Last Man Standing

Chapter 34

"Flipping heck." Marylinde stared at her phone. Pierre had been right. The rumours were already running around like crazy.

I cannot believe that she would date someone she is fighting for a seat with.

They would make the cutest couple. Marylinde looks so at ease around him. I ship it! #Gaslinde

Them together in one team would be such a mess

@They are not going to kick out Yuki

@If there are going to kick out Pierre I'm going to cry

@He's also doing too well

@Oh my goodness, it's going to be Alex!

@Pierre to RB again. We've seen that already. Did not end well.

Marylinde sighed deeply. Speculations. They were all speculations. Marylinde knew more than they did, however, and she knew that if she were in fact to have a seat offered to her in Alpha Tauri, it would be at the expense of Alex at that point. He was the only one out of the four Red Bull drivers that wasn't living up to the insanely high expectations set for him.

Marylinde got out of bed with a heavy heart and walked down the stairs to make some breakfast, but before she had even reached the bottom of the stairs, she ran into a distraught looking Mick.

"What's wrong?"

"Why is Pierre in our kitchen making breakfast in a pair of sweats – which I believe are mine – and a shirt which is presumably Arthur's?" Marylinde's cheeks flushed red and she started to stutter. "He obviously stayed the night but did you-?"

"No!" Marylinde quickly hissed. "And he slept on the sofa, so don't even worry. And about the clothes: over time I stole those from you and Arthur, you two didn't even notice." Mick nodded, a grin tugging on his lips.

"But you did have an amazing time last night didn't you? You were away until at least one because that is when I fell asleep."

"One thirty." Marylinde bit her lip as the corners of her mouth curled up in a smile that she was unable to suppress. "It was amazing." Mick smiled and continued up the stairs. "Mick?" He turned around. "Thank you for looking out for me."

"No problem, I feel the need to make sure you are okay. I love you."

"I love you too." Marylinde walked into the kitchen. "Morning Pierre." She smiled as he looked up. "How did you sleep?"

"Like a baby, I was knackered." Marylinde chuckled and wrapped her arms around Pierre's torso. "What's up?" Marylinde snuggled her face further into Pierre's shoulder. "Hey?"

"I just want to hug you."

"Mary." Pierre sounded stern. He could feel something was up and he didn't want Marylinde to bottle it all up. "What is up?" He specifically didn't want to say what was wrong he didn't want to give whatever it was the negative stamp before even knowing what was going on.

"Here." Instead of telling Pierre what was going on inside her head, she handed him her unlocked phone. It was still on the Instagram post with all the rumours posted underneath. Pierre read it as Marylinde still clutching onto him for comfort.

"Ow." Pierre placed the phone on the kitchen counter. "It is going to be okay Mary, the rumours will die down and it is all going to be old news." Marylinde shook her head.

"No, it won't because all of it is kind of true. We are sort of dating and Alex isn't doing very well in the Red Bull. On top of that, I'm fighting for everything I am worth to get that seat next year." Marylinde took a shaky breath. "I just can't handle anything of it mentally at the moment."