Circuit de Monaco,
Monte Carlo, Monaco
Thursday
"Freja!" Marylinde ran into the Prema trailer where Freja was sitting with Peter. "I'm going to talk to you later because you just left us there. I could have died." She pointed a finger at Peter. "But first I need Freja." The smile Marylinde was fighting so hard broke through. "I really, really need my best friend now." Peter and Freja shared a look. Multiple scenarios were running through Freja's head. It was too soon for Marylinde to become the aunt of Kevin's kid. They weren't far enough along in the pregnancy. She could have gotten some compliment of a driver she very much respected like Lewis Hamilton or Sebastian Vettel, she could have been offered a seat for the next year. Things like that sometimes went past her, as had the reserve driver seat as well as the practice sessions. The look on Marylinde's face, so she wasn't anxious, rather very curious.
"What is going on?" Freja asked when Marylinde stopped at a more private part. "Why are you smiling like that?"
"Pierre asked me on a date." Freja started squealing and hugged Marylinde tightly.
"Goodness me! That's amazing!" Marylinde laughed. She had doubted between two responses. On one side, she had expected the excitement. For a long time, Freja had been asking whether there was a particular guy she had a crush on and every time she was disappointed when Marylinde said no. On the other side, Marylinde had expected Freja to react a bit more neutral, saying it was going to be a tough position to be in with Pierre being an Alpha Tauri driver and therefore one of her rivals for a seat in formula one next year. It would make for quite the drama around them caused by the media.
"I was wondering which side you were going to show." Marylinde winked.
"I'll worry about the press side of it later. Right now I'm here as your best friend and I am super excited!" Marylinde heart was still racing, both from the lap she and Pierre finished in a steady jog as well as from excitement. She was also very relieved to not have PR Freja out there yet, but just her friend.
"When?" Marylinde shrugged her shoulders.
"We didn't really plan anything yet." She chuckled. "We'll do that when I'm back in Italy. It'll be easiest for us since Alpha Tauri is located in Faenza and all." Freja nodded.
"But like-" She waved her hands to fan some air in her face. "You and Pierre would make such a hot couple. And your kids-" She pretended to faint. "I couldn't even." Marylinde raised her eyebrows at her best friend.
"What are you on? I'm not having kids before I got everything out of my career I could." Freja rolled her eyes. "Either way, I wanted you to be the first one to know. Now, I am going to go tell the guys before they will kill me."
"So you would after your first date?" Marylinde and Freja laughed, both knowing children would be one of the final steps in a relationship for Marylinde and that she was in no way ready to have them yet.
"But, I really need to-"
"Where is Marylinde?!" Marylinde groaned. Too late.
"Please, get them away from here so I can go somewhere else?" Freja shook her head but agreed. "Thanks." Marylinde waited for Freja to start talking to Lando who had Alex trailing behind. She would have a very small window to slip away. The nearest safe place would be with Callum at UNI-Virtuosi so she quickly ran there.
"Hi, can I see Callum?" She asked when she ran into the first engineer while checking over her shoulder.
"Mary, what is going on?" Guanyu Zhou who had been standing a few feet away frowned.
"I'm running for my life. Lando is about to kill me and I thought I could hide out here for a little." Guanyu nodded his head and stepped inside.
"Just for a moment. I'll get Callum. He'll keep an eye out for you. We don't want you having all our secrets, you've shown how fast you are." He winked and walked away. Moments later, Callum appeared.
"What did you do this time for Lando to want to kill you?"
"Wait too long to tell him I am going on a date I guess." Callum's eyes widened.
"Really?! Who?! Did Mick finally get the balls to-"
"Mick?!" Marylinde hissed and Callum looked at her, taken aback.
"It wasn't?" Marylinde slowly shook her head.
"Why would he?!" She whispered as Callum visibly was looking for words. His mouth opened and closed like a fish on the dry. The same reason he didn't ask me out years back?
"Who was it then?"
"Pierre." Callum nodded. The conversation had just gotten really awkward and Marylinde was biting her lip. "Thank you for letting me hide here for a bit. I think Lando has cooled down by now." She placed her hand on Callum's shoulder and left. Why would Callum think it would have been Mick to ask her out.
There was only one obvious answer, but that couldn't be it. Right?
"Marylinde. Where the fuck were you?" Lando place his hands on his hips and stared at her. Marylinde however didn't really care.
"What's up Mary?" Her breath hitched and her heart started racing. She made eye contact with Mick. "Are you okay?" He got up from the chair he was sitting on.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She quickly and neutrally said. Everyone around her frowned. It was not normal for Marylinde to respond to Mick like that. "I'm sorry." She apologized. "I don't know what's going on right now."
"Do we need to be worried?" Mick asked, carefully assessing her but she shook her head.
"No need to." She took a breath. "I-" Everyone looked at her expectantly. "never mind. Lan, Lex, shall we just go somewhere else to do this?" Alex and Lando nodded and they walked away. They found a quiet place between the trailers and Marylinde let her head rest against the trailer.
"What's going on Mary?" Marylinde quickly made up her mind. Was she going to tell them? She had no clue how to deal with it, so it would be best to ask them for advice. She took a deep breath.
"So, I heard you scream." Marylinde eyed Lando, deciding to tell them everything. "So I decided to make a run for it. I ran to Callum, explained the whole ordeal, but without telling him who I was going on a date with." The two Formula one drivers stood dumbfounded in front of her.
"You are going on a date with someone?" Marylinde started to stutter as she stared at Alex. They hadn't been there because Pierre had told them about the date?
"Marylinde Magnussen." Lando placed his hands on his hips once again. It was a stance he mostly took around Marylinde. "When did that happen if you thought that was why we were here."
"Just a half an hour ago or so. I swear. I told Freja and then you showed up. I thought Pierre might have told you. But what are you here for then?"
"Not the point right now." Lando was intrigued. "Who is it?" Alex groaned, leaning his head back.
"You're really stupid sometimes. Who would have told you?" Lando frowned.
"Pierre. Why?" Suddenly it dawned on him. "No fucking way." He looked back at Marylinde who bit her lip to suppress her smile. "You are going on a date with Pierre?" She nodded. "I told you. I fucking told you." He started to laugh. "But that's great Mary. He's a good guy. If you ever had to date anyone. I'm okay with Pierre." It was a relief to Marylinde to hear Lando say so. Even though he had been the one to initially try and set them up she still wanted them to be okay with her pick as well.
"I have to agree." Alex pulled Marylinde in for a hug. "But now you are going to tell why you were looking as pale as a sheet." It was all it took to wipe the smile off Marylinde's face.
"I went to hide with Callum, so when he asked why I needed to. I gave him a quick summary. I didn't tell you I was going on a date. You were there all upset and I needed to run for my life." Both boys nodded. "He then smiled and asked whether Mick had finally asked me out."
"Mick?" Marylinde nodded. "As in Prema Mick?" Again she nodded. "Mick Schumacher." Marylinde dropped her shoulders and rolled her eyes. "The guy who is like a brother to you Mick." Tears sprung to her eyes as for a final time, she nodded.
"Gosh Mary." Alex took her hand, rubbing circles with his thumb on the back. Both he and Lando were taken aback by the news as well. They hadn't seen it coming. A couple of years back they would have. Mick was constantly throwing eyes at her and was around her at every possible moment, but now? No, he had given no indication to liking her. But maybe it had become normal for Mick to behave like that and it just seemed like he was no longer romantically interested in her but in fact, he still was.
"How am I supposed to deal with that. He is my teammate. We bloody live together!"
"I forgot," Lando mumbled. "At least you have Arthur."
"The poor guy is going to be thrown into this as well as our housemate, making things worse rather than better! I might just warn him to find a new place to live before we get back. I might just try and find a new place before I get back to Italy. I can't deal with this right now."
"You should just act as you have for years. He liked you then, he likes you now. No difference." Lando suggested. He sounded insecure. He knew it wouldn't work just as well as everyone as Marylinde had not been aware of Mick's feeling at the time.
"The best thing you can do is talk it through. Mick isn't aware that you know about it, is he?" Marylinde shook his head.
"He looked so defeated when I reacted like that. I don't want to hurt him. He deserves the world and I don't want to be the reason for his heartbreak. You know why? If I am, I can't kill the person who hurt him because I'm not about to kill myself." She shook her head, defeated. "I don't know what to do."
"Talk to him," Alex said, squeezing her hand. "Who knows, maybe Callum might have just been wrong."
"I'll do it after the weekend." Alex raised an eyebrow, giving her a pointed look.
"Now. Otherwise, you are going to let it eat away at you for the rest of the weekend." Marylinde nodded. "Good, we are going to let you do it then." He turned Lando around by his shoulders. "Good luck, you can call us afterwards if you need us."
"But- But-" Alex hushed Lando who wasn't quite done with Marylinde – after all, they hadn't gotten to why he and Alex were there yet. "Fine." Lando eventually dropped his shoulders and followed after Alex.
Marylinde walked in the opposite direction of where Lando and Alex had gone to. Once inside the Prema facilities, she ran into Angelina.
"Ah, there you are. Shall we go for that walk now?" Marylinde hesitated but then nodded. Her conversation with Mick could be postponed for a little.
Behind Angelina, Marylinde saw Mick sitting at the table. He was looking directly at her, an expecting look in his eyes but when she walked away together with Angelina, he sighed in defeat. He was not blind, she was avoiding him. Never had the two of them been on bad terms. They had had their differences of opinion and clashes on track, but it never affected them. They were always civil and made up soon after the conflict started. Never had they proceeded to do something else if it felt weird between them and Marylinde was changing that. For the first time, things felt off between them and Mick didn't know why.