Hopelessly Devoted ☆ Pierre Gasly

XXXV

For the tenth time in fifteen minutes, Juliette yawned. It was 11 o'clock in the morning, and she was standing in a bakery. She was tired; the jet lag was kicking in. Her eyes found Peter's, who was also struggling to stay awake.

"Why did we say we would do this?" Peter sighed. "I have so many regrets. That one hour of sleep would make such a difference." Juliette nodded, agreeing with his statement. "How was it at Pierre's?"

"Good." She showed a tired smile. "Everything feels good."

He nodded. "How did you two meet? Delilah said you two had a past or something?"

"How do you know about this?"

"Toto knows it as well."

Juliette blinked a few times. "I can't tell her anything," she said sarcastically and sighed. She still loved Delilah, but this was unnecessary to share with her colleague and boss. "We went to high school together." There was silence. "Now I know why Toto is like: be careful and don't make it public. I was confused as heck when he asked me if I needed Pierre during my panic attack."

"She said this to protect you," Peter informed her. "Toto was already jumping into conclusions, and the board is fishing for information."

"Well, fuck me."

Peter picked up the birthday cake and breakfast while Juliette paid and got their coffees.

"Honestly, I am glad I'm back to work, but this jet lag is killing me," Juliette complained and took a sip from her coffee. "Ew, this is your coffee."

"Yes, this is yours," he came to a conclusion. "What kind of coffee do you have?"

"Flat white." They switched the coffees. "I don't dislike your coffee; I just didn't expect to get a Lungo."

Peter smirked. "No worries, I had the same reaction." They walked back to the metro stop. "Just a double check: birthday cake, presents, breakfast."

"Check, check and check. Triple check." Juliette groaned, annoyed. "Shit, we were supposed to make an Instagram Story of our coffees to make her think we forgot about her birthday."

"You are a devil," Peter said and shook his head in disbelieve. "Make a photo, I will wait."

"Who doesn't like Lucifer?" Juliette winked and instructed Peter on how to hold his coffee cup. She took a photo and made a quick Instagram Story of it. "Yes, it's all done." Juliette put her phone away, and they entered the metro station. "How is your family doing?"

A smile grew on his face. "They're doing fine, thank you." Peter really appreciated Juliette cared about him and his family. "Your family?"

"They're fine," she replied and checked in. "My brother became a dad for the second time last week, so that's really exciting."

"Really? Congratulations, Julie!" Peter cheered. "I'll go to the grandpa later today, congratulate him as well. By the way, I was wondering this, how is it to have your dad around the track as well?"

Juliette took a seat in the metro, placing the bag on her lap. "It's... mixed feelings. Having your dad around is fun and all; you always have someone from your family around, and it's trusted. Until you get the 'daughter of' status. But you know, if I really was hired just for the name, Mercedes would suck. At least, I hope they didn't hire me because of my dad, and I really do hope I'm doing a good job," she hopefully said and pressed her lips into a thin line. "I love my dad, but it can be annoying to be in a team he used to work for and to be friends with my colleagues as well. Everybody knows him. So just like my mental breakdowns, I didn't want anyone else around me other than my dad, but it feels like... I don't know how to explain it. I have a breakdown, and they call my dad. It's like I can't handle things on my own? If you get what I mean?" She took a deep breath. "But you know, I'm following my dad into this world because I am not original, and I can't make decisions on my own."