lemon and mint | Charles Leclerc

~ uno ~

Melbourne, March 2019

"I haven't seen you for a long time, young lady." Pia immediately recognised this voice. It belonged to her dad. She didn't see Seb since he left for winter testing.

"Dad," she exclaimed before he pulled her into a tight hug. Being in his embrace felt so serene.

"How are you doing? Is everything okay?" He asked while he casually rested his hand around Pia's shoulders. The two of them formed an iconic duo. The whole paddock saw Pia growing up next to Sebastian.

"Yeah, I feel better than ever. It's so great to be back," the Italian gave him an excited smile. It was a long time since she was in the paddock for the last time. So many things had changed. Lovers turned into strangers and strangers turned into lovers. Some friendships have been strengthened, and some have been forgotten.

Being back in Melbourne felt somehow disturbing. Maybe it felt like that because of all those eyes Pia could feel on her. Maybe it was because of all those whispers that ran around the paddock. The younger Teunissen just came back. Pia could change her last name as much as she wanted, but for everyone here, she was still Teunissen. And everyone knew that this couldn't end up good when they were in the same paddock.

"I'm glad to see you. Will you watch the race from Red Bull, or should I ask Britta to keep you a seat next to her?" The friendship between Pia and Max was one of those friendships that eventually became the stronger one. It was a big fight since Anthonie was his manager, but they promised each other that they wouldn't ever let that ruin their friendship.

"Anthonie is not here, so I'm not gonna let his chance slip between my fingers," Pia gave her dad a small smile. Before she learnt that her biological father wasn't attending this Grand Prix, she should've supported Seb in the Ferrari facility, but she couldn't refuse Max's offer to watch it from Red Bull. She knew Anthonie would be furious after finding out about it, and that was something that Pia wanted.

In addition, she wasn't entirely sure what her presence in the Ferrari garage would cause. It was Charles' first race for Ferrari, and Pia didn't want to destroy that. She had already ruined a lot of things for him.

"Of course, sweetie. But on the next race, you'll be sitting next to Britta, and you'll wear Ferrari merch," the German smiled at her. It was too long since he had seen her dressed in Ferrari gear.

"I promise," she said while she lifted two fingers as a gesture of promise. "It has been four years, and it's still odd to see you in red. I miss you at Red Bull." They both knew the story behind it. He would need to leave Red Bull anyway but going to Ferrari was his choice. The red racing suit looked great on him, but it wasn't a Red Bull one. She knew it was a good decision, but perhaps she missed those times when Red Bull felt like home.

"Being in Ferrari was always my dream." He always said that, and everyone knew it was the truth. His departure from Red Bull wasn't the happiest one, but he was making his childhood dreams come true. He was grateful to Red Bull for all those years. They were one of his favourites, but the toxicity that Anthonie created there was too much to bear. Anthonie wanted to destroy Seb's career no matter what, and unfortunately, the Dutchman had a big word in the Austrian racing team. It was Sebastian or Anthonie, and everyone knew who Helmut Marko would choose.

"I know, you're all about traditions and history, and Ferrari is perfect for that," Pia acknowledged. Sebastian was known for being a lover of F1 history. He avowed to it.

"Salut," Pia greeted Charles when she and Seb passed him. The French greeting came naturally. In the end, he was the one who taught her French. When they were younger, he pretended not to hear her when she spoke English. It was his way of getting someone to speak his language. To annoy Pia, even more, he told Jules to do the same. Jules was older than both of them, so Pia hoped he would be wiser and not do anything like that. But he was just like Charles. Eventually, thanks to both, she learned to speak French fluently. Well, it was much more Jules' merit. He had more patience to correct her mistakes and pronunciation than Charles. Eventually, she even began to have more in common with Jules. Maybe because Charles was often away because of his go-kart races, and Pia was in the F1 paddock with Jules around.

"Coucou," he greeted her back, as Jules used to do. Charles reminded her so much of him. He made his way to Ferrari. It was something Jules was destined for, but he never got the opportunity to race for them.

Charles had for sure tremendous talent. Last year, he made it quite clear that he wasn't here to play games. So, it was more than clear that would replace Kimi for this season.

Seeing him now in the red racing suit made Pia feel uneasy. She had to take a deep breath. She almost saw Jules. They were so alike. It almost seemed that Charles was just continuing in Jules' traces - making it to the places where Jules never had a chance to be. After one year of being away from racing completely, she got the courage to watch the F1 race again. It wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. A year later, she decided to watch one of Charles' races. He was competing in F2. Pia thought she would be able to watch it, but she didn't even manage to it till the first turn. It took her half a year to be able to watch his whole race.

"You two still haven't talked to each other?" Seb asked when they were far enough from Charles. It was difficult. Things weren't the same as they used to be. Charles moved on. He also found himself a girlfriend - from strangers to lovers. He looked happy, confident, and content. She had the impression that she no longer belonged to his world. Perhaps, she never did.

"It's difficult." Pia's relationship with Charles was shattered. They grew apart when they desperately needed to be together - after Jules' crash. They hopelessly needed each other at that time, but she was never good at asking for help. She just shut down, expecting someone would help her, but at that time, Charles needed help just like her.

"I think the talk would help with all the difficulties," Sebastian wisely said when you arrived at the Red Bull facility. Talk, communicate - he always said that. Communication can solve every problem, but to do that, you would need to face the problem, and Pia wasn't ready for that just yet. She doubted Charles was ready to face it as well.

"Yeah, I know," Pia nodded. She understood Seb had the best intentions, but this wasn't his thing. Even though he knew a lot about their situation, he didn't know everything.

"Well, it looks like you will meet him quite often since he's my teammate," Sebastian pointed out the obvious thing. She was fully aware of that. She wondered how it would look. Are they going to find a way to at least talk to each other? Or are they going to try to avoid each other at all costs?

"It will be alright. Sooner or later," Pia said, but she didn't really believe in her own words. There were too many things to solve, and she wasn't sure if Charles even wanted to solve them.

Sebastian didn't react to it because he knew that Pia didn't want to talk about it any longer. "Enjoy the race and cheer for me, okay?" Seb said when Pia was about to enter the Red Bull facility.

"Of course, forza Ferrari," she said excitedly while stepping into the Red Bull facility. Her whoop seemed to attract the attention of people working for Red Bull.