Last Man Standing

Chapter 33

Marylinde stared at herself in the mirror. She had cut her hair off like she had wanted to do for so long. Maybe she shouldn't have done it so close to her date with Pierre. She had been so excited to cut it off but now she wasn't so sure of the plan anymore. There was no going back however, she couldn't exactly glue her hair back on.

"You do know Pierre is waiting downstairs right?" Arthur had called for Marylinde a while ago, telling her Pierre was at the door. When Marylinde didn't come down, he had let him in himself and told him to wait. But Marylinde had still not come down. "Mary?" Arthur knocked on the door. "I'm coming in." Marylinde remained in front of the mirror. "Hey." Arthur tried to snap Marylinde out of it.

"This was a bad idea, wasn't it."

"Depends on what you are talking about." Marylinde inhaled sharply. "I'm joking!"

"My hair, thinking it is a good idea to go on a date with Pierre. All of it is so dumb." Arthur stepped closer to Marylinde and engulfed her in a tight hug.

"Your hair looks amazing and Pierre likes you, you like him. That's clear to everyone but you, Mary. None of it is dumb." He rested his chin on her head. "Now we are going downstairs and you are going to have a lot of fun with Pierre on your date. Forget that you are a driver, forget that he is. Just be a French man and Danish woman who ran into each other and decided to go on a date. Nothing more, nothing less."

"But we are more than just a Frenchman and a Danish girl. We're both drivers. We're in the same program in some way and might as well be battling for the same seat. That's messed up Arthur."

"Mick is better at this than I am, but let me tell you this: you don't have to worry about all of this tonight. Maybe not even tomorrow. Maybe not ever. So don't do it if you don't even know whether you'll have a reason to in the future."

"I hate it when you are right and I can't help myself from doing the absolute opposite." With Arthur's hand still tightly holding onto hers, Marylinde followed him down the stairs to a very nervous Pierre.

He had been waiting for Marylinde for just over ten minutes. All kinds of scenarios had run through his mind. The one that recurred the most was the question of whether Marylinde had changed her mind. He knew her and knew she would do a lot just to please other people, maybe agreeing to go on a date with him had been one of those.

"What did you do to your hair?!" Marylinde's free hand immediately shot up to her hair that now only reached to her shoulders rather than halfway down her back. "It looks gorgeous!"

"See, nothing to worry about." Arthur squeezed her hand one more time before walking into the living room and leaving Marylinde and Pierre in the hallway.

"Was that what was going on? You were afraid your hair looked bad?" Marylinde knew, that if she could tell anyone what was going on inside her head, it would be Pierre.

"Among other things." She didn't want to start their date on that note, however. With a soft smile on her face, she looked at Pierre for the first time that evening. "Shall we go?" Pierre nodded and extended his hand for Marylinde to take. Together they left the home Marylinde shared with Mick and Arthur. "So, what are the plans for today?"

"You will find out later." Marylinde stared at Pierre. "That is not going to work M&M, not this time."

"So in other circumstances, it would work on you?" Pierre laughed. "Well?" He still didn't answer. "You are such a tease, Gasly. It's so unfair." They got into Pierre's car and Pierre drove it out of town.

"So how was England? And your parents?"

"It was great! Being in England means I get to spend so much more time with my parents than I have done in a very long time. They are coming to Baku actually. My father couldn't make it last time around, even though they would have loved to be there in Monaco, especially now I did so well they are super sorry they couldn't be there, but they are going to be there next time. They would love to meet you actually."