Will We Stand Still

Chapter 13

"Georgie, congratulations!" Marylinde was lucky enough to catch George somewhere on his way from the podium to the team to change and go to the press. "Is it one to watch back?"

"Of course!" George laughed, his hair stuck to his forehead with what was undoubtedly a mix of sweat and champaign. "I won, of course, it is one to watch back."

"I will then." George's face softened. He had heard what had happened and to hear Marylinde would watch the race for him, meant more than he could put into words. "But go. You are the hero of the day, you wouldn't want to keep them waiting." George leant down, wrapped his arms tightly around Marylinde's waist and hoisted her up into the air, making her squeak loudly as he twirled her around. "I am proud of you George."

"So am I of you." They looked each other deeply into the eyes for a couple more seconds and then split their ways. She was going to look for Lando next, who had found himself in third. It was a place he seemed to like with the number of third-place trophies he had already won. Marylinde however couldn't find him but did run into Max, who had won his race earlier that day.

"Congratulations!" Marylinde gave Max a hug as well.

"Thanks, I am sorry for what happened on the track. I do not agree with the decision made, though." Marylinde smiled. "Is the team going to do something about it?" Marylinde shook her head.

"If it wouldn't have been with my oh so lovely teammate, they might have but it's not. Looking at it, it wouldn't even surprise me if they wouldn't because I have no penalty points to my license and Yuki has, making sure we can keep him away from a race ban as much as possible by making sure I take these."

"How many does he have?"

"Eight."

"When are his points discarded?"

"How am I supposed to know Max? I mean, I like to be up to date with all my facts, but I don't have a photographic memory that aids me in actually remembering the facts."

"You don't?" Marylinde rolled her eyes with a smile on her face.

"No, funnily enough, I don't." Marylinde pulled out her phone and quickly searched for Yuki's penalty points. "Fucking hell no." Her jaw clenched as she angrily shoved her phone in her pocket.

"The first ones expire in a week, then a month, another two weeks and the final 2 incidents were at the end of the year. There is no reason why they would let me take the hit for this one if it wasn't true."

"Before you start accusing the team, ask first?" Marylinde nodded.

"You are right, I should. Luckily, my briefing is starting as soon as I walk in, so I can immediately ask." Max's eyes widened.

"Then what are you doing here? You are supposed to be with your team, this is not the attitude you want to be showing." Marylinde shrugged.

"Maybe it is. Maybe I have to show how fed up I am with some people before they will realise." Max shook his head and with his arm around her shoulders, he started pulling her away from where they were standing – which was somewhere between some trailers for a bit of privacy – and towards Alpha Tauri's facilities.

"This is not what is going to happen. You are going to walk in there and be the bigger... Person. You are going to be the bigger person." Marylinde rested her head on Max's shoulder as they neared the dark blue and white facilities. She wasn't ready to come face to face with anyone from the team.

"Thank you, Max, I really needed that kick on the behind. Let's just say that there is so much going on that I don't even know what is worse." Max kissed Marylinde's forehead and then gave her a final push, away from him and towards the building the briefing would be held in.