HOME | charles leclerc

twentytwo.

"Tu es la plus belle personne que j'ai jamais vue. Saviez-vous?" (You are the most beautiful person I have ever seen. Did you know that?)

My gaze flipped to Charles' as he spoke quietly in my ear, my cheeks heating up. We were seated at dinner in Monaco, nearly two weeks later, with a mixture of friends and family.

Thankfully, Arthur and Stella, the only ones at the table who knew French, were seated the furthest from us – making it to where Charles and I could easily speak to each other in the language and not have to worry about our friends understanding us.

Grace and Danny sat across from us, while Max, Kelly, and Lando sat in between the four of us and Stella and Arthur. The group of us had decided that, since it had been a long time since we'd all gone out together, that tonight would be the night to reunite. We decided on dinner instead of a club this time, mainly because we all wanted to remember our outing the next day.

I unintentionally made eye contact with Grace who sat with an eyebrow raised, she must've seen me blush after Charles spoke. I simply shook my head, a small smirk on my lips as I turned to face my sort of boyfriend.

"Et vous révélerez notre secret si vous ne faites pas attention." (And you'll reveal our secret if you're not careful.) My voice was quiet as I reprimanded him.

He shrugged, a smile on his lips, "C'est toi qui as rougi." (It was you who blushed.)

"Et vous en êtes la cause." (And you are the cause.) I playfully hit at his leg.

I winced upon feeling pain in my calf. A simple look up to the girl seated across from me clued me into the fact that Grace had kicked me.

"No more French, it isn't fair." I laughed at her frustration, now understanding why she had kicked me under the table.

I reached over, holding her hand as I sent her a smile. "Only for you."

"Yay!" Grace's face lit up, "I knew I was your favorite."

Gasps came from the other end of the table, both Kelly and Stella looking at me as if I'd just slapped them across the face. Uh oh.

"That isn't fair!" Kelly laughed.

Stella rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "Guess I'm taking back your title of favorite cousin."

My jaw dropped.

"You wouldn't."

Stella smirked, knowing how much I envied that title. "Oh, I would."

Our food came our a few minutes later, all of us falling back into normal conversation. The tensions had eased and it felt like a normal dinner once again. There was just something about this group of people that brought me so much joy.

I glanced down at my lap as I noticed Charles' hand land on my thigh, not missing a beat in his conversation with Danny and Lando. I tried not to react at the feeling. He wasn't being inappropriate or anything, but he was holding onto me. His touch always made me want to do something to reciprocate it. All I wanted to do now was lean into his touch, kiss him even, but no one at this table knew we were together.

Frankly, no one other than me and Charles knew that we were a couple.

Our relationship had only been official for a couple of weeks now, the best two weeks, honestly, but we decided to keep it totally quiet. We wanted that sense of privacy, just enjoying the other's company before the world made things too complicated.

For fucks sake, the world went crazy when I got the job as a reporter for F1, saying I had only gotten the position due to my friendship with the Leclercs. What all would they say now that I was dating him?

It was that fact and the British driver seated at the table that drove us to keep our relationship hidden. Things just made sense this way for now.

"Kelly, are you going to be joining us for Imola?" I asked, the thought of the next race suddenly popping into my mind.

She shrugged, taking another sip from her drink. "I might be! We'll see."

We were all set to leave in two days, needing to arrive early so the boys could get all of their media duties done.

All of a sudden, mine, Lando, Max, and Charles all got notifications on our phones. Mine was from Caleigh and I'm sure their's was from someone from the FiA. That's strange.

Caleigh: turns out there's too much flooding in the area, Imola's been cancelled.

"What is it?" Grace questioned, curious since she nor the others at the table had any clue as to what we'd all just been notified about.

Max was the one to speak up. "Imola is canceled due to flooding in the region."

"Guess you don't have to make that decision anymore, Kelly." I chuckled at the irony of it all.

I hope the people in the area are okay.

"What should we do with our off time?" Lando questioned.

Max sighed in response, "You know they'll try to pull us in for training or meetings or whatever."

He had a point.

They tended to have to go to the factories whenever there were long enough breaks between races.

"Or we could take a yacht trup and tell them we're busy?" Charles suggested, leaning back in his seat with his hand still on my leg, sliding up toward my hip.

Everyone muttered their agreements to the idea. A yacht trip sounds amazing.

"That sounds like a great idea, Cha." Max smiled, raising his glass to the Monegasque.

Charles clapped his hands and I tried not to frown at the loss of contact. "Give me a day or two and I'll have it all organized."

"Are we invited?" Arthur questioned from his end of the table, gesturing between him and Stella.

From one look at the older Leclerc brother, I could tell he was nearly about to deny his brother access to the trip. Why is it not a surprise?

"Of course! If you're at this table you're more than welcome to join." I smiled at him, enjoying how his face lit up at the confirmation.

It wasn't that Charles didn't like his brother, I just know that sometimes he liked having things that were just his own. I can't blame him, but I also did thoroughly enjoy Arthur's presence and I knew that Stella would come as a package deal and I surely wanted my cousin there.

Charles squeezed my thigh, leaning his face close to my ear so he didn't have to speak as loud. "Et si je ne voulais pas que mon petit frère nous rejoigne?" (What if I didn't want my little brother to join us?)

I smirked, patting the hand on my leg as I kept my attention to the rest of the table. "Il vous suffira de vous en remettre." (You will just have to get over it.) Charles huffed at my response, knowing that there was no way I would change my mind.

At least he was used to it by now.

A few minutes later, when our conversations were back in full swing again, Charles leaned close again. I'm glad that our close proximity wasn't out of the ordinary, otherwise our relationship would be found out rather quickly.

"Je veux tellement t'embrasser." (I want to kiss you so much.)

I had to look down to hide my blush from everyone, gaze now focused on the hand who's thumb was rubbing circles on my thigh.

"Et il faudra attendre." (And we will have to wait.)

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not much going on in this one

should there be any social media
posts in this story or no?