Smooth, Fast, & Pretty

F is for Ferrari

          I open my eyes to an unfamiliar place, I'm laying down on a cream colored couch and I'm no longer in my little black dress. I hear a low voice say "Sorry for waking you, go back to sleep." I object and sit up, my head feels like it has a bowling ball rolling around inside. I lay my head in my hands and stay there for a moment before the voice speaks again "Have a nice nap?" This time he says it with a chuckle, how amusing. He obviously finds this funnier than I do probably because I did not mean to sleep over at Charles Leclercs's house. This time I don't even ask, I know nothing happened last night. Charles sits down next to me and hands me a glass of water, he looks up at me and our eyes meet "I don't know how much you remember from last night but you sent me a text asking me to come pick you up." I nod my head, I do remember that but I'm afraid it's the last thing I'm aware of. He starts again "I had just left the restaurant so I wasn't far, I turned around right away. When I got there you were hysterical, I don't know but I assume it was the mix of all the alcohol and Pierre." I frown, in what world does he know about what happened with Pierre? He must see the appalling look plastered on my face because he states "You didn't tell me much and you weren't in great shape when you got into my car. We can talk about it if you want." I shake my head in response, I am not in the position to be pouring my heart out to a stranger. Well, I guess he's not much of a stranger anymore if I slept over at his house. "Let me give you a ride back to the restaurant, I think you left your car there last night." I mumble in agreement and stand up, wobbling and almost falling over but Charles grabs my arm just in time. "Thanks." I grunt. I don't mean to sound rude but this hangover is really getting to me and I feel like being bothered.

           After a few hours I'm back in my hotel room, it took a long time to get home because of my raging migraine. The first thing I do after setting my stuff down on the bed is head across the hall to Lando's room. Once again, I'm greeted with Olivia's lovely face, she's a sweet girl but not who I need to talk to right now. "I need to talk to Lando. Is he here?" I burst out with an urgency in my voice. She opens the door a bit wider which I take as an invite in. I scan the room, it's almost identical to mine except for messiness. I see Lando emerge from the bathroom with just a towel around his waist, and immediately divert my gaze. I look back to Olivia and only just now notice her wet hair, at least some people have been having a good time. I lower my voice "Is there any way we can talk in private?" He confirms this with a nod, and motions for Olivia to leave. I assume she has a room nearby because she doesn't complain and just goes. Which is good to know because I don't want to just kick her out. I spend a moment trying to find the words to tell him about the fight with Pierre and sleeping over at Charles's apartment. "Last night I had a talk with Pierre and it ended with me sleeping over at Charles's place." He is physically taken aback as soon as the words spill out of my mouth. "Valentina when I gave you Charles's number, literally just last night, that didn't mean to sleep with the best friend of your ex. Not to mention, he also just got out of a relationship." I can hear the disappointment in his voice and I look down at the mention of Pierre. "I know and I didn't hook up with him, Lando." I sigh, why do people always assume I want to sleep with half of the grid. "I was too drunk to drive myself home and I didn't want to bother you and Olivia. I'm not looking for anything with anyone right now, especially after what happened with Pierre last night." His expression turns sour, and I answer the question he doesn't even have to ask "He came up to me at the restaurant a little while after you left, basically he broke up with me because he can't give me what I deserve." I make air quotes with my fingers as the words come out of my mouth. "That's so stupid, Val. It sucks, I'm sorry." He adds and puts his hand on my knee, we stay like this for a short time before I get up to leave. "I'll see you at qualifying, okay?" Lando nods and leads me to the door.

           I stand behind a bunch of screens in the McLaren garage, Olivia is next to me and we're both wearing a set of papaya headphones. We've been talking about Lando's performance this season when I see Pierre enter the garage. Shit, in the chaos of the past few days I forgot that Lando and Pierre are teammates. Pierre doesn't even look up at me and continues walking. Ouch, that stings but it's fine because I'm here to watch my best friend race. Lando and Pierre both make it to Q2 and they are performing well enough to make it into Q3. However, Pierre makes a mistake and ends up in the elimination zone, he'll be starting in P12 tomorrow. Lando continues onto Q3 and finishes in P4. He gets out of his car and starts walking over to me, he gives me a hug and kisses Olivia on the cheek. Before I know it he's gone off to talk to the press, holding Olivia's hand and leaving me alone in the garage. I can't say I'm not jealous, Pierre is nowhere to be seen and people are starting to suspect that something is up between us. Left with nothing to do and no one to talk to, I decide to walk the pit lane, immediately I get swarmed with reporters asking about me and Pierre. "Where is Pierre? Are you guys doing okay? How do you feel about Pierre's performance today?" I'm overwhelmed by the flashing lights and dip into the Ferrari garage, the mechanics won't let them in, I'll be safe here. I see Sainz and Charles in a corner talking about qualifying and approach them. "Oh, hi Valentina." Carlos says as he leaves to let me and Charles talk privately. Weird. Did Charles tell him something? Charles turns around and greets me with a smile. He touches my arm and I avoid eye contact, this feels weird. I see Pierre begin to enter the Ferrari garage, probably to talk to his best friend aka the man who currently has his hands on me. He stops short when he sees me and Charles. His face is overcome with jealousy and anger, as if he wasn't the one to leave, even if it was for my own sake. A part of me still yearns for Pierre, I don't think it ever won't but it's over now, there's no going back. Instead of coming up to us he just turns around and leaves, continuing down the pit lane. Part of me wants to follow him, to yell after him and beg for him to take me back but something else is on my mind. "Charles? Want to head out and get some drinks?"