Ice and asphalt [Charles Leclerc]

15.

"Louise Gasly?" my physio calls out in the waiting room, and I rise from my chair. "Hello, Louise, how have you been?" he asks as he shakes my hand, motioning for me to follow him to the gym section of the clinic. "I've been doing well, did a lot of traveling with my brother," I reply as we approach the treadmill, where a boy around my age is standing. I assume he's an intern. "Ah, yes, of course, I saw you appear on TV a few times during the races," he says, smiling, knowing he's a big fan of Formula One. I return his smile politely, though I didn't realize I had been on TV a few times as I don't watch the races back. For my own peace of mind, I've decided not to look at all the gossip posts that appear on my Instagram explore page, as people can be cruel. "This is Theo, he's my intern and will be with us today." He says as he mentions towards the man that is standing with us. "Hey" he says quickly and I greet him back. For the first ten minutes, he lets me walk and run on the treadmill. I'm glad that I've been doing some running in my spare time and managed to keep up with it, especially when I was at the races with Pierre. We did our sibling bonding by running a lap on the track together. "Well, it looks good when you run and walk. You're not putting too much pressure on your other hip, so that's good," he says as he types it into his iPad, where he has my dossier open and is making notes. Then he hands the iPad to Theo and turns to him. "Well, by the looks of it, there are no major issues with your pretty much recovered hip. So Theo will run the rest of the program with you," he says, addressing both of us. I'm unsure how to feel about it. It's not that I don't trust his skills, but I've grown accustomed to my physio, Matthew, who has been with me throughout my recovery. Now, I have to try to be as social as possible to avoid making this situation super awkward. However, as someone who is quite awkward with new people, this will be a challenge. Theo gives me a big smile as Matthew walks away, and I get the impression that he is quite the opposite of me— not awkward at all. Maybe that's a good thing, considering Arthur is also the opposite of me when it comes to socializing, and he's my best friend. Perhaps this won't be so bad. "Okay, let's get to the weights. We're going to do some hip thrusts," Theo says after checking the iPad to see what we need to do next. He has a kind smile on his face as he gestures for me to follow him.

"You do these often?" Theo asks as we gather the equipment for the hip thrusts. "Yeah, I do them sometimes in the gym, but not with too much weight, as my hip can't handle that," I reply. Despite my recovery, I still make it a point to go to the gym—I'm not willing to give up the physique I've developed from skating. Plus, with mostly weightless exercises, I've managed to maintain it. "Okay then, we're going to do them in sets of five. I'll watch your form, and if your hip starts to hurt or I notice anything not right, you need to tell me, or I'll tell you to stop. Okay?" Theo explains, even though I'm familiar with the routine, having done it dozens of times during my recovery. We run through the program Matthew had prepared for me, and as he predicted, my hip is as recovered as it can be. During the exercises, I can't handle the weights someone with a healthy hip could manage, even though I'm pretty much recovered. But that's the whole point, isn't it? A career-ending injury means you're not able to function like you did before.

During the session, Theo and I engage in some small talk, and I find out he's a really nice guy. He's twenty-one and born and raised here in Nice. But as we're wrapping up, he suddenly seems to get a bit nervous, and then he finds the courage to speak up. "So, do you drink coffee, Louise?" he asks, catching me off guard. "I'm more of a tea drinker, to be honest," I answer, not really understanding why he's asking me this. "Would you maybe then like to get some tea together sometime?" he asks, fidgeting with his watch strap. "Like as in a date?" I ask, feeling a bit surprised. "Yeah," he says, growing more nervous by the minute. I really don't know how to decline someone asking me out on a date without being rude. "That's really nice of you to ask, but I have a boyfriend," I say, offering him a smile as I try to be as polite as possible. "You don't have to apologize, Louise," he says with a chuckle, and I feel myself let out a breath, relieved that he's taking it so well.