Under the Microscope (Book One of Three)

Chapter 23

Only one week until F1 is back! I cannot wait!

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*****

"Leave me alone," I say with a grin on my face as I lean in-between mine and Max's seats. He has spent the entire press conference trying to get my attention and making it way too obvious to the media and so I finally relented and leaned towards him but just to tell him to shut it.

"Elodie, please. You're not giving me a chance to fix this." He says lightly, behind his hand so that no one can try, and lip-read later.

I shoot him a quick glare, shaking my head lightly. "I told you already; I don't do third chances. You disrespected me twice and now I'm done." I say, also lifting my hand to cover my words. "I'm serious." I continue when he goes to speak again. I bring a smile to my face as I go to sit upright, moving my hand from my mouth as I try to listen to Charles' answer to whatever question he was asked.

"Elodie, you did a fantastic job in qualifying yesterday, what are you hoping for today out of your home Grand Prix." The moderator asks me after Charles finishes his question.

"Ah, thank you. I like the rain a lot so yesterday was fun for me. I tried for a rain dance today, but I think I'm going to be unlucky." I joke smiling lightly, before going a bit more serious. "Obviously, I'm starting in a points position, that's where I would like to end today. But there are some rather fast cars directly behind me, so I'm sure I'll be fighting hard to keep it. But yeah, just more points I think is the goal."

5 minutes later and we're done. I'm sitting on the floor of the green room, waiting for someone to collect me for the drivers parade next. Looking in front of me, I see a familiar face looking at me and I smile, waving him and the guy next to him over. They approach me, sitting cross-legged from me where I'm leaning against the wall. "How are you doing?" I ask Pierre and Charles in their native language. Pierre instantly replies, telling me that he is good while Charles looks confused.

"You speak French?" He asks in English, and I nod, laughing at his confused face. It's very cute, there are no two ways about that.

"Fluently, it's easy to learn in such a multicultural industry," I say in French, waving at the room around us, and Charles's confusion drops away and he smiles, impressed.

"You're very unique, Carter." He says as Pierre nods in agreement. "Lewis tried to learn but struggled."

"I know, who do you think he roped into teaching him? I don't think he's too bad though?" I laughed questioningly, the door beside us opens at that point, and the next set of drivers walk into the room, Lewis included. Now we're just missing Stroll, Yuki, Vettel, Mick and Daniel. Presumably, they're stuck in the last press conference. "Lewis," I call his name motioning for him to join us. "Your French is okay, yeah?" I ask him in French, the confusion on his face answers my question as he lets out a weak oui. "You forgot it all?" I ask still in French, disappointment dripping from my voice. "That's 50 hours of my life gone to waste," I tell Pierre and Charles, Lewis just crouched next to us his face confused. "You're a failure," I explain to him in English and he just rolls his eyes, pushing my shoulder.

"I was alright for a bit, but then you got busy with F2, and it slipped again." He said defensively, I shrug.

"I'm hardly the only person that speaks French in the paddock." I whine at him, and he shrugs.

"I got a bit busy trying to make a comeback last season as well if you don't remember." I shrug, my face saying everything; no excuses.

"Oh, I meant to ask, can you tell Toto I need a meeting. Need to start a hiring process." I tell him, knowing that he will see Toto before me.