Heard it through the grapevine

Chapter 3

Helena had indeed ended up driving Charles to Maranello the following Tuesday. The car ride had been nice, and with both of them not feeling like they were about to pass out from tiredness, they had managed to talk for most of the car ride there. 

They'd talked about everything from Helena's work, to Charles' driving, their upbringing in Monaco, and everything in-between. Helena had found that she didn't feel as uncomfortable as she would have imagined, sharing so many personal memories with Charles, since she knew that it was probably also difficult for him to share stuff about himself. She imagined that he was used to the media eating it right up, if it should end up in the wrong hands. 

She didn't know if that was actually the case, but it calmed her to think, that maybe they were on the same side. 

Since arriving in Maranello, Helena had been busy following Flavio around to various meeting which were not particularly important for her to participate in, but Flavio felt that her participation would be beneficial to her upcoming projects, and so that was that. 

He'd let her know that if she wanted, there was a spot for her on the communications team in Zandvoort in three weeks. At first, Helena hadn't known what to say, she wasn't sure why Flavio had offered up her name for the position, but she had gladly accepted it. Maybe it would be a good opportunity for her to test her skills in a different kind of the same job. Flavio being Flavio, he had assured her that a spot had only opened for her because of various factors such as illness and holiday within the permanent F1 communications team. Helena was appreciative of the opportunity nonetheless. 

High on the prospect of going to Zandvoort in only a few weeks, the week in Maranello had ended up passing by in a blur. She had seen Giovanni, Thomas, and André for lunch on Thursday, where she had told them about Zandvoort and they had all hugged her and congratulated her. André was going to be there as well, as they were also going to use the opportunity to test some different things on the car, so she would at least know one other person. As most people were aware of by now, the Ferrari car had not been performing as it should this year, and it had frustrated everyone that it had not been the season they had hoped for. 

Helena ended up staying in Maranello until Friday. annoyed with herself that she managed to spend almost a week away from home, but since Flavio had given her a carrot, Zandvoort, she felt it was only right to prove to him that he was right in choosing to give it to her. 

She had seen Charles around Maranello a couple of times during the week, but at a distance. They had noticed each other a couple of times and offered small smiles and occasionally a little wave in the other's direction, but nothing more than that had taken place. Not that it mattered to Helena, but she also remembered him saying that he would be driving back to Monaco on Thursday, as he had to attend some kind of work-related dinner function, so he wasn't even anywhere near Maranello today. 

She hadn't told anyone about their drive to and from Monaco together, she didn't really see it being important information to anyone either. She didn't want anyone to get the wrong impression, because there was no wrong impression to get. She had driven him to and from work once, they were barely even acquaintances at this point. Yet, she embarrassingly somehow felt like she was hiding something, and she wondered why she felt that way. There really was no more to it.

Helena chose to leave the office early on Friday, deciding that if any additional work required her attention, she would look at it over the weekend. She arrived back in Monaco around 5pm, immediately texting a few friends, inviting them over for drinks and food later. It had been too long since she had seen them, she regrettably tended to sometimes isolate herself and bury herself in her work.