Moscow Mule - [Pierre Gasly]

XII

"I just have to know what Pierre's response will be to him seeing you in the Ferrari garage," Daria giggled as they scanned their passes and entered the paddock. "It's nothing personal," Azar shrugged, having a glance at her hands that had multiple APM Monaco rings around her fingers, a bracelet sparkling in the sunlight. "No, but you do love to stir shit up," Daria added with a chuckle. "That is very true, my friend," Azar admitted. The paddock in the principality was busy, all of them focussed on the leader in the championship and the title contender in the red car from Monaco. Daria and Azar split their ways as Azar needed to go to the Ferrari hospitality and her friend went up to the paddock club before the sessions on Friday would start. Azar took her sunglasses off when she was guided into the hospitality of the Scuderia, and she was met with Charles' team right away. He shook her hand, greeting her in a friendly way. Charles is cute, he's hot, but he comes across as too sweet and too angelic for her. He was visibly a little taken aback by her appearance, pink blushes flooding his cheeks when she looked into his eyes.

"I saw you at the Grand Prix of Miami too, right?" Charles spoke up, making her nod. "Yes, that's right," Azar replied. "I'm happy to welcome you as one of my guests," he continued. "One of? I'm just a number here?" she said, her eyes sparkling. "No, no! Of course not, I-..." he stammered, his hand moving to the back of his neck. "I was just messing with you," she laughed, placing a hand on his arm that got him to let out a breathy chuckle. Is Charles Leclerc everybody's type? Probably, but she preferred Pierre's straightforwardness, his slightly cocky attitude, and his humor. "We're going to the garage and the pitlane now," Silvia stepped forward and spoke up, looking at both of them. "A photographer of your shared sponsor will take some pictures with the car and of you, and then our media duties are done until the first free practice starts," she informed. Azar nodded, walking with the woman to cross the paddock and get into the Ferrari pitboxes. She was shown around Charles' garage, and he explained a couple of things about the car and the steering wheel, which was a unique experience.

She and a couple of other sponsor guests gathered in front of Charles' car, his hand curling around her waist to draw her in as the photographer got some pictures of them. Her phone pinged meanwhile, but she ignored it until she was standing in the back of the garage with a pair of red headphones on. The first practice was about to start, and the cars were already started in the pitboxes just yet. Charles had gotten changed into his racing suit meanwhile and put his balaclava and helmet on. Not much later, the cars drove out onto the pitlane and then went onto the track. Azar took her phone from her bag and tapped on the screen to see the notification. It was a text from her PR, who wanted to have the pictures of the jewellery before noon, and a text from Pierre.

[Pierre]: See you later?

A small smile tugged on her lips, her teeth digging into her lower lip after. She hadn't seen him since they met up in Milan last month, because afterward she was all over the world, and he needed to go to Barcelona for the race there. She wasn't even sure how he knew she was here, but at the same time, the paddock was small and chatter spread quickly. Azar crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at the TV screen in the garage, where the free practice was broadcasted. As if on cue, Pierre's car popped up on the screen, and the camera's in the car followed him for a lap around the track of Monaco. Azar looked over at the engineers in the Ferrari pit box after. She understood from what she had read that Ferrari was messing up big time this year, and after Charles had won a couple of races, it went downhill too quickly. She felt for the driver, he had been very nice to her, and he seemed like his character was as angelic as his appearance. Not like things went significantly better with Pierre's team, they had their issues with a non-competitive car too.

Azar opened her bottle of water and followed the rest of the training in the pit box of the team in red. The cars came back a little before the end of the training, and soon both drivers disappeared out of the garage and were off to whatever duties they had. Azar took her phone from her bag again, and she texted Pierre back.