Hopelessly Devoted ☆ Pierre Gasly

XVII

The day was finished at Silverstone. The Mercedes crew were packing their stuff, ready to go home. It was such a privilege to live nearby a circuit of a Grand Prix. Everyone in the crew could go home, spend the evening with their loved ones and just sleep in their own bed. Juliette lived in Milton Keynes at a 30-minute drive from Silverstone.

"The win in Spielberg for Red Bull last race; okay, reasonable. Now it is our time to shine in England, our home GP. So, everybody, keep the positive spirit!" The team manager of Lewis looked at everyone with a satisfied look on his face. "Well, our home GP because we are English, not the team."

"Aye, aye, captain," Juliette said and gave him a bright smile. She logged off on the computer and collected her stuff.

"I'm relieved we can go home, spend the night there. Just one of the reasons why I love this GP," Peter said and did the same as Juliette.

Juliette nodded and removed the elastic from her hair. The relief of taking that thing out of your hair after a long day at work, was the most fantastic feeling. "Absolutely. My own bed, my own, most important, cheap snacks, own shower, own car," she said, satisfied. "Fabulous."

Peter smirked. "Your energy is so pure, I'm living for it."

"It's the truth," she said. "Uhm, are you leaving right away, or are you staying here for a bit longer?"

"I'm leaving straight away. Why?"

Her eyes were focused on her computer screen; Juliette fixed her hair, making it representable for the world. "I'm going for a short walk, finishing the day. I was gonna ask you if you wanted to join, but you should go home," she said and gave him a warm smile.

"Maybe next time," he said. "I will see you tomorrow, Jules." He smiled and walked away.

"Cheers."

Juliette put away her bag, knowing it would be safe, and entered the track. She put some music on via her earphones. It was the beginning of a beautiful evening in England. She decided to walk a short round, the shortest route from the start. It should take her around thirty minutes, long enough to process all the information of today and get into the relax mode. It was essential to Juliette she would close the workday correctly; otherwise, she would stay restless for the rest of the evening and night.

The walk made her realise how lucky she was to work in F1, for Mercedes, in the track crew. Not many people got the opportunity to show what they got. She was young, the youngest of the crew, and most people were older with much more experience. They picked Juliette to replace the former performance engineer because 1: she was the only one within the Mercedes team to replace him due to too few employees, and 2: because Juliette was talented and good in her job.

Juliette was drowned in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the two people who were approaching her. Anthoine noticed Juliette was in her own mind, because she looked him in the eyes, but not react to him.

"Oh, that's Juliette," Pierre mumbled; he was kinda in shock to bump into Juliette for some reason. He had no idea what he should do now. Greet her? Ignore her? Something else?

"Yes, that's Lulu," Anthoine said and started to walk on Juliette's walk line. He was waiting for her reaction.

Juliette gasped for air when she suddenly saw someone walked towards her, on her walk line. "Anthoine, mon Dieu!" She looked unamused at him and pulled the earphones out of her ears. "You have this whole track to walk on. Look at the space!" She was showing the space between Anthoine and the other part of the track.

A snort rolled over Anthoine's lips. "I was waving at you, it was a whole circus act, and you didn't see me."

"My apologies, sir," she replied and smiled. "How are you?" Juliette's eyes found Pierre's eyes. "Hey," she greeted him. "How's it going?"