STYLE, carlos sainz & charles leclerc

xxv.

STYLE ── twenty-five

"𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤, 𝐈 𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤, 𝐈 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 '𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐭"
— suburban legends, taylor swift

If someone had told Juliette at the beginning of the year she'd be publicly kissing a Ferrari driver in front of every single camera on that paddock she'd laughed at that person's face. She'd always tried to be the most private person as she could, but she had sometimes confused that with hiding— just like she did with Carlos.

And she was sick of it. She was tired of hiding her feelings and maybe it was time to send people's opinions to hell, after all. She wanted to know what it felt like to be in a relationship with no secrets in the middle, to be strong enough to endure through the media's criticism. And she wanted to do it with Charles.

It felt weird when she first stepped in Brazil and walked through the paddock with her camera and microphone to do interviews and she knew in her heart something was different— in her and in her relationships. Now Charles was not simply her best friend anymore, he was her boyfriend. And she'd have to treat him as so.

So the moment the opportunity came up as they stood in front of the Ferrari paddock, just moments before the race, she took it. Juliette gave Charles a widened look before he nodded and she put her arms around his neck as his went to her waist and pulled her closer. Her heart was racing but it all felt like drowning the moment Charles' lips found her.

All the noise and the camera flashes suddenly disappeared once she closed her eyes and decided to focus on the way his tongue moved across her mouth, trying to shut off the crippling anxiety building up in her chest.

The moment they finally separated, they seemed like animals in a zoo, surrounded by several paparazzis who were bubbling in excitement to catch that, as well as proud Ferrari employees and shocked fans, some of the girls even threatening to pass out. They were like foxes being hunted down, but it was all good as long as they were together, right?

"Good luck in your race." Juliette whispered softly in his ear as Charles let out a confident smile and faced the crowd.

"J'te aime, okay? Cheer for me up there."

"I will." She nodded as she took one look around the crowd before setting off inside the garage with him. This was insane, considering that people were still chanting their names outside even after they disappeared.

Juliette could already imagine all the crazy comments that'd come up around the internet after that, including Charles' crazy fans who'd throw sticks and stones to end Juliette's reputation out of jealousy. She'll do her best to ignore them, even though she knew it'd be hard now that the cameras would look for them anywhere.

She was so deep in her own thoughts, Juliette didn't even notice that there was another Ferrari driver staring fixedly towards her without even blink as she came in. Juliette finally looked up to find Carlos' harsh expression in a mix of hurt and betrayal. He'd seen everything, she guessed, and was probably freaking out as much as she was.

Something in Juliette's heart ached, making her step up and reach towards Carlos in an attempt to talk. He was her boyfriend's teammate, after all, no matter what had happened between them before.

"Hey."

"Great show out there." Carlos mumbled, pointing with his head to the crowd out there and the TVs replaying their kiss before the race in a loop.

"Don't act like that." She whispered quietly.

"Like what?"

"Like we're enemies or something. Can't we just be friends? No games, no hurting." She asked slowly with those big, ocean eyes of her staring down in his soul with a genuine tone.

And Carlos, like the selfish jerk he was, didn't soften not even for a second and told her the things he really wished to say. The wound was still too recent, too painful.

"You were never just my friend, Juliette." He let out in a low tone that immediately cut off the conversation. Once he noticed she was too struck to speak, Carlos turned around to get ready for his race and try to get Juliette out of his system.

"I miss you." She finally said when he had already turned. "I'm sorry." And, somehow, among those 5 simple words, he got it.

✧•° : *✧ • °: *

The Interlagos race was finally about to start. It was one of Juliette's favorite races on the season and not only because Brazil held a special place in her heart. All the drivers were very excited since it was the iconic Ayrton Senna's home race, after all, and every point could make a difference in the championship now.

Despite cheering for all of her closest friends, Juliette was particularly excited for Ella that day since she was so close to passing Max and winning her second World Championship. And considering everything that her best friend was going through, she was very well deserving of that.

Brazil had been a crazy experience for far, because, between recording Ella's announcement interview, which would come out after this race, and spending time with Charles, she had basically little time to do anything else— including taking care of herself.

Then, there was the crazy amount of pressure that she felt now that everybody knew she was with Charles and people would stare even more at her when she walked through the paddock now. Still, Juliette kept going with her job with her race highlights video that'd come out after the race, but it was hard to focus when a camera would occasionally pass by trying to catch her cheering for Charles.

She figured it was because of that that her legs suddenly started to shake and she couldn't feel like breathing. It was just the beginning of a panic attack that she could easily control now, but it felt bigger this time.

"Are you okay?" Her cameraman asked, still not able to move from his place since they were recording.

"Yeah, I just—" Juliette mindlessly answered as she put a hand on her pounding head and tried to move towards the nearest chair. "I just need to sit for a minute—"

And then, in the meantime between walking to their chair and sitting down, Juliette couldn't control her body anymore and the feeling of falling asleep was the last thing she felt before she fell still with her eyes open and the world fell below her feet in a spiral.