To say that Val was nervous as she sent the location of the cafe to Charles would be a major understatement. That was when she realized that she never changed his name in her contacts after they broke up, his name was still Amore Mio ❤️ (my love) even though it had been two years since they broke up, but she made no move to change it now.

Amore Mio ❤️

Mon Ange 💜 sent
1 attachment
{insert Cafe name
and address}

that is just right down from
our hotel I'll be there in a few
minutes.
seen

*+:｡.｡　🏎️　｡.｡:+*

Seeing the notification on his phone also made Charles realize that he also hadn't changed her contact name in his phone it was still under Mon Ange 💜 (my angel)... it made him smile slightly as he replied to her message saying that he would be there in a few minutes and he still made no move to change the contact name.

Val had been the first to arrive. She smiled at Mr and Mrs. Nelson, the owners of the quaint and cozy cafe. It was one of her favorite places because it was never too busy when she was there, the place did really well and got plenty of business though.

Mrs. Nelson smiled seeing her favorite customer walk in "Valentina dear, you're usual to your usual table?"

She smiled back at the woman, "Hello Mrs. Nelson, and yes and no," she pointed to a table that had the most privacy in the place. It was concealed toward the back of the place and was rarely used, "that table... I'm meeting someone here and want some privacy for the conversation that we're going to be having."

The sweet older woman nodded, "Very well dear, would you like to order for your friend as well?"

She knew exactly what he would get since it was always the same thing no matter what cafe/coffee shop they went to when they were together... she hoped that it was still his usual order because that's exactly what she ordered.

"Alright, my dear I'll bring that over once it's ready."

Val nodded, "Thank you, Mrs. Nelson,"  and made her way to the table. two minutes later the things were sat on the table by the sweet older woman, who gave Val a warm smile, before walking away.

Another minute passed before the bell dinged as the door opened as Charles stepped inside and was surprised to find the place empty except for the older woman behind the counter and then he noticed Val sitting at a table and walked over to her.

Mrs. Nelson smiled seeing the handsome young man walking over to Val and got a mischievous look in her eyes as she popped the 'out to lunch' sign over and locked the doors. Her husband just shook his head at his wife seeing what she had done.

"Val..." he trailed off.

She gave him a small smile, "I uh hope you don't mind but I went ahead and ordered something for you." He noticed that she had ordered what he always got and smiled to himself as he sat down across from her.

"It's fine, it's what I would have gotten anyway."

"I figured or well I hoped that was still your usual anyway... So you wanted to talk?"

Charles nodded, "yeah," he decided to get right into it, no use beating around the bush here, "I owe you an apology and an explanation... I know that just saying that I'm sorry isn't going to change anything but I'm still going to say it... I'm sorry Val, truly I am." She could see the sincerity in his eyes as he said, the words making her believe him, "I regret everything that happened that day... let me say everything before you react or say anything please?"

Val nodded agreeing, "Okay." if it meant getting the answers that she wanted she would let him explain everything before she asked questions or said anything.

"Okay so it really started about two weeks before that day, I don't know if you remember but we had this PR manager, Diego. He had been acting a little different for a while but there was nothing that seemed out of the ordinary completely... so I just brushed it off, and then there was a meeting and he asked me to stay back to discuss something... after everyone else was gone and it was just us, that's when he said it, that I needed to get rid of all the 'distractions' in my life if I wanted to win the championship."

Val noticed the air quotes around the distractions, but let him continue. "I just stared at him for a moment before I refused to do that... he said it again like it was going to have a different effect than the first time but I still refused..." he locked eyes with her when he said this next part, "I never thought that you were a distraction, honestly, I more considered you my lucky charm, because whenever you were there, no matter if it was a free practice, quali or race day, I always ended up either winning or doing well,  but as I was saying, we had meetings practically every day for the next two weeks, and for the first three or four days after my refusal he said nothing else about it so I thought it had been dropped which is why I never even mentioned it to begin with..." he blew out a breath "but then it started again and I tried not to let him get in my head, which I know now is exactly what he was trying to do and, I know now that I should have said something, but I thought I was handling it, but apparently I wasn't handling it as well as I thought because he still ended up getting in my head... getting me to do exactly what he wanted."

Val bit her lip, trying not to interrupt as she said she would let him get it all out first. "apparently it took him longer to get into my head than anyone else that he had manipulated before me... but when we met up after that last meeting the way you were looking at me had me questioning if I was doing the right thing... but then that little voice in my head was telling me that I had to, I know now that it was just some big ruse to give him a sense of power over someone..." he finished his little explanation giving her a look waiting for her to say something.

Val bit her lip again as she hesitantly laid her hand on top of his that was resting on the table, which surprised him a little. "I knew something was off that day, it was like a gut feeling... but I brushed it off not really thinking that clearly, it just didn't sound like you, the words I mean..."

He looked at her again, "I had overheard him saying something after a meeting after the last race of that season he hadn't realized that I had forgotten something in the room and was talking to someone on the phone and the way he just flat out said that he had manipulated me into sabotaging my chances to win the championship, I never found out why he did that, I went straight and reported it to Mattia, who reported it to Benedetto, who then had me explain to them both what I had heard and so I told him everything, and they both believed me because what did I gain from not telling the truth about it? Absolutely nothing, so they launched a full investigation into him and he was let go, it wasn't until then that other drivers that he had worked with, during his time working for Ferrari came forward and essentially said they experienced the same thing when they worked with him but no one had been brave enough to step forward in fear of the repercussions it might bring."

Val blew out a breath, still making no move to remove her hand from atop of his on the table, "I should have listened to my gut feeling... I feel like we could have talked it out if I had."

"It's not your fault Val, nothing was ever your fault... I had thought about reaching out after everything had been revealed but, you looked happy so I didn't want to come between that."

She let out an airy chuckle as she looked back at him, "Honestly. If you had reached out then I would have dropped everything and heard you out, it may have looked like I was okay but fake it till you make it huh? Not going to lie here... still trying to make it."

He was surprised by that, "really?"

"The main reason I agreed to talk today was because I wanted to know what went wrong, what happened, I wanted answers, to find some sort of closure... and now I know the truth."

He nodded, "So where do we go from here Val? Because I miss you, and I want you back in my life, it's been pretty miserable without you in it... and I'll even take just being friends well for now anyway, just as long as we're okay and you're at least talking to me again."

She thought about it for a moment and she wanted nothing more than for things to go back to the way they were before but she knew that would take time, but she also didn't want to let him just walk back out of her life, "what do you mean you'll even take just being friends for now anyway?"

He smiled at her, "Well it means that I'll take it for now if it means having you back in my life but I will be doing everything in my power to win you back, because there's no one else, there could never be anyone else, no one's ever got me the way you did, but until then I'll be happy with being friends."

Val bit her lip at that but nodded, "Okay, then  Mr. Leclerc friends it is... for now." she was not going to tell him that he didn't have to try all that hard because she was still in love with him. She wanted to see what he was going to do to 'win' her back.

He grinned at her displaying his dimples "Very well then Ms. Rossi friends... for now."

Things suddenly felt normal again for the singer, she finally knew exactly what had happened that had made her seemingly perfect relationship crumble and it was neither of their faults, and Val really hoped that maybe just maybe things could go back to the way they were before.

They had decided to leave the Cafe, Mrs. Nelson, noticing the two standing up, hurried to flip the open sign back and unlocked the doors. Val stopped by the front counter and went to pay for their drinks but before she could even pull out her card Charles had his out and tapped it against the card reader, successfully paying for their stuff.

Val gave him a look, "Hey I was going to pay for that."

He just gave her a grin, "Be quicker about it next time then Val." she rolled her eyes at him but you could clearly see that she was biting back a smile.

The older woman smiled at the two, "Have a great rest of your day."

Val smiled back at the woman, "You as well Mrs. Nelson, lovely to see you as always." The two walked out of the cafe and neither wanted to leave just yet so Val grinned at him, "wanna go for a drive? we've got a lot of catching up to do."

He mirrored her grin "Sure."

"Great, my car is just around the corner here." They make it to her car and Val unlocked the doors before debating on it briefly before tossing him her keys. She knew that he preferred to be the one driving and if it were anyone else she'd have driven.

He was surprised that she had just given him her keys even if they were friends again now. but they both climbed into the car "I'm surprised that you're letting me drive."

Val shrugged, "Only because it's you and I know that you prefer to be the one driving, but had it been anyone else I wouldn't have even given them my keys."

He chuckled at that and so the two drove around the city of Las Vegas for the next few hours and just talked about anything and everything, and just catching up.

Charles did end up letting her drive when they decided that it was getting late and they should head back to drop him off at his hotel... "you should wear my Ferrari hat tomorrow," he said before he got out of the car.

"Maybe I will." she grinned at him. Her response made him grin back at her with his dimples on full display, something that Val had always loved seeing his dimples. "Good night Charles."

"Good night, Val, see you tomorrow?"

She nodded, "Yeah, see you tomorrow.'' She watched him walk into the hotel and couldn't wipe the smile off her face as she headed home, knowing that Lewis was probably still there and was looking for a full debrief on her meeting with her ex.

*+:｡.｡　🏎️　｡.｡:+*

Val walked into her and Lina's shared apartment, that smile still stretched across her face. No matter how much she tried she couldn't wipe it from her face.

Lewis was the first to notice her walk in and he smirked at the girl he thought of as a younger sister, "Well V, that took longer than I expected it to... but judging by the way you can't stop smiling, I'm going to go out on a limb and say it went well?"

"It went extremely well Lew, I got the answers that I was looking for, I got the full rundown of what happened, and ooooh I swear to God if I ever and I mean ever see that little bitch again it's on fucking sight and I'm throwing hands... because what do you mean that he had a real shot at winning the '21 championship and this little bitch pulls some dumb shit that throws him off his fucking game and costs him the win?"

"Damn."

Lina still had no clue how Val knew Lewis; he wouldn't dive into how they met or anything, just that they were really close and that he thought of her as a little sister.

Val nodded, "Yeah but anyway we're friends again 'for now' anyway."

Lewis chuckled, "What's the air quotes around for now about?" She just gave him a look which took a minute to register the meaning "Ah got it."

"So after we left the Cafe, we went for a drive around the city and as I was dropping him off back at the hotel he looked at me and basically suggested that I should wear the Ferrari hat tomorrow."

"you would have done that anyway V."

she snorted, "That's true I would have."

Lewis smirked at her, "Honestly V... I think he may have had a point and that you are actually his lucky charm... you don't come to a race weekend for two years and then the first one you come back to and he placed that well in two of the three free practices?"

Val shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not... guess we'll just have to wait and see about that won't we Lew?"

After Lewis left Lina looked at Val, "So from what I've gathered just from what I've heard you and Lewis talk about here, your ex, the one you will rarely even talk about, that I don't even know his name, is a Formula One driver... is that why you hate it?"

Val bit her lip, "Yeah my ex is a driver but I don't hate it Lina, I never hated it, I just acted like I did to avoid a run-in with him... I'll explain everything I promise Lina, after the race on Sunday though when we have more time since fp3 starts pretty early in the morning."

Lina was understanding a little more now just with the brief explanation of that. The younger girl nodded, "Okay." Then they bid each other a good night and headed to their rooms.

note:
okay so this was definitely supposed to be more slow burn than it turned out to be so far but I just can't help it, I am awful with writing slow-burn stories...

I love Vales (Val and Charles) sm already they're literally still so in love with each other 🥺. anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter more Vales bonding in the next chapter along with the first appearance of some of the other drivers.