrari driver for dinner, it wasn't that she was embarrassed to be seen with him, quite the opposite, but she didn't need the news to get to her friends. Though, Carmen already knew, but they was good about keeping their mouths shut. Everyone else though would blow the whole thing out of proportion. But, it seemed the hotel was teeming with people she knew. Now that Christian had heard about her going to meet Carlos in the lobby, he would tell Max, who would tell Daniel, who would tell everybody.