Juliette yawned and unlocked the car. The race in France ended a few hours ago, but she and the team needed to work till late to finished and prepare everything for the next race. And since the next race weekend would start in five days, there wasn't time to chill and relax. She opened the boot of the car and put her stuff in it. She stepped behind the steering wheel and drove the car to the exit of the track. It was Juliette's turn to drive this weekend. Together with Delilah, Peter and Liam, she had a carpool whenever it was possible.
The boot opened. "Ah, Julie, what a service," Delilah said, satisfied and threw her bags in the boot. She walked to the backdoor and stepped into the car. "You're an angel." Delilah sat down in the middle seat and fastened her seatbelt.
"Hello," Peter said and sat down next to Delilah. "Lewis is joining us. I hope you don't mind?"
Lewis opened the passenger door and sat down. "Hey, Juliette."
"Hey," Juliette replied. She looked at Peter in the mirror. "No, not at all. Certainly not giving me more pressure..."
"Is it okay I join you?" Lewis asked. "Angela had to leave straight after the race, she needed to go to England."
She looked at him and gave him a warm smile. "Yes, of course. Don't worry. I was just joking. But you are Lewis Hamilton, like a five-time world champion." Juliette watched how Liam threw his stuff in the boot, closed it and stepped inside. "Got everything?"
"Oui, madame," Liam said and fastened the seatbelt. "Ah, this is so cosy."
Juliette checked all the mirror to watch if she was clear to go. She switched the gear from park to drive and drove away.
"Honestly, I'm so glad we have a weekend next week. Gosh, I am so tired," Delilah yawned. "Just relax, nothing on the schedule, sleep in. Go on."
"Are you not working then?" Juliette asked, confused.
Peter looked confused at Delilah. "Are you not going to Austria?"
Delilah parted her lips and blinked a few times. "It's a doubleheader. I was convinced we had a weekend next week. I forgot about it. Alright, fuck me." She loved her job, but she was longing for a few days off. "This is going to be tough. Celebrating the weekend after that weekend. I'm in Austria next week, how dare you to think I'm not there?" She awkwardly laughed.
"You are so chaotic, and I'm living for it," Lewis replied and was shaking his head.
"How are you a strategist?" Liam teased.
Delilah snorted. "Well, I'm sorry. I'm delighted to have a fan."
"Are you leaving for Spielberg straight away, or are you going back to England and later in the week flying over to Spielberg?" Lewis curiously asked.
Delilah continued the chat. "I reckon we're all going to Spielberg tomorrow morning. It's more convenient and better for the environment. And it would be a waste of time to fly to England tomorrow, and fly back to Austria on Wednesday. Are you going to Spielberg or not?" Delilah looked at Lewis.
"Of course, I'm going to Spielberg," Lewis smirked.
A laugh rolled over Delilah's lips. "Obviously."
"No, I'm going to pick up my stuff at the hotel and leaving for Monaco this night," he answered. "Got a few appointments in Monte Carlo." Lewis quickly checked his phone. "What made you pick Formula 1, Juliette? I see you almost every day, but I don't know much about you."
"Her dad is Edward Reynolds," Peter announced.
A small smile curved on Juliette's lips. "Mainly because of him, yes."
"Can I ask why your dad, Edward Reynolds, is so special? I hear his name every time now," Delilah curiously asked.
Lewis' eyes rounded. "You are Reynolds' daughter? Now you say it, I can see it. Oh, that why you hang around Red Bull a lot."
"Can I drive 130?" Juliette asked herself when she entered the motorway. "Sure I can," she mumbled. "Anyway, he worked with good drivers."
He raised his eyebrows. "Good drivers?" Lewis asked. "Juliette, Juliette, Juliette," he smirked and shook his head. "Reynolds worked with Schumacher at Ferrari and Mercedes, Kimi, me, Ricciardo and now Gasly."
"The fuck, Julie? Those are legends. Wel, Schumi and Kimi. The others... not so sure about that." A teasing smile grew on Delilah's face and when Lewis looked unamused at her. "And Lewis." She widely smiled. "Oh, but that's why everybody knows him, and why everybody is like: oh, my gosh, you're the daughter of. But not gonna lie, he went from the best, to meh. I mean, Pierre is doing okay, but not great."
"That's one way to say it," Peter said.
"But come on, for Red Bull, this is not great. McLaren is even better," Delilah shot to him. "Anyway, your story, Julie."
Juliette passed some cars. "This is not the Pierre I know," she mumbled under her breath. "But yeah, because of my dad," she lied. It wasn't a real lie, but it wasn't the entire truth. "I always liked the speed and the engineering behind it, so I was like: why don't give it a try." She took a deep breath. "So, yeah, that's me."
"Interesting," Lewis said and nodded. "And at home? Boyfriend, husband, kids?"
She was shaking her head. "Nope, just me and my cat-"
"What about Pierre?" Delilah blurted, but quickly realised she crossed the line. "I'm sorry."
"Delilah!" Juliette raised her voice. "There is no Pierre."
Peter raised his eyebrows. "Who is Pierre?"
"Those are not your onions," Juliette annoyedly said and took the exit on the motorway. It felt like it was rush hour, while it was pretty late in the evening. "Allez," she said and showed her hand, the what-the-heck hand, when a car stopped in the middle of the crossover.
"Those are not your...what?" Liam asked slowly and squeezed his eyebrows together.
"Those are not your onions," Juliette repeated and took a left turn.
Delilah burst into laughter. "What onions?"
Juliette looked parted her lips and looked lost around her. "Those are not your onions, like shut up, we don't have to talk about it."
"You're blurting nonsense now," Peter said. "Those are not your onions?"
"Oui, ce ne sont pas vos oignons," Juliette said. "Duh."
Lewis nodded like he understood it, but it still made no sense to him. "No?"
"Ow." Juliette embarrassedly giggled. "I'm so fucking stupid. It's non of your business." Heat rushed to her cheeks. "My goodness. It's non of your business, and not those are not your onions. Well, technically it is, but in French, it's ce ne sont pas vos oignons."
Liam and Delilah's laugh filled the car, while Peter and Lewis were still processing the moment. Just a few seconds later, they finally understood the situation.
"I'm in France for one weekend, and things are escalating. This is so embarrassing," she sighed.
"Those are not your onions," Delilah smiled. "That one goes straight onto the..." She stuck her hand out towards Liam.
"...Wall of Quotes," they said together, and Liam gave Delilah a high-five. There was a massive wall in the office will the most brilliant quotes: mispronounced words, weird sentence contractions, mispronounced idioms, made-up words, clever idioms or translated idioms from a different language.
Lewis smirked. "The translation is brilliant. And you said it with so much confidence." He took a sip from his water bottle. "But I really don't want to know what's going on in the office when I'm not there."
"Well, you know, we have fun and do the most stupid things, and then we work," Peter said critically. "Honestly, since Juliette joined the track crew, got promoted to the track crew area in the office and sits across from Delilah, it's one big party."
"Julie is the lost member in our team, no offence to Kevin," Delilah said.
Juliette nodded uncomfortably. "This is awkward," she mumbled and entered the garage of the hotel. She zoned out of the conversation between Lewis, Peter, and Delilah and scanned the park pass to open the gate. It was busy in the underground car park. Kinda understandable; everyone from the track was here. Juliette found a good spot to park the car and switched off the engine. "Et voilà."
"Merci," Lewis said gratefully.
"De rien," she smiled and stepped out of the car. "Don't forget your personal belongings, please."
"Freedom," Liam dramatically said and opened the boot.
"Oh, fuck you," Delilah blurted and got her bags. Juliette grabbed her stuff as well and waited until the boot was empty. "Oh, the song that's in every romantic comedy film ever made," Delilah said and looked up at the ceiling. "But we love it."
Juliette closed the boot and locked the car. She listened to the song, it was that song; You Give Me Something by James Morrison. She licked her lips and took a deep breath.
Delilah looked around in the garage, checking if people were walking around. Which wasn't the case in her eyes. "Don't mind me," she said and hooked her arm in Juliette's arm. "'Cause you give me something. That makes me scared, alright. This could be nothing." To everybody's surprise, it sounded pretty good. Delilah reminded Juliette of Sara; both full of energy, blur everything they think, spontaneous and kind.
Juliette stopped walking. "But I'm willing to give it a try. Please give me something. 'Cause someday I might know my heart," Juliette continued singing. She looked around to see if someone was watching. Unfortunately, for Juliette, there was. Her eyes locked with Pierre's, who also was walking towards the entrance of the hotel. There was no control about her facial expressions, so a smile played on her lips.
A weak smile grew on Pierre's lips. This moment reminded him of a moment they had years ago, when everything was fine between them, between Juliette and Sara. Pierre noticed the same smile was playing on Juliette's lips, it didn't change at all. The smile on his lips grew; it is her.
Juliette broke the eye contact and began to giggle embarrassedly. Her cheeks heated up, and a soft pink colour appeared on it. Her heart started to beat faster, and she felt nervous. Not because it was Pierre, but because someone saw it happening.
"Oh, gosh, this is awkward," she mumbled.
Peter looked unfortunate at Lewis. "Get used to this, this is what we get to deal with every day."
Delilah and Juliette looked at each other and laugher before they continued singing. "But it might be a second too late. And the words that I could never say. Gonna come out anyway."
"Good luck with that, mate," Lewis said compassionately and padded Peter's shoulder.
Liam smirked. "Your performance engineer and strategist," he introduced them.