Mon Amour | 𝑪.𝑳

Part 66

"Yuki Tsunoda to drive for Alpha Tauri in 2022"

Arden Accardi was officially without a seat for the 2022 season.

Something expected by fans. His performance had dropped dramatically since the season opener and he was now being out performed by teammate Pierre Gasly every single race.

The paddock was alive with media, drivers were whispering between each other about the whole situation especially since half of them had renewed possible contract ends with their teams so it didn't look like their would be a seat free for the Italian in the near future.

Walking through the paddock with Charles, Lyla had been targeted by the media. People from French, English and Italian media were flooding over to her the minute they spotted her in the paddock and shoving a microphone in her face before bombarding her with questions regarding her brother.

It wasn't unknown that something had happened between the siblings, Charles and Pierre. Alpha Tauri had stopped releasing their teammate content, Pierre would find any excuse he could to not be near Arden and tried to stay away from the team garage and motorhome as much as possible during race weekends, Charles spent more time with Pierre, Lyla or any other driver he could find than with Arden and Lyla was seen actively avoiding her brother and his name at all costs.

Lyla just wished she wasn't the medias target since Arden had refused a statement to them.

The minute she had stepped through the paddock gates, there had been microphones and cameras in her face. Carlos and Charles had been pushed away from her despite the fact they had walked in at the same time and the two Ferrari drivers had to fight through the crowds to get to Lyla. Charles immediately pulled her into him, glancing to Carlos who was telling the interviews and cameras to back off before following after Charles who was pulling Lyla through the crowd and towards the safety of the motorhomes.

"Lando!" Carlos calls out for the McLaren driver up ahead.

"Hey." Lando smiles. "Woah, big crowds."

"Big crowds." Charles nods.

Seeing Lyla tucked into Charles' side and glancing anxiously over her shoulder, it all clicked in Lando's head and he nodded to Charles who was asking him the silent question. Lando took Lyla's arm and she very reluctantly left the safety of Charles who smiled warmly at her, the cameras then spotted the three drivers and their target and started running up shouting.

"Go." Lando whispers in Lyla's ear, pushing her behind him and towards the garage.

"Don't leave me." Lyla begs, looking up at him.

Lando looked down at Lyla, then to the incoming media teams, then to Charles and Carlos. The Brit's eyes saw the way that Charles was looking at his girlfriend in concern so he took Lyla's hand and started jogging towards the McLaren motorhome doors as the media was stopped by Charles and Carlos at the bottom of the path.

The shouting had caught the attention of many people inside motorhome - including Zac, Daniel, Isla and Henry. Daniel rushed out of the motorhome to join his teammate and Lyla.

Once behind the safety of the doors, Lyla folded against Lando who wrapped her up into a hug.

The media dispersed the minute Zac stepped towards them.

Charles looked up to the motorhome and caught the eyes of Lando who then nudged Lyla. She looked out of the glass doors, meeting the eyes of her concerned boyfriend and shooting him a smile. Charles then gestured to his phone and she grabbed hers from her pocket, excusing herself from the group at the door and trying to hide her shaking hands as she lifted her phone to her ear.