Last Man Standing

Chapter 39

"I never wanted things to go like this." Marylinde shook her head.

"Neither did I Frej but I think this is for the best. But I am going to miss having you around all of the time."

"So am I." Freja and Marylinde hugged and then looked to the door where the group of drivers was no longer standing. When they noticed Marylinde was in control of things they stepped back. They were just there to support Marylinde and not freak Freja out or put her under pressure. "I love you Frej I just don't want to put our friendship in jeopardy because we couldn't decide that it was better to not have a professional relationship on top of our friendship."

"I agree." She looked at her watch. "But you do have an interview in ten minutes. What are you going to say?" Marylinde shrugged her shoulders. I could always say that some personal issues needed to be taken care of that were more important than the interview. It is true." Freja nodded. That would suffice. After all, it was the first time Marylinde missed an interview.

"Shall we try to look half decent?" Marylinde laughed as she wiped the final tears from her eyes. "I'm done with crying for a while."

"So am I." Together, the two friends got up and walked out, where they just found Lando rushing away from the door.

"Oh my goodness, you are absolutely impossible." Marylinde laughed as she watched the smallest male of the group scratch his neck, expecting Marylinde to attempt to kill him. "But thank you guys, for last night and this morning."

"We would do anything for you, Mary. You should know by now." They laughed and Marylinde nodded.

"I am starting to come to terms with it. I think."

"Well, you better because you are stuck with us for the rest of your life."

"I'm glad."

Xxx

The weekend in the end was a disaster. With no points in the first race, Marylinde went on to not score points in the second race as well. She lost out big time to Callum and Mick ahead and was not just surpassed by Guanyu Zhou after the first race, but Oscar Piastri and Marcus Armstrong as well. Taking the lead of the championship meant she would need to score 45 points more than Mick who was leading Callum by 13 points.

"I am so done with everything right now." Marylinde sighed as she let herself fall onto the sofa. "What are we having for dinner?" Arthur laughed as Mick moved to the kitchen.

"We have nothing here." Marylinde groaned. She had forgotten that they were just about through their groceries and would need to go to the grocery store. "Mary, you are the one who always-"

"I know but I swear I am not going to drag all the groceries back home alone."

"I'll come with," Arthur said, standing up from the sofa.

"So will I." Marylinde rolled his eyes.

"Can't you two just go to the grocery store then?" The two boys shook their heads. "Why not?"

"You know what we need." Marylinde hid her face in a pillow and let out a muffled scream.

"Sometimes I really hate you guys." Marylinde stared at her two housemates and then got up. "I'm not driving." She walked to the hallway and put on a pair of trainers and a thin jacket. "On y va!" Arthur and Mick grinned.

"On y va."

"Where did you learn that?" Mick asked when they sat in his car.

"I know I didn't. I barely speak French around you." Marylinde rested her head against the headrest.

"Pierre said it."

"You know you should talk to him right. He was worried about you." Marylinde took a deep breath.

"I know. I am just too ashamed about everything. I treated him harshly." Mick took one of his hands of the steering wheel to take Marylinde's in his.

"You know he isn't going to blame you for it right?" Marylinde nodded, knowing very well that Pierre had a way too kind heart to ever hold that against her. "Then what frightens you so much that you aren't willing to talk to him again." Marylinde looked ahead into the distance.

"He deserves so much more than a work in progress like me." He deserves someone ready to love him unconditionally, who stands by him through everything and helps him with all the shit he has already gone through. He doesn't deserve someone who already has a hard time loving herself, who is too busy keeping herself on track ninety per cent of the time and who can't handle anything she didn't expect."

"But what if the girl who has all the things you just listed happened to be the girl he fell in love with?" Arthur asked from the back seat. "You can't exactly decide to not fall in love with someone. That just happens."

"But that doesn't mean that I have to be his problem."

"He'd never see you as a problem."

"Besides the point!" Marylinde exclaimed. "Now I don't want to talk about it anymore. Especially not in public." Mick put his hand back on the steering wheel to park the car in the parking lot in front of the grocery store. "Now please let's just not make this an hour-long trip. I really just want to go to bed. I am exhausted." She stepped out of the car. "Oh, and one of you is cooking dinner while I am in the shower." Mick and Arthur agreed and together they walked into the grocery store.

"Do we need to get anything!" Mick asked when they had walked through the first aisle. He was leaning on the shopping cart they had taken and was clearly bored, just like Arthur who was scrolling through his phone.

"It is clear the two of you need to learn to do grocery shopping on your own or just stay at home because right now you look like two bored kids who have been dragged to the store by their mother. You guys volunteered!" Mick rolled his eyes and Arthur didn't even bother to look up from his phone. "You guys are absolutely unbelievable." She muttered and continued to walk through the second aisle, occasionally dropping the things they needed in the shopping cart.

When they reached the third aisle, Mick suddenly started to grin and nudged Arthur. He grinned as well and recorded as Mick ran through the aisle before jumping on the back of the cart and rushing further.

"Mick!" Marylinde hissed between her teeth as an elderly man walked into the aisle and shot the three young adults a murdering glare. "Are you crazy?! You could have crashed into someone or something. I don't think they will appreciate it if you run over a customer or crash into something, throwing everything everywhere." Mick just laughed.

"Live a little, Mary. Didn't you ever do this as a kid?" Marylinde shook her head. She had ever done something similar and had run into another kid who broke his arm. Marylinde had never tried to do anything along those lines ever again in a grocery store. "You are joking right?" Arthur and Mick stared at Marylinde, mouth agape.

"The feisty Marylinde Magnussen has never jumped on shopping carts in a store, has never run around with them?" Marylinde shook her head again. "We have to change that horrible fact, Mick," Arthur said, a grin pulling on his lips yet again. "Let's get Mary into the cart." The two boys quickly moved to lift Marylinde; Mick took her upper body while Arthur lifted her legs into the cart together with the groceries that were already piling up.

"I swear, if I am going to die or kill someone, I will kill you."

"That won't happen." Arthur seriously said before the grin returned. "Probably."