lemon and mint | Charles Leclerc

13.

May 2013

Since the end of April, things had been pretty quick. Pia's parents filed divorce papers, and she moved with her father to Monaco. She even started to attend the same school as Charles. It seemed like one of the few positive things about this all. She could be closer to him even though he was away for a bit because of karting.

She struggled at the beginning because of her French, but Charles was always willing to help her. It was also hard for her to find new friends because hanging out with Charles put a certain label on her. She was the girlfriend of that Charles Leclerc, and that stuck with her.

Pia knew that this weekend would be tough for her. It was a race weekend in Monaco. Anthonie wanted her to come with him, and she understood that she would have to face Seb. The only thing that made her feel a little bit better was that Charles would be there with her. Jules gave him the paddock pass, so he and Pia could enjoy this whole weekend.

While she was getting ready for Friday's practises, she realised that she had nothing to wear. She used to jump around the paddock dressed in Sebastian's Red Bull T-shirt, but she didn't want to wear that now. She just stuck with a white floral dress. She tried to fit in as much as she could because, in reality, she wanted to disappear.

Her footsteps headed to the Red Bull hospitality. She wanted to go to her dad, but then she noticed her mother. She didn't expect to see her here. Pia was so thankful that Anthonie decided to leave the press from this all, but Gianna was now giving them headlines for free. She was there, holding hands with Sebastian, giving him heart-warming smiles. Gianna looked like she was born to do that. She was perfect by his side. They looked almost like a couple cut out of the magazine. She was running around with a wide smile on her face, acting as if she didn't ruin a family a few weeks ago. As if everything was okay.

Pia turned on her heel. Her movement was so quick that she almost bumped into the man walking behind her. Suddenly, she was facing a tall, tanned Australian driver that she once disliked so much, but now he seemed to be the better Red Bull driver. She was reading his face without any word being spoken, and she could see the worry in his eyes. Perhaps it was the first time she had seen concern in his eyes for someone other than himself.

"Whoa, whoa, Pia. Hold on. Talk to him." His voice stopped her in her track. Really? Even Sebastian's biggest rival was talking in his favour now. It just showed how good of a manipulator Sebastian really was.

"Really, Mark?" She asked him with disbelief. How could he be on his side?

"Just let him explain everything to you. He's so fucking annoying nowadays," he complained. To be honest, he didn't really care about Sebastian or his luck, but he did care about his own peace. And he couldn't be at ease when the German was constantly grumpy and was complaining about every little fucking unimportant detail. He was just so fucking irritating.

"Would you please stop caring about my life, Mark? If I were you, I would care about how to keep those rendezvouses with Joanna secret. Because it seems like you two aren't doing a great job with that." Pia advised him. She was flippant towards him. He was so taken aback by her boldness that she managed to sneak away. How did she know about him and Austrian? He thought that nobody knew about them.

---

"Let's just get out of here," Pia suggested to Charles when she found him in Marussia hospitality. He was talking to Jules when she interrupted them. Jules furrowed eyebrows at her suggestion. He quickly checked the clock and found out that it was just half-past twelve. They had just one practice session, and she already wanted to leave.

"Why? What happened?" He knew that coming here today was hard for her. He understood that it wouldn't be easy to face Sebastian when she felt how she felt, but he thought that his girlfriend would just hide next to her father and everything would be okay, but apparently, it wasn't the case.

"She is here with Sebastian. She's willing to get everyone the headline of the day, Charles. She probably didn't realise what this means for me." Pia said while cautiously looking around her. She knew that it wouldn't take too long before the journalists would find her. Gianna didn't realise that this would put Pia into the spotlight.

"Okay, let's leave," the Monegasque quickly answered. He was willing to sacrifice one day of his VIP Paddock Pass because of his girlfriend even though he wanted to be there so badly.

"I can go with you and then come back." It might sound like a good idea for the Frenchman, but the reality was the opposite, and Pia knew that.

"Thanks, but no. You would bring attention to us," Pia declined his offer.

Youngsters tried to make their way through the paddock as fast as possible, but it didn't take long, and a few journalists noticed them. Pia quickly grabbed Charles' hand because she knew that otherwise, they would separate them. Unfortunately, that happened even though they tried to hold on to each other. So, she found herself surrounded by journalists shouting questions at her. How long has your mother been with Sebastian? Who are you currently living with? Did your parents sign the divorce papers? She was fully aware that she threatened her mother that she'd go to press with it, but she didn't want to do that, so she kept her mouth sealed.

"Hey, leave her alone," Pia heard his voice, and suddenly she felt relieved. She was so grateful that he was around. Pia despised him just an hour ago, but now he was her saviour once again. He offered her a hand, and she gratefully accepted it. He smiled when their palms touched. He thought he wouldn't be able to do that ever again after what happened. "If you have any questions, ask me, but leave Pia out of this." His voice sounded determined, letting every single journalist know that they shouldn't talk to her ever again.

"Do you realise that the fact that you saved me from them doesn't change anything, right?" she said while she let go of his hand once they were further away from the journalists. She was thankful that he had helped her, but in the end, it didn't mean much to her. She was sure that anyone else would save her as well.

"I know. You're letting us feel that every single day, Pia. I just wanted to show you that I'm always here." There was a silence for a bit before he continued. "I'm here when your father is not." It was a hard pill to swallow for Pia, but she knew deep down that Sebastian was right. Her father just let her wander through the paddock without any sort of interest. He just left her here, and that was it. He was too busy to keep an eye on her, or maybe he didn't even want to.

Anthonie was persuading her that Sebastian and Gianna were the responsible ones for this whole situation. He pictured them as the evil ones. They were the ones who ruined all and betrayed her by his words, but on the other hand, Seb let her know every single time that her father wasn't right. By his words, Anthonie was the bad one who wanted to tear them apart. They were trying so hard to blame each other that they actually forgot about Pia's feelings.

There were times when she regretted that she had left her mum. Gianna was her best friend who always understood her, and suddenly she didn't have that person in her life anymore. But Gianna betrayed her just as Sebastian and Anthonie. The only person she had now was Charles and his family. She knew that she had his unconditional support, but she also knew that there were battles that she had to fight on her own.