To be continued... || Mick Schumacher

Eins | One

"When it's the first come back day?" Shirley asked and put her hands in the pockets of her coat.

"The eleventh, I believe," Lotte answered. The temperature was dropping while the evening slowly aged. "Do you know what we are supposed to do then?"

Shirley shook her head. "Probably some education for our thesis, I have no idea, to be honest. I hope it won't be a waste of our time. But the eleventh... We should meet up soon for a coffee, somewhere warmer than this, before the comeback day."

The two young women were standing outside, in front of the supermarket. The two friends bumped into each other when doing the groceries after their internships.

"Absolutely, perhaps we can meet up during lunch break someday?"

"Tuesday? Might plan it now. We're acting like we never talk to each other while I know we will be texting tomorrow anyway," Shirley smirked.

Lotte laughed and grabbed her phone. "True," she said. "Tuesday is fine. Don't you have to work at your internship?" She planned the lunch for next Tuesday.

"Working from home." Shirley looked around. "But I will talk to you tomorrow. I was supposed to be home twenty minutes ago with the creme fresh."

"Good luck, Shir," Lotte said. "Talk to you soon, girlie."

"Bye."

"Ciao." Lotte grabbed the bag from the ground and walked away from the supermarket.

The second week of the final internship just started. Meaning the 8:30 - 17:30 work life began. It wasn't new to Lotte, she used to work in the online marketing world at her old job, but it was different from school. Luckily, Lotte's internship was nearby her home. Meaning she could combine her evening walk when going home after a long day at the location. Or she would cycle home, it depended on what her mood was.

After ten minutes, she arrived at her home. She dropped the groceries in the kitchen and went to her room to grab her phone's charger. Lotte lived in Maastricht, the Netherlands, and shared the house with three other students. They were housemates, nothing else.

Just when Lotte walked back to the kitchen, her phone started to ring. She looked at it, Mick was FaceTiming her. A smile grew on her face, and she accepted the call. "Hey," she said and entered the kitchen. She closed the door behind her, giving her a bit of privacy. It was late, her housemates had already used the kitchen.

"Hey, Lottie," Mick smiled and watched how Lotte was trying to keep her phone up. "Are you free?"

She nodded. "Always for you," she said. "Okay, stay," she whispered when her phone was on the charger and stopped falling. "I'm going to make dinner, but you can enjoy my cooking skills."

"I'm humoured," he amusingly smiled. "Did you just get home?" Lotte nodded. "That's late."

"Bumped into a friend at the supermarket, and once we start to talk, minutes will pass." Lotte looked at him, he was lying on the sofa. She smiled, it made her happy to see him. "Anyway, sorry if there are noises."

Mick showed the same kind of smile. "What are you gonna make?"

"Beetroot, cooked potatoes and a meatball," she sighed and looked at the ingredients. "I don't know why I decided to eat this. In the supermarket, I was like: yeah, cool, let's do it. And now I regret it, not feeling it to eat it." Mick laughed. "Anyway, what did you have for dinner?"

"Rice, chicken and veggies. Anyway, I called you to ask if your project got the approval of your boss?"

It made Lotte raise her eyebrows, he remembered the project? She filled the water cooker with water and waited a few minutes. "I got it this morning," she smiled. "They decided it would indeed be better if the website gets a new layout, so I can work on that now."

He nodded. "That's good, congratulations!"

"Not gonna lie, it's adorable how these people updated their social media and website themselves. The pastry shop is a family business, they recently decided to rearrange everything, renovated their shop and hired their first intern. These people are so kind." Lotte was a marketing intern at a famous pastry shop, they were known and famous for their pastries. "Grandfather is the owner, wife is working behind the scenes, son is the head chef, other son and daughter the other chefs, wife of the head chef is in charge of the store and the grandchildren work in the store."

"Those companies are the best," Mick mentioned. "Knowledge will get passed on to the younger generation and so on."

A soft look came on Lotte's face, and she nodded. He probably doesn't realise what he just said, she thought, he is part of one of those 'companies'. She started to make herself dinner. Mick shared the highlights of the day. They, later on, talked about some basic things like friends and family.

Lotte finished her dish and sat at the table, ready to eat. Right at that moment, the kitchen door opened.

"Oh, ow," her housemate mumbled. "I'm just gonna..." He pointed at his laptop that was lying on the table. "Yep. Enjoy."

Lotte only smiled, and Mick stared at her via FaceTime. The housemate walked away, leaving Lotte alone. "Anyway..." She took a deep breath.

"You looked so awkward," Mick snorted.

"He is awkward," Lotte shared. "He's kind, polite, but has all the characteristics of being awkward. He knows that, he says it too." She was glad she could speak in her mother language, and no one in the house would understand her.

"How is your relationship with them? Your housemates? More like friends or just 'hey' and that's it?"

She took a bite, and while chewing, she was thinking about it. "Both, I guess," she said. "I'm not the best friends with them, we can chat and stuff, but we are all on our own. And I'm fine with that. Two of them are very serious, and the other one is barely here. And I'm most of the time in the weekend in Germany, and during weekdays I'm at uni or work."

He nodded. "Anyway, I wanted to ask something. This is all very new, but it's almost Valentine's day, and would you like to come over? It's also the last weekend I have free time before the season starts. And I want to see you before it starts." Mick's voice became softer over the seconds, like he was shy. A soft pink colour touched his cheeks, and he bit on the inside of his lip. "I don't know if it works with your schedule and plans..."

"I'd love to," Lotte said, and a shy smile came on her face. "I will make it work if it doesn't work with my schedule." She grabbed her agenda from her bag and opened it. When she looked down, her smile got brighter. "Uhm," she hummed and cleared her throat. "It should be fine. I have a comeback day that Friday till 12 o'clock, so I can jump of the train right after that. I have a free day on Monday, the shop is closed that day, so I could go back on Monday."

"Perfect."

Lotte wrote it down in her agenda, making sure those days were free. She also planned that lunch date with Shirley, in case she would forget it. "Noted," she smiled and closed her agenda. "I can't wait for that Friday," she giggled.

"I can't wait for it either."

"But how was your trainings camp?

He smiled. "It was good, intense, but fun..." Mick started to tell about the past few days.