Rêveries

Chapter 76.

The season approached quicker than I thought it would. Suddenly I was in Maranello, attending the Ferrari car launch, trying to explain to Seb why I didn't call him to tell him that I was moving in with Charles. Then I was in Barcelona for pre-season testing, two weekends in a row.

Esteban was back on the grid, and he had brought his girlfriend Elena who Charles and Pierre instructed to look after without getting into trouble. Esteban came back as Daniel's teammate. Daniel, who by the way also wanted to know why I didn't tell him and he had to find out through some paddock gossip. I'll tell you that Lewis was ordering me to send him an invite to come see the new place. And then there's Lando, who was upset that I didn't bring Arthur.

As soon as we had the time, Evie and I danced together. We prepared a new choreography for new competitions we signed up for. We had all kinds of different visions for our dances, we just had to puzzle them together. We danced when we were traveling together, at hotels, at gyms or wherever there was space. We didn't even care if there was a mirror.

Charles was away in Maranello between pre-season testing and the first race, so Evie stayed with me in the apartment, and together we held Pascale company in the evenings when she got home from work. We'd cook or watch movies, or sometimes we'd go out for dinner and maybe a glass of whatever alcoholic beverage we wanted.

As we got closer to the start of the season, I noticed just how serious Charles was getting about it. Of course he's always been serious about it, considering it's his dream. He's always wanted to become a world champion, but first he wanted to get to Ferrari. He's now at Ferrari, he's done a season and he knows he's capable of winning, so he's really putting in the extra work to really work for a championship. It took extra time and extra energy from him, and I knew it would. Sure, it would be nice to have as much time with him as possible, but if he can reach his dream then I'll support him and make the most of the time I have with him instead.

In Australia we started going to the gym together. We did different things, considering we have different workouts, but we went there together and we left together. That also meant we could shower together. I also followed along when he had interviews or was doing challenges. I liked being around him even though he was doing something else or talking to someone else, and he seemed to like having me there, because every now and then I'd catch him glancing past the camera at me and I would see him try to hold a smile back and focus on the interview. Or he'd send Andrea and Joris, his content creator, to sit in the backseat of the car so he could have me in the passenger seat. When we were out, he'd tell Joris to snap photos of me too, and Joris promised not to post them.

During the race weekend when we walked in, he wanted me close to him, holding his hand on the small of my back, or he'd grab my hand and pull me with him while I tried talking to Mia and he thought we were walking too slowly. He still tried to shield me from some cameras, knowing I'm still getting used to it being on us together. But then it was time for him to focus solely on the racing, so I wasn't going to distract him. I'd entertain myself until I found Evie or someone else there. I used the girls to try to get used to the cameras, I tried to not hide behind them, I tried to really accept that people were taking photos of us and I tried to not shy away if some fan with a paddock pass came up to talk to us.

Mia told me they get bored if I make it seem like I don't care that they don't like me. If I seem unbothered, they will realize that their opinions and mean comments won't change the fact that I am in a relationship with Charles. They get bored when they don't get a reaction, and therefore I should try to act as unbothered as possible. Hiding away from the press apparently doesn't scream unbothered.

I still hadn't posted a photo of Charles in the same way he had posted me. We had posted pictures with each other along with our parents since the photo he posted of me, but I knew that if I posted Charles then I'm basically planting a garden of hate comments, so I'm waiting a little. I might wait for his first podium of the season or something to make it a little smoother.