Mary just graduated from Law School and is setting out for a journey through Europe.
Charles is a F1 driver for Scuderia Ferrari.
How will their lives change when their paths cross?
Storyline starts in 2020, COVID does not exist.
Somehow, it felt relaxing to know that my next weekend would be just staying at home. Of course I was gutted to not see Charles, but he was racing in Baku, which was not connected with a direct flight to London and we had both agreed that traveling there would have been too stressful for just the weekend.
The days were getting longer and summer was coming to London. I loved this time of the year and wanted to enjoy my city and my friends as much as possible. Charles was in Maranello before flying out to Baku and I was mostly helping Val with the RSVPs for her wedding these evenings. She was freaking out that there were so many family members attending who did not stand each other, and needed my help in finding seating solutions for the church and the dinner in the evening.
On Friday, I watched the Free Practices at work, making a small window for the stream at the bottom of my desktop. Charles looked very quick and he finished the day on the second and fourth place on the timesheets. He was in high spirits and even a bit surprised that the car was doing so good on that circuit. He asked me about my day, but it wasn't as eventful as his, I just counted the days down to my new appointment in September, hoping to practice in a field that I was really interested in.
On Saturday, I had scheduled a day full of me-time. I had booked a day at a spa, and had a massage, waxings, manicure and pedicure planned, as well as obviously watching the Qualifying in the afternoon. Somehow, I managed not to erupt in huge cheers, as Charles took pole position, since the spa was a quiet zone, but my face was beaming, I was so happy for him. Immediately, I sent him a text:
Mary ❤️ AMAZING, CONGRATULATIONS 🥳 So happy for you, waiting for your call this evening! Je t'aime xx
My family had dinner together and we were all buzzing about my boyfriend's great result today and all hoped that he would continue his lucky streak tomorrow. Oli had now moved out of uni, back to London, his graduation was at the end of June and he was fully enjoying his holidays. He was set to start working with Dad in September and would be also living in the house. We had never lived all four together in the past nine years, since we both attended boarding schools before moving away for uni, so I was curious how it would go. Mentally, I reminded myself that it was one more year of training, and if things went well with Charles, I would be moving away anyways.
For Sunday, my parents had organised a garden/watch party for the race and invited their friends over and Oli and I were also allowed to invite some people. Carmen and William with Claire, Michael and Lucy, my co-workers came. My brother had also invited some friends, including Alex, the guy who had a crush on me last summer. He was avoiding me all the time and sent me weird looks every time I cheered on Charles during the race. I found it rather funny and strange, but ultimately did not care since I never had been interested in him.
Unfortunately, Charles dropped back some places and did not manage to win at least the third place back from Pierre after an intense battle in the last few laps. I knew, he had done the best with the car he had, and he probably knew that too, but he would still end up feeling a bit beaten down. After the race, I joined Carmen and Oli, who were having a conversation and noticed Alex next to them. When I arrived, he suddenly asked me with a brisk tone: "Shouldn't someone be calling you now?" Baffled by the question, I answered: "He will, thanks for the worries." He just scoffed and walked away. "What was that?!" Carmen asked, stifling a laughter. "Ugh, I don't know, I think he had a crush on me last summer, but, whatever" I answered. "He was so disappointed when I told him that you had gotten back together with Charles, he had his hopes up when you came to visit me after your breakup" Oli said. "I hope you crushed his illusions" I said, rolling my eyes.
"Well, I better get going, George is probably calling soon too" Carmen said and engulfed me into a hug. "Noooo, please stay, you can call him from here, but let's get drinks after, it's such a warm, wonderful night!!" I pleaded. I loved warm spring nights. "Fine, you are right!" Carmen chuckled.
Charles called half an hour later and as I had expected, he was exhausted and disappointed, but he had fun on the track today, battling with Pierre, and I was so happy to hear that. I told him all about our party and Alex' snarky remarks and we both laughed about that. "What are you doing tonight?" he asked me. "Going out with Carmen for a few drinks, are you flying home tonight or tomorrow morning?" I answered. "Ooohh, sounds dangerous" he chuckled. "Tomorrow, might do some PlayStation with George, if our girls are on the loose together" he added. "Haha, send me pictures of that" I answered. We said our goodbyes and I went downstairs to wait for Carmen. She appeared a few minutes later and we hit the town.
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📍 London, England tagged: carmenmmundt mary.wright.98 Nights out in L-Town
val.the.great So jealous, drowning in wedding preps over here 🤪 charles_leclerc Pretty girls ❤️❤️❤️ charles_leclerc Oh and btw I won against George in F1!!!!!!! Replying to charles_leclerc: oli_wright_one_and_only Well, you learned from the best georgerussell63 In one of five rounds
The next week was quite uneventful at work, everything got on smoothly and on Saturday, I met Val at the wedding dress shop. Her mum and her other bridesmaid, her cousin Violet, were there too, as well as Christian's mum. We were all so excited, since this would be the last try-on to make changes and the next time here would already be the dress pick-up. Val looked gorgeous in her gown and I teared up a bit, but her nerves started acting up and she wanted to make all kind of alterations to the dress, but we managed to calmly talk her out of it and agreed on just a few changes.
Violet and I then made our way to the seamstress for our dresses. We were both going to wear the same dress, but in different colours, I was opting for a baby blue, while she was going for a pink-coral fabric. The appointment went well and we made our way to the milliner afterwards. While Violet had chosen a small cocktail hat, I was still being indecisive between a wide-brim hat or a headband, but opted for the latter, since I thought that it would be more comfortable to wear. We got lunch together afterwards and got to know each other a bit better, Violet was four years older than us and always like a big sister for Val. She worked in corporate and told me she hated it, but her career chances were good enough, so she stuck to it.
I arrived at home exhausted and saw, that I had two missed calls from Charles, so I called him back. "Hi, sorry for not answering, I was around all morning" I sighed into the phone. "Wedding outfit settled?" he asked. "Yup, hope you will like it, it's going to be a very British wedding" I chuckled. "By the way, we have to find some time to get me a morning suit, I don't own such a thing and I need your advice" he said. "Aren't you supposed to wear Armani because of sponsorship stuff anyways?" I asked. "I did not think of that, I will talk to my assistant and ask him, but I still need you to choose the fabric and colours and stuff" he replied. "Well, it should be soon, the wedding is just two months away now" I sighed. "Yes, worst case, we just buy one off the rack in London" he said. "What I was actually calling you for, what are you planning to wear tomorrow? They are putting me in my Ferrari suit but asked if you wanted to wear some pieces from the collection?" "Um, what kind of pieces?" I asked. I had no clue about what kind of fashion Ferrari was producing. "Eh, well, I don't think it's really your style, so I thought you could wear like a simple black dress? That would work with my suit?" he said. "Black dress, simple outfit. Got it. I will try something on and send you a picture for approval." I said and smiled. "Perfect, I can't wait to see you tomorrow" he replied.
