Hopelessly Devoted ☆ Pierre Gasly

XLII

A yawn escaped Juliette's mouth and she stretched her arms. Just when she processed the jet lag from Japan and got used to the English timezone again, she had to go to Mexico for the next Grand Prix. Her body was confused.

"Stay awake, will you?" Delilah smirked.

A fake smile grew on Juliette's face. "Just a small piece of refreshment," she convincingly commented. "After this intense day."

"That's what they always say," Delilah smirked and shook her head. They were both sitting across the room, waiting for the team to arrive for the qualifying debrief.

"Honestly, I'm glad today is over. I've never sweated this much before, my goodness," Juliette said. Her first practices and qualification as a race engineer just finished. "The stress, dude."

"Bro, you looked zen; you all had it under control and owned it," Delilah complimented her. "I was surprised you didn't freak out."

Juliette looked at Delilah and pressed her lips into a thin line. "I was freaking out on the inside. Just the fact everyone will hear your voice - what shouldn't be the biggest concern, but I still think about it, and if I share the wrong information, it is my fault. I have no idea how Peter handles this like he is... doing the laundry." Delilah snorted. "Tomorrow will be more...intense."

"Not gonna lie, your voice is calming. A bit posh, pleasing to listen to."

"In your dreams," Juliette smirked. "But we were a good team, ey?"

"We are the dream team, duh." Delilah proudly smiled and wiggled her eyebrows.

They looked at each other and laughed. "But P3..." Juliette groaned. "I'm a race engineer for a weekend and it all goes shit. I'm gonna smash this table before Toto does." It was silence. "Jeez, I sound like a whiner. I'm already located in the 'P1 only' area. Send help."

"It will be alright tomorrow. I mean, we probably get to see some fights. It's not the standard 'I start front row and win' race. At least, that's what I hope." Delilah giggled and shook her head. "You did good, no worries about that."

The last people of the team arrived in the room, including Lewis and Valtteri, with Toto on their side. They all took place in the room, Lewis next to Juliette, Valtteri next to his engineer and Toto, where he had the overview over everyone.

"Uhm, RJ," Lewis began and looked worriedly at Juliette. "Are you dating Pierre Gasly?"

Silence fell in the room, all eyes were plastered on Juliette.

Her lips parted, and she looked around. What? Her heart started to beat faster in her chest, and she looked in a panic at Delilah, who looked betrayed. "I... I'm sorry?" Juliette forced herself to smile, so it wouldn't look suspicious.

"Twitter is saying you and Pierre Gasly are dating," Lewis continued and read the tweets from his phone; it was a hot topic in the F1 world. "'Toro Rosso's driver Pierre Gasly is dating Mercedes' top engineer Juliette Reynolds.' Is this true?"

Juliette started to breathe faster; their relationship came out. Something they were both scared of but knew it would happen. Pierre was proud to date Juliette and vice versa, but they were concerned by fans' opinions, the teams, the media and the critics. There was no way people would accept this. Juliette looked at Toto, who wasn't looking too happy at his phone. It felt like she was betraying her team.

"Helmut Marko is already questioning this relationship," someone else read from his phone. "He said he's going to the FIA with it."

She looked down and bit on the inside of her cheek. This would happen. Juliette grabbed her phone and messaged Pierre about this news. There were a few incoming mails from Toro Rosso, but also from the board.