lemon and mint | Charles Leclerc

~ ventisei ~

In the interviews, he always said his favourite colour was red - for obvious reasons, but Pia knew it wasn't true. She could still remember what he said to her a few years ago. "My favourite colour? I would say red because of Ferrari, but I would be lying. It's yellow. I love yellow. Do you know why?" he asked the Italian. She just shook her head. "The first time I met you, you wore a yellow dress. I fell for the colour yellow, and I fell for you."

"So, Pia, tell me. Do you know Charles well?" Charlotte asked, still taken aback by the answer of the Italian to her previous question. Should she be more cautious about this Italian?

"Oh, no. We are basically strangers," Pia replied quickly. She knew Charles well. She knew her Charles, who seemed to have nothing in common with the current one. They really went from lovers to strangers.

"Really? It seems like you two are close," the Monegasque was surprised. Her boyfriend didn't talk about Pia, but they really looked close. It was the way they spoke to each other. It was the fact that Charles had a hand on Pia's lower back when they stood next to each other. That all showed that Charles cared about this petite Italian a lot.

"Not really. I'm helping Brita at the weekends, so I'm stuck in the garage. We talk sometimes, but you know how it is - it's just to fill that embarrassing silence. That's why I know his favourite colour." Joanna listened to Pia's lies. She was a spectacular liar. If she didn't know the truth, she would believe her.

"Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I just assumed that-"

"That's alright," Pia smiled at the young Monegasque. "Will you excuse me for a moment?" The Italian asked rhetorically before walking out of the shop. She just needed a moment to breathe freely without pretending.

"Are you okay?" The Austrian asked when she finally caught up with Pia.

"I'm sorry you have to be here," Pia said, ignoring Joanna's question completely. Technically, the Austrian didn't have to be there, but yeah. Pia asked her to come. She just probably felt really sorry for her, so she came. "You can leave if you want. I'll make up some story about why you had to leave," the Italian offered her. She'd completely understand if Joanna wanted to escape. Pia would leave herself if she could.

"It's alright," Joanna said while they walked out of the shopping mall. The Austrian probably didn't mind it because of the show Pia had put on. She probably found that amusing.

"Would you mind if I lighted a cigarette?" The Italian asked while searching for a pack of cigarettes in her handbag.

"Yeah, it's not good for a baby," Joanna reacted. Pia's stare slid on Joanna's belly. She wondered what it would be like - Max being a father. She was sure he would be a great father, but somehow it was hard to imagine him returning to his little family after every race. He seemed too young to be settled down like that.

"And it's a bad habit," she added while Pia stopped looking in her handbag. It was a bad habit, but Pia couldn't seem to stop it. Every time something bad happened, she just smoked.

Pia recalled the first time she had spoken to Joanna. She stubbed her cigarette and said: smoking is shit. Then she looked into her eyes before saying: just get into that stupid car and stop wasting your potential. As if her potential hadn't been wasted years before.

"A habit you once had," the Italian let out. She didn't mean it any offensive. Quite the opposite, actually. Pia knew the majority of the best conversations she ever had with Austrian were with that nicotine stick between her fingers. 

After all, it was just a few months ago when they smoked together, and their conversation was normal maybe even friendly. They calmly talked about their lives. Well, until Seb arrived.

It was probably the first time Pia felt that Joanna cared about her or was interested in her life. No, that wouldn't be true. Joanna was probably interested even before, but always in that mentor kinda way. Pia always felt like the Austrian preached to her, but not in Seb's kinda way. She preached to Pia with her harsh words, and the Italian couldn't tell if she cared or not. Maybe those harsh words meant she did, but Pia didn't know this form of caring.

"Max didn't like it," Joanna said. The Dutchman wasn't a fan of smoking. Well, he wasn't a fan of any of these things – smoking, drugs.

"You are lucky to have Max. He's such a good guy, and I'm sure he'll be a perfect dad," Pia dared to say. She didn't know if Joanna would appreciate this comment since the Austrian didn't really like it when someone was sticking their nose into her personal life. Furthermore, Pia wasn't sure if Joanna knew how close Pia and Max became. They really didn't put their friendship on display. They didn't try to win 'the friendship of the paddock' kind of award.

"I don't think he is fully convinced about himself being a good dad, but yeah. It's just the way he is," the Austrian said. Max was always a bit too hard on himself when it came to things like this.

"I know, but he will be great. He'll be a great dad, and you'll be a great mum," Pia announced. Joanna was taken aback a little bit by this statement, so before she could say anything, Pia spoke up again. "Let's head back. I'm sure Charlotte is already waiting for us."