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Madden's phone buzzed three times in quick succession catching Pierre's attention. He noticed that his girlfriend didn't seem at all interested in checking her phone, instead she kept her eyes on the screen in the garage in front of them. Lately her phone had been going off a lot more than nothing, prompting him to think the worst, especially when she didn't even look at it in front of him.
She pushed her pale blonde hair from her face, moving her fringe out of the way of her eyes. Tilting her head to the side, she smiled as Franz looked in her direction. "I know you're going to go out there and make us proud," he reached for her face cupping her cheeks with his hands. He then let her go and turned to look at Pierre. "It's Silverstone, my boy," he was happy as he looked at the other driver. "You two have the potential to score high today, if you just work together like you always do."
Madden looked at Pierre and gave him a huge smile, the same one she always did when she looked at him. Pierre returned the look as he made eye contact with her, his smile faltering as he heard her phone vibrating again. Again, he noticed she ignored her phone before she turned to look at Franz who smiled at her, "Make me proud." Franz aimed the words at both his drivers before he walked away leaving Pierre and Madden alone.
"He is always so positive," Madden said as she put her hands into her jacket pockets. "Even on a day like today," she looked out at the rain that had just started to spit in the pit lane.
Pierre looked away from her, looking at where he was aiming his hands to grab his drink, he wanted to put all his attention onto her, but he feared she was not doing the same to him. "You should be too," he reminded the woman who had a reputation for driving better in the rain than the dry. "We both know you're going to score well today if the rain keeps up."
"Only if she can keep up with me!" Max announced loudly as he approached from behind. His presence made both the Alpha Tauri drivers jump before turning to look at him.
"Max!" She grinned as she hugged him quickly before pushing him away and punching him in the chest. "We both know that I only have to catch you because your car is faster."
Pierre watched the interaction between his girlfriend and his former team mate. He wondered if the messages she was receiving were from him, they had always been close friends since she joined the team.
"You're quiet," Max pointed out harshly to Pierre as he looked at him.
Looking at his friend, Pierre managed a small smile. "I'm just thinking about my strategy," he made an excuse before sipping from his drink.
Max looked back at the blonde woman who was staring at Pierre with a confused look on her face. "Wait," Max laughed as he looked between his two friends. "Have I stumbled into one of your arguments? I'm not getting caught in the middle of that."
"No," Madden laughed as she shook her head. "No problems here, right Pierre?"
Her boyfriend looked over and shook his head, his mind was still pre occupied with thoughts. Who was obsessively texting Madden? She must have been been hiding something as she hadn't acknowledged the fact her phone had been blowing up, or that she was ignoring it. "I have to go," he said before walking away leaving Madden and Max wondering what had happened.
"What's going on, Madden?" Max looked serious as he asked the question.
She shrugged her shoulders as her phone vibrated in her pocket, the vibrations indicating she was getting a call. "I dunno," she looked away from Max and looked over at where Pierre had gone, he had disappeared off quickly leaving her feeling disheartened. "I have to get ready," she told Max before heading away to her private room.
Madden locked the door once she was inside, leaning against the door as she pulled her phone from her pocket. Looking down at the screen, she took a deep breath before unlocking it. She'd felt the calls and texts coming through, but she was surprised to see just how much she'd missed. Switching her phone off, she placed it on the sideboard, her hands shaking as she tried to put how she was feeling to the back of her mind.
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After standing for the national anthem, Madden walked quick to catch up with Pierre. "Hey," she said quietly as she looked up at him. "What's going on, Pierre?"
"Let's not do this now," he spoke in a hushed whisper. He didn't look at her, keeping his eyes trained forward and he kept him calm and collected composure.
Hearing those words was like a punch to the gut, she took a deep breath as she let the worst thoughts run through her mind. "I don't even know what's wrong," she pointed out.
Pierre glanced at her before he stopped at his car. She stopped next to him, they were no longer alone, instead they were surrounded by Pierre's mechanics. "We're not doing this before the race," he said before putting his balaclava on and turning away from her.
Madden looked at his back for a few seconds before angrily stalking off towards her own car a few spots back. The rain had cleared since the morning, but she knew it was temporary, she'd lived in England all her life. Pulling her blonde hair away from her face, she tied it back before looking back towards where Pierre had been, he now had his helmet on and was climbing into his car.
She sighed as she put her helmet on, her hands shaking as she did so. Madden barely listened as people spoke around her, she heard that it was plan A unless the rain returned, but nothing else went in. She swore she'd never let anything get in the way of her career but it was happening right now. She followed the instructions on starting the car, her eyes looking ahead of her.
Her eyes flickered up to the lights, she watched as they changed for the formation lap. The cars in front of her started to move, she slowly began to get her own car to pull away. Small spots of rain started to fall on the car as Madden drove it around the track, following the other cars closely.
In her ears, she could hear her engineer talking, telling her about the weather. She loved the rain, it soothed her, only she knew nothing could snap her out of this mood. She drove the car back to the starting grid, her body relaxing in the seat as she stared at the lights ahead of her waiting for the race to start.
Madden couldn't help but glance towards Pierre's car. She wondered what he was thinking, was he thinking of her? Why was he acting the way he was? There was little she could do at this moment in time, she had at least an hour before she would get to speak to him again, to be honest, it would be much longer.
Looking back at the lights, she braced herself as the lights changed. Her hands worked in a nimble fashion to get her car moving off the line. She always loved but hated the start of races, it was the most intense part for her. It was amplified by the feelings inside of her, all the stuff she was dealing with, throughout everything she always had Pierre but it felt like she was losing him.
