Last Man Standing

Chapter 30

Circuit de Monaco,
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Thursday

"Freja!" Marylinde ran into the Prema trailer where Freja was sitting with Peter. "I'm going to talk to you later because you just left us there. I could have died." She pointed a finger at Peter. "But first I need Freja." The smile Marylinde was fighting so hard broke through. "I really, really need my best friend now." Peter and Freja shared a look. Multiple scenarios were running through Freja's head. It was too soon for Marylinde to become the aunt of Kevin's kid. They weren't far enough along in the pregnancy. She could have gotten some compliment of a driver she very much respected like Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel, she could have been offered a seat for the next year. Things like that sometimes went past her, as had the reserve driver seat as well as the practice sessions. The look on Marylinde's face, so she wasn't anxious, rather very curious.

"What is going on?" Freja asked when Marylinde stopped at a more private part. "Why are you smiling like that?"

"Pierre asked me on a date." Freja started squealing and hugged Marylinde tightly.

"Goodness me! That's amazing!" Marylinde laughed. She had doubted between two responses. On one side, she had expected the excitement. For a long time, Freja had been asking whether there was a particular guy she had a crush on and every time she was disappointed when Marylinde said no. On the other side, Marylinde had expected Freja to react a bit more neutral, saying it was going to be a tough position to be in with Pierre being an Alpha Tauri driver and therefore one of her rivals for a seat in formula one next year. It would make for quite the drama around them caused by the media.

"I was wondering which side you were going to show." Marylinde winked.

"I'll worry about the press side of it later. Right now I'm here as your best friend and I am super excited!" Marylinde heart was still racing, both from the lap she and Pierre finished in a steady jog as well as from excitement. She was also very relieved to not have PR Freja out there yet, but just her friend.

"When?" Marylinde shrugged her shoulders.

"We didn't really plan anything yet." She chuckled. "We'll do that when I'm back in Italy. It'll be easiest for us since Alpha Tauri is located in Faenza and all." Freja nodded.

"But like-" She waved her hands to fan some air in her face. "You and Pierre would make such a hot couple. And your kids-" She pretended to faint. "I couldn't even." Marylinde raised her eyebrows at her best friend.

"What are you on? I'm not having kids before I got everything out of my career I could." Freja rolled her eyes. "Either way, I wanted you to be the first one to know. Now, I am going to go tell the guys before they will kill me."

"So you would after your first date?" Marylinde and Freja laughed, both knowing children would be one of the final steps in a relationship for Marylinde and that she was in no way ready to have them yet.

"But, I really need to-"

"Where is Marylinde?!" Marylinde groaned. Too late.

"Please, get them away from here so I can go somewhere else?" Freja shook her head but agreed. "Thanks." Marylinde waited for Freja to start talking to Lando who had Alex trailing behind. She would have a very small window to slip away. The nearest safe place would be with Callum at UNI-Virtuosi so she quickly ran there.

"Hi, can I see Callum?" She asked when she ran into the first engineer while checking over her shoulder.

"Mary, what is going on?" Guanyu Zhou who had been standing a few feet away frowned.

"I'm running for my life. Lando is about to kill me and I thought I could hide out here for a little." Guanyu nodded his head and stepped inside.

"Just for a moment. I'll get Callum. He'll keep an eye out for you. We don't want you having all our secrets, you've shown how fast you are." He winked and walked away. Moments later, Callum appeared.