She's still reeling when she gets back to AlphaTauri. One of the engineers lets her know that Pierre is in his motorhome so she heads there as quickly as she can while trying to avoid the crowds. It's all becoming a bit too much for her. She needs to get out of here.
"Hey you! You're back." He smiles as she enters. "I have to do some press, do you want to wait here?"
She'd always found it ridiculous how they couldn't even rest after a race. As soon as they were out of the car, it was all about getting weighed and then being dragged away for post-race interviews. It was a tiring ordeal, especially when you had just spent more than an hour driving at unbelievable speed and pushing your mind and body to the extreme. To make it even worse, the whole thing was mandatory or they'd get charged a hefty fine. Bloody preposterous, if you asked her.
"Actually, I think I'm gonna head home."
"You're never gonna be able to find a taxi," he frowns.
"I'll walk, it's alright."
Her voice comes out croaked and she sees Pierre deflate as he looks at her, a sad look in his eyes. Tears are beginning to form in the corner of her eyes so she takes a shaky breath and avoids his gaze. He knows better than to push her and is smart enough to be able to guess what happened earlier with Charles. Or maybe he already knows, she wasn't being very discreet and rumors always travel at the speed of light around the circuit.
"Here," he offers as he puts something in her hands. "Take my car. I'll have Yuki drive me back to the hotel."
If it was any other year, she would have gone home by bike with Charles. It was always easier as Monaco's streets were always bursting with people after the race. But since Pierre had picked her up this morning, she didn't really have a choice. The need to be alone was too overwhelming right now, so she accepts gratefully.
"Thanks." She clutches the car keys and offers a weak smile to her best friend. "I'll see you later."
She flashes her pass to the security guard at the parking's entrance and walks towards the blue Honda NFX. She throws her purse onto the passenger seat as she gets in and adjusts the seat. It feels weird to be in the driver seat of Pierre's car but she's gotten used to expensive sports cars by now. The roar of the engine manages to bring a smile to her face as she leaves the circuit and slowly drives through Monaco's streets.
She had told Pierre she was going home but she doesn't have one anymore —not in Monaco at least—, so she makes her way towards the outskirts of the principality. The country roads are almost empty now and she steps on the gas. The highway, however, is probably already jam-packed with thousands of cars on their way back to Italy or France.
Emily growls as another rap song comes up on the radio and fumbles with the buttons on the wheel until she finds something that she actually likes. She quietly laughs to herself as it reminds her of past car trips with Pierre, fighting about who got to be in charge of the music. He would be blasting US rap and she'd complain about it the whole way until he caved in—he always did. Sometimes, she'd do it just to piss him off—that's what a best friend was supposed to do, right?
Back then, becoming an F1 driver had been a pipe dream but Pierre was nothing if persistent. He'd spent more time in a kart than at home, learning how to control the small vehicle, figuring out where to brake, when to overtake to get the advantage on others. His parents were very supportive, since his brothers raced as well and his dad was no stranger to motorsport. She'd always felt comfortable with Pierre and his family. They'd welcomed her into their little tribe as if she were one of their own, and that had never changed. Circuits felt like home to Pierre, and soon, to her as well. She'd met Esteban, George, Alex, and it hadn't taken them a long time to get used to my presence around the tracks. And then, there was Anthoine, whom she'd met when they were 9, and they'd hit it off from the get-go. She still had pictures of Pierre, Anthoine and her, sitting precariously on the bleachers, doing their homework with a frown on their faces when all they really wanted to do was to chase each other around with water guns.
