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Guilt and regret.
The feelings that twist in your gut, spreading the consume you whole. They leave the taste of bile in your throat, your stomach churning with nausea.
Jealousy.
That green-eyed monster that takes control when you least want it. Snuffing out all flickers of hope.
Carlos felt horrible.
He lay on the floor of his hotel room, as those feelings choked him.
He was a horrible person. He’d let his jealousy take over, and now he’d ruined everything.
How could he have said those things to him?
Charles face wrought with disgust and fear swam in his field of vision. Carlos squeezed his eyes shut, but the vision stayed, burned into his retinas.
”Max won't ever be good enough for you. He will always put racing first, remember that.”
"Stop loving Max. You can't love him Charles. There are better people there, who know you better and will treat you bet ter.”
“I hope Lando wins tomorrow, because he deserves it, and you don't because of how blind you are.”
Carlos could feel himself spiralling, echos of the horrible things he’d said filling his mind.
Carlos grabbed his phone, and dialled the first number he could think of.
“Hey Carlos,” said a familiarly accented voice.
Oscar. The young Australian who was cool, calm and collected at all times. But also, a comforting presence.
“I-“ Carlos tried, voice cut off by a sob.
“Carlos?” Oscars voice switched from happy greeting to worry in an instant.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“No” Carlos managed to say. “Please come, help.”
“Where are you? The Williams hotel?” Oscar said, just managing to keep the panic out of his voice.
“Yes. Room 216.” Carlos sobs.
“I’m on my way.”
~≈~≈~
It took Oscar 15 minutes to get to the Williams hotel, and another 5 minutes of flirting with the concierge girl to get a key to Carlos’ room.
He entered room 216 and made a beeline for Carlos, who still lay on the floor.
He lay down next to Carlos, and carefully intertwined their fingers together, as Carlos sobbed.
They lay like that for a while as Carlos slowly stopped crying, sobs replaced by shaky breaths.
Oscar rolled onto his side and whispered. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Carlos took a deep breath, and nodded, sitting up.
Oscar sat up, shifting to be opposite to Carlos.
And so, Carlos told him everything. All the horrible things he said, all he’s unrequited feelings for his former-teammate.
Oscar listened, squashing down the sadness he felt, unrequited feelings for Carlos were ignored in favour of comforting the man.
Oscar folded Carlos into his arms, as Carlos sobbed into his shirt.
Together they sat, arms around each other in a comforting embrace. Eventually Oscar spoke.
“You need to apologise to Charles, and tell him how you feel.” He whispered.
Carlos pulled away slightly to look at him. His big brown eyes filled with tears, but a look of determination settled onto his features. He nodded.
“Tomorrow. I’ll message him tonight to organise it, and we will talk tomorrow.”
Oscar nodded. “You have to let max come with him, or he won’t come, it might also be wise to have me or someone else you and Charles trust there too.”
“Yes.” Carlos agreed, though doubt had slipped into his tone.
“Okay. Do you want me to stay with you tonight?” Oscar offered.
Carlos shook his head. “No, I’ll be okay.”
Carefully, the two disentangled from their embrace, and stood up.
“Thank you for coming.” Carlos said with a watery smile.
“Anytime.” Oscar said, a soft smile directed at Carlos in return.
Oscar left, and Carlos took a breath, steeling himself. He picked up his phone and clicked the contact.
Leclerc 💔
I’m sorry.
Read 21:55
Can we talk? In person.
Leclerc 💔 is typing…