lemon and mint | Charles Leclerc

~ tredici ~

France, June 2019

The race in France sucked. It was raining cats and dogs, so everything that the fans saw was a couple of laps behind the safety car. It was enough to award the drivers half points for this nonsense called French Grand Prix. The conditions were shit for all three days. They shouldn't have even started the race since it was too dangerous and useless, in Pia's opinion. It reminded Pia of Japan - something she didn't want to be reminded of.

No one seemed to be satisfied with this result - fans, FIA, not even the drivers. Joanna won this Grand Prix, yet she looked sad and perhaps annoyed. Therefore, Pia wasn't even surprised when she saw so many familiar faces in the bar, she entered with Lando next to her.

She noticed Daniel sitting at the bar alone with an empty glass in front of him. Somehow it didn't surprise her. She knew he was struggling ever since she had a drink with him at 11 am in Monaco. Then she noticed two Mercedes drivers together. They were sitting on the bar, facing the bartender. Joanna looked more than annoyed by her accompanier. Pia was almost sure Lewis was whining about something. Most likely, it was about Nico since he did that more than often. The Italian looked around the bar for a bit more, and she spotted her Dutch friend, she thought about joining him for a brief moment, but then she saw a young Brazilian next to his side alongside a blond German. They shared the table with younger Verstappen and her boyfriend.

She and the Briton next to her found an empty table where to sit quite quickly. Pia ordered a pink gin tonic, but she regretted it when she heard that Lando wanted only water.

"I'm not a fan of alcohol," he explained. He looked like that good boy next door who never tasted even a drop of alcohol.

Pia wanted to say something to the McLaren driver next to her, but she was disturbed by Lewis' voice yelling Nico's name. The Briton was running towards the blond German who was sitting at the table with both Verstappen siblings. The Austrian was running after him but without a result. Lewis was quicker despite being drunk.

When Pia saw how dangerously Lewis was leaning toward the former Mercedes driver, she quickly grabbed Lando's face and made sure his eyes were on her. She didn't hesitate to press her lips against his. The Briton moved his hand further up on her thigh. Pia placed her hand on top of his and made it go even further up. The Italian couldn't believe that she was really making out in the bar. She was way too grown up for that. Once they pulled away, Pia hoped that Lewis was already done with kissing Nico.

"Wow," the McLaren driver said when he gathered up his thoughts. He expected a lot of things, but not this. It was always weird with Pia. One day it felt like she was so distant, and she wasn't really sure about whatever was going on between them, but then there were days when she would kiss him in front of everyone in the bar.

"Will you excuse me for a moment?" Pia asked with her eyes on Joanna, Kelly, and Victoria. They seemed to be arguing, and Pia felt like Joanna might appreciate having an ally by her side, especially after Pia saw that Kelly pushed back the Austrian twice.

"Stop behaving like children, for heaven's sake, that's embarrassing." Those were the first words she said to women in front of her. It was funny because both of them were way older than her.

She noticed the young Briton followed her, and now he was standing next to his Dutch friend. They both had worried expressions on their faces. Pia grabbed Lando's hand and interlocked fingers with him. She wanted to stay calm, and she hoped that could help.

"You." The Brazilian said, pointing at Pia. "Come back when you're grown up, darling." She added before turning to Joanna.

"And you. For once, finish what you started, yourself. Whistle back your mad dog and do the dirty work yourself." This statement angered Pia. She wasn't there to fight. She wasn't Joanna's dog that would run around without a leash. Perhaps she wouldn't even stand next to Joanna if she would fight with someone else, but Kelly was so disrespectful towards the Italian that she just couldn't let it be. Without thinking about it too much, Pia just slapped Kelly. The Brazilian looked shocked while holding her red cheek. Perhaps she really believed that she was untouchable.

"You little-" Kelly didn't have a chance to finish her sentence because Pia slapped her again. The Italian refused to listen to Kelly's threats.

"Maybe you should learn where your place is," the Italian told Kelly arrogantly. Pia almost wanted to turn on her heel, grab Lando's hand once again, and go back to their hotel together. But those plans were ruined by the Brazilian that slapped the petite Italian.

"I could tell you the same." Perhaps that was a sentence that made Pia angry the most. Kelly didn't have a clue that Pia had taught her place the hard way. Kelly wasn't fighting for her position or anything else. She didn't know how it felt when someone brought you down.

Then everything was happening rather quickly. At one point, Pia was punching Kelly, but the Brazilian scratched Pia's hand, making her scream out of pure pain. Pia tripped Kelly's legs causing the Brazilian to fall to the ground. The young Vettel used it to her advantage and sat on Kelly's torso to calm her down, but Max's girlfriend was quick to pull Pia's hair, making her get off her. When they both got up from the floor, Pia pushed Kelly into the embrace of some older guy and made her way to the bar. She needed to find Lando. She didn't want to underestimate him, but she doubted Lando had ever thrown a punch.

She didn't see him anywhere, but she noticed an untouched glass on the nearby table. She made her way there and downed the drink at once. The Italian closed her eyes when she heard a loud sound right behind her. When she didn't feel pain, she turned around only to see the Briton with a hurting hand and some guy laying on the floor in front of him.

"Are you alright?" Pia asked Lando, who nodded, not looking alright at all.

"I ... that guy wanted to attack you." The young Brit explained.

"Nothing I can't handle." She smiled at him lightly.

"Why does my hand hurt so much?" Lando muttered. The Italian took his hand in hers and made her way away from that bar. She didn't want to be there. She didn't want to fight in the first place.

"I'm not doing this often. It was actually my first time doing something like that," Pia explained to Lando. She didn't want to be seen as an aggressive person. "Kelly just stepped over all the lines, and it was too much for me to let be." To be honest, this was only a question of the time. Pia would snap at the Brazilian eventually for her comments. Of course, she never intended to be violent, but things just got out of hand. God, she felt super guilty for punching the Brazilian.

"I get it. Kelly isn't exactly kind," Lando supported his girlfriend even though he was against the violence.

"I'm really sorry about how this evening turned out," Pia apologised while interlocking fingers with the Briton. He wasn't Charles, but he was unique in his own way, and Pia began to like that.

"The night isn't over yet. Let's just get you to the hotel room now and take care of your nose and lips," Lando suggested with a loving smile while they stepped into the lift.

"I think you can take care of my lips now," Pia said and pressed her lips against his. She hissed in pain. She ignored it, but when Lando heard that he stop kissing her. She protested and tried to connect their lips once again, but Lando made sure she couldn't do that.

Then all of the sudden, he lunged at her, pushing her against the wall of the lift. Before Pia realised it, he got both of her hands in one of his above her head. He used his hips to pin her to the lift wall. Who would think that Lando wasn't that innocent after all? He left wet kisses on Pia's neck, making her moan.

"I think we should implement a no kissing policy. We don't want you to get hurt, do we, love?" he asked her with a smug smile on his lips before taking a step back, setting her free.