L O C K -U P | c. leclerc

26| Solace

A. Devereaux

Charles' words kept replaying in my head like a haunting melody. But suddenly Pierre snapped me out of my thoughts by smacking me in the back of the head and said, "Stop thinking about him! You deserve better than what he did. Come on, I already texted Kika to meet me at the Ferrari garage. She said she's bringing some croissants."

"Sounds really good," I croaked, fighting back the tears. Pierre immediately stopped me in my tracks and offered me one of his handkerchiefs. It looked oddly feminine but then he explained, "I'm sorry I'm bad at this. Kika is usually the one wiping my tears after a horrible race."

I laughed, "So you're the crybaby, I can see that." He shook his head and said, "At least you're smiling now."

I nodded but the smile immediately faded as I thought about what Charles said. He'd said the exact words that would push me away from him forever, why would he do that? Fuck, I shouldn't have trusted him, I trusted him with the knowledge of what would hurt me the most and he used that against me.

Pierre noticed my sadness and immediately piped up, "Hey, Kika texted that she's bought some iced chocolate for you too, exciting isn't it?"

I just nodded and gave him a smile. Even the tripod had more sympathy for me than my own boyfriend. Now ex-boyfriend, was he even ever my boyfriend. Still, I couldn't put one bad thought against him. All I could think about was that Charles wouldn't do that, he wouldn't just drop me like that.

Pierre smacked me in the back of the head again and said, "Artemis, stop it, get your mind off it, you have a race to win."

I nodded. He was right. No matter what happened, life went on and I couldn't stop myself from seeing the end goal...world championship...even if it'll hurt like hell seeing Charles with Alexandra.

Finally, when we arrived at the garage, I was met with a worried looking brunette girl. I already knew that she was Kika because she's quite famous amongst the F1 fans, there's even an ongoing joke that Pierre was the wag not her. She immediately ran over to me and gave me a big hug then said, "I really wish this wasn't the way we first met but I'm glad to have met you. I'm going to kill Charles when I see him."

Pierre laughed and said, "Oh, Kika means it. She's the bark and the bite, I'm just her number one fan."

I smiled. These two are cute. Kika led me to a nearby table and she smiled as she handed me a massive round croissant with cream on top, "I always get these when I'm in Melbourne. These are croissant wheels, they're filled with amazing cream inside. I got you strawberry, do you like strawberry?"

I smiled even wider, she's really sweet. "I love strawberry," I said as I dug in and instantly felt better with how tasty the pastry was. Kika just looked at me sadly and Pierre did too so I asked, "Why are you guys even helping me? You've barely known me."

"From what Pierre's told me, you never really had friends but you opened your heart up to them anyways," Kika said as Pierre came to sit next to her. He then added, "You took a chance on us, and we're taking a chance on you. Besides, Charles is being a dickhead. I don't know why he'd trust Alexandra after that shit bomb of a relationship they had."

"What do you mean?," I asked and Pierre reluctantly answered, "They were alright at first but they had a bit of a falling out after the bad results during the 2023 season. It basically tore them apart, I don't know who broke it off first but Charles wanted to get back with her but she turned him away and was already with someone else."

"Ah I see, I got in the way of their love story then," I joked and Pierre shook his head and commented, "Never liked her, I like you though. You push Charles to be better and you're not afraid to be honest with him. He needs that, he needs you."

"Well yeah but apparently he doesn't want me anymore," I said as tears fell from my face, "This is so pathetic. I cried more this year than I've had in my entire lifetime."

Kika immediately embraced me in a hug again and said, "It's alright to feel things, it's called being a human you silly thing."

"She's right," Pierre said, "Not because she's my girlfriend and I have to say she's right but she is definitely right."

Kika narrowed her eyes at Pierre and said, "Right...anyways, hun, aren't you supposed to update the rest of your friend group about what's happening." Pierre nodded, "Right, right, coming right up ma bichette."

"You two are too cute," I mentioned and Kika just smiled and said, "Oh sweetie, I know you miss Charles but until we know what's going on, we hate him, alright?"

Right. I'm supposed to hate him. But I'm not the same Artemis I was before winter testing. He came into my life and changed me.

"Alright, all done," Pierre piped up.

I smiled and gave Pierre and Kika a hug. I just thanked my grandfather in my head for watching over me. I just know that he probably guided these people to be in my life. He is the smartest man I know, even in death.

I steeled myself and said, "I'm gonna fucking win this race and show them how much of a nightmare I can be."

"Yay! Just don't make contact with Pierre because if he DNFs, he'll cry for hours and I only have so much tissue on hand," Kika teased and Pierre groaned in embarrassment and I laughed.

"Well you've got a lot of work cut out for you considering you're starting P20," Pierre reminded and I just shrugged and said, "You should be worrying about yourself since you have a Renault engine."

"The way I can't even argue because it's true," Pierre said in defeat and Kika just kissed him on the cheek and said, "I'll still cheer for you ma belle."

"Alright you'd better prepare yourself for the cavalry, Lando usually comes with a lot of emotional support stroopwafels meanwhile Max is just Max and is very awkward with his emotions," Pierre warned, "Don't blame Max though, it's mostly his daddy issues."