Had to pull out some mad IT skills for wattpad to even let me post lol anyway...
Evie and her family won the trial as the jury came back with a guilty verdict. It didn't take long for the jury to come back with their verdict, but we weren't sure if they bought it was actually defamation. Luckily, they did.
Evie seemed to feel better as soon as we left Belgium and she could leave the whole thing behind her. She wouldn't have to come back if she didn't want to, and it was now going out into the press that the horrible things said about her childhood had been a lie from the very beginning. I was happy that she could walk away from it.
The first thing we had to do when we left Belgium was go to Monza for the Grand Prix. Max, Pierre and Charles had to leave before us to be there on time, but I stayed with Evie until the very end of the trial, then we went back home to pack together before we went to Monza. I left the crutches at home and packed clothes specifically to be able to hide the large, stupid knee pad. Max picked us up at the airport and I have never seen a happier hug between the two of them. They got to celebrate that it was over and it was so good to see.
Charles was obviously as busy as the two previous Monza weekends, but he met up with me in the lobby thinking he had to help me with my bags, but I could handle it myself considering I didn't have the crutches.
"Où sont vos béquilles?" Where are your crutches? he asked immediately.
"Chez moi, je n'en ai plus besoin," At home, I don't need them anymore, I told him but he still took my suitcase from me before kissing me before he furrowed his brows, focusing on the absence of my crutches. "Je dois commencer à marcher pour revenir à la normale," I have to start walking to get back to normal.
He didn't get the chance to argue against me before Evie came up to hug him. He congratulated both her and Max on the win, and then we went upstairs to the room. I unpacked and then we went to bed to watch a movie before falling asleep to be ready for the first day of one of the most important races for Ferrari.
I dressed in linen pants because they were wide and flowy. Charles and I arrived early to have breakfast before Charles got busy all day. Evie came in with Pierre shortly after that. She was smiling widely as she sat down next to me and wished Pierre good luck before he left. She seemed to be back to her normal sunshine self. She ordered two orange juices for us and when we got them she got a flask out of her purse.
"Where did you get that?" I asked, furrowing my brows as I watched her pour what looked like vodka into the glass. She scoffed as if I just asked the stupidest question ever.
"You just watched me pull it out of my purse," She replied before she grabbed my glass and poured some in mine. I was reaching my arm out to stop her, but she slapped my hand away. "We deserve some mimosas after all this," She shrugged.
I grabbed the flask and looked around to make sure there weren't any cameras around that could catch us looking like we're some addicts, and then I smelled it. It was definitely vodka, and absolutely not Prosecco.
"Babe, this is a screwdriver... not a mimosa," I told her, holding up the glass she had just filled with vodka. She took the opportunity to take her glass and put it to mine, and then she began blending it with her straw before taking a sip.
"Well... it can't be that much of a difference," She shrugged and I could watch her try to keep her facial expressions minimal, but she did not seem to like it. When I blended mine and took a sip, I understood how she didn't like it, because it was really strong and absolutely not that good. "We should relax... treat this like a vacation! You know... a vacation that people our age go on. They go out and they get drunk and they get a tan."
"There are cameras everywhere this weekend... maybe this isn't the time to be irresponsible," I said, looking around at all the cameras circling around the paddock. There were cameras broadcasting for TV, media, photographers just lurking everywhere. Evie didn't seem to care.
"This is the exact thing we said we didn't want to care about, C," she argued before taking another sip, a big one this time. She had to hold back a cough.
"I know... but this weekend is important to Charles and I don't want to risk embarrassing him," I said even though I kept sipping the drink. One drink couldn't be too bad, but treating it like a vacation for partying is not the way to go on a weekend like this. "It's not the right time for that," I added.
"So when is it? Next weekend when we're competing?" She asked, sounding disappointed. I sighed, because I hated to disappoint her when she's had a long year filled with disappointments and problems hitting her left and right.
"We're going back to LA soon... that's a pretty good place to treat as a vacation," I said with a shrug. She looked up at me and a smile went back up on her face.
"I like your thinking," She said and we both toasted before we took another sip from our drinks. The taste was not getting better.
We sat there drinking, getting just a little tipsy before we went upstairs to sit with the Paddock pass people on the balcony, overlooking the track. There was a bar upstairs, serving snacks, beer and basic drinks. We took the opportunity to get another drink just as we watched the practice sessions. We let the sun shine down on us, thinking we might work on that tan even if we weren't on a party vacation. We still tried to enjoy ourselves some, considering we had to be there for a while.
Both Charles and Seb struggled during both sessions. They just couldn't seem to figure out what wasn't working for them. Pierre however, was doing incredibly well. He even got a better time than Max during the second session. It must have felt good, considering Red Bull had been talking about Pierre in the press recently and Pierre didn't like it, now he was finishing better than both Red Bulls. Though, I don't think Charles was that happy about his own situation.
When I got down there, I could see the frustration on his face. Arthur had gotten there and was talking to Charles when I walked into the garage. He had to sit through some driver briefings, so Arthur and I went to tell Pierre good job and then we took Evie with us and got out of the paddock. Evie and I were a little giggly, and Arthur seemed to notice pretty quickly and handed us a water bottle for us to share, telling us to sober up even though it didn't really matter. But by the time Charles came back to the hotel, I was sober, and he didn't notice a thing.
Saturday went quite the same way. We treated ourselves to a drink or two during the third practice session. There wasn't much improvement from either Ferraris during the third session either, and I knew Charles was hating it. They don't want this kind of problem in front of their home crowd, not after winning last year. But they had been struggling since Spa before the summer break, and were expected to struggle in Monza too. They were frustrated and upset about it even though they knew what was coming.
Charles got kicked out in Q2 and Seb even earlier in Q1. They weren't having the best time. I tried to cheer Charles up and I tried to tell him that they still had a chance in the race but he wasn't listening. So I let him complain in hopes that he could get it out of his system for the race.
It kind of worked, because Sunday he walked in with his hopes up. He warmed up and got ready for the race. They went on the drivers parade, they stood for the national anthem and the airplanes painted the Italian flag in the sky. They all got in their car and the mechanics were fixing the final things on the cars. I put the headphones on and I placed myself next to Arthur in the box as the formation lap started, and then how the lights went out.
The start was messy as predicted, and neither Seb or Charles gained any positions. Seb didn't stay out for long either, as he suffered brake failure during the sixth lap. The reaction in the garage was painful as the mechanics were disappointed. All focus was on Charles.
For some laps it was pretty uneventful for Charles, but there were some sighs and grunts heard when Albon managed to overtake him during lap 17, and shortly after that he went in to switch to hard tyres. Shortly after that, there was a safety car, making Charles' pit stop horribly timed as it had been better if he had just waited a little.
The garage turns a little hopeful as Charles starts overtaking and suddenly, he's up in fourth place. It was a big change from the start and faces were lighting up around us. Arthur held a tight grip on my elbow, as if he wanted to stop me from running away. Everything was going fine, until he lost the rear at the parabolica and crashed. As I saw him lose control and go off track, onto the gravel and into the wall.
I've seen a fair share of crashes since Jules' crash, but the high speed crashes will never not make me spiral into thinking the absolute worst until I know that the driver is fine. My heart stops, I stop breathing and I close my eyes while time moves slower as I wait for confirmation about the driver's condition. When it's Charles it feels even worse.
Everyone around me was disappointed and frustrated about both cars being out, but I was waiting for them to ask if Charles is okay, and for him to reply that everything is fine, but it didn't seem to come as quick as I wanted to. Arthur was waiting too, still holding onto me.
It finally came. They asked if he was okay and he replied that he was, and he seemed to be in a bit of pain, but other than that he was fine, except for being disappointed. I let out a breath and I relaxed. Arthur let go of my arm and put his arm around my shoulders as I hid my face in my hands, trying to let go of the catastrophic thoughts I got from watching him crash into that wall. The red flag was waved and the session was stopped for a moment.
Charles was taken to the medical center, so Andrea showed me the way there and Arthur came with me. We walked in and the second I saw Charles I could breathe normally. He looked fine. A little bit in pain, but there looked to be nothing major. He even pushed the poor nurse that was examining him out of the way so that he could grab my arm and pull me into a hug while he stayed sitting. I quickly stepped out of the way to let the nurse do her job, but he held onto my hand as I stayed on the side.
"Je vais bien..." I'm okay, he told me as he ran his thumb over the top of my hand. Arthur put a hand on his brother's shoulder and Charles grabbed his hand for a handshake before he kept focusing on the nurse.
"There was quite a big impact, he crashed at high speed," The nurse said, looking at Arthur, Andrea and I, and then turned to Charles, "But from the looks of it, there's nothing wrong. I'll just have to ask the doctor if you're clear to go," she added, turning to Charles this time. He looked at me like he wanted to say 'I told you so' even though I hadn't argued it.
He was kept there for a bit longer, and then they let him leave. He said his body was in a bit of pain, but other than that he was fine. We went back to the garage and to the back, into a room where he could change into his jeans and Ferrari shirt again. Arthur and Andrea went back to the garage to continue watching the race that was just resuming. When Charles and I joined them, he had to go talk to some mechanics and Mattia, which made him look both disappointed and upset again. He was blaming himself for the little mistake, especially since it caused both Ferraris to be out of the race at their home race.
The red flag had really benefited both Pierre and Lance. Lewis was in P1 but got a penalty, Lance was in P2 and Pierre in P3. After the race start, Lewis pitted to serve his penalty, Lance had dropped back after the start, so Pierre was suddenly leading the race. Perez and Max touched, which led to Max having to retire from the race, and I guess he really wasn't happy with that. Suddenly it started to look like Pierre could have his first ever win in Formula 1, and the nerves were back for all of us. We all wanted to see him on that podium.
Eventually he started leading to Sainz with nearly four seconds between them. My hands were sweating and all of us had our eyes glued to the screens as we were rooting for Pierre. I can't imagine how Evie was feeling at that point, especially when Sainz was catching up. I almost felt bad when it was reported that Sainz was being slowed down by the dirty air he got stuck in.
Towards the final few laps of the race they were getting close again, but Pierre was fighting it well. At the start of the final laps, they were only a second from each other, with Pierre leading. Charles grabbed onto my hand and he squeezed it tightly as he kept yelling, knowing it was getting so very close to being his first win.
He's through the second chicane... and I barely got to see him cross the finish line before Charles started dragging me out of the garage. He let go of my hand but Arthur started pushing me as they hurried over to where Pierre would park his car when he came in, and we waited for him. But the first one I saw was Evie running over to me. She was close to tears from how happy she was and she threw herself in my arms, jumping up and down as she kept repeating words in dutch.
"He did it, C! He did it!" She squealed.
"He did, he won," I nodded, remembering the happiness I felt when it was Charles winning the year before. Evie got to see it with Pierre and it made me happy for them both. Happiness for Pierre especially, as his hard work finally paid off. He got to prove to Red Bull that he had it in him.
The mechanics from both Red Bull and Alpha Tauri were happy to see it. They were everywhere celebrating, shouting and hugging each other. Pierre came in and he got out of the car, running right up to his team. We could hear him shouting and he couldn't stand still. He was jumping up and down, hugging people everywhere. Charles came up to him to congratulate him. She hugged him, and then he brought him over so that he could find Evie. As soon as he laid eyes on her, they rushed over to each other and they hugged while she started crying from how proud she was. They both worked to get his helmet off so that they could kiss.
"Congratulations," I told him when he came over so that I could hug him. I hugged him tightly and he kept jumping, pulling me with him, up and down as he nearly yelled my ears off again.
"Come on, I want to be in the front when he's on the podium," Evie said, grabbing my arm and pulling me with her.
She pushed through mechanics to get to the front, and when we made it further, they started helping us to get even further to the front, until we made it to the barriers so that we could watch the podium up front. And he came on, happily jumping and pumping his fist in the air. He stood there with Carlos and Lance and it just felt like such a wonderful day, seeing them all that happy. They sprayed each other, and then Pierre stayed there for a while and we watched him just take it all in.
He is a Grand Prix winner.
—
"If your doctor asks, I did not approve this, nor was I aware of it, are we understood?" Anna told me as she helped me put my hair in a bun ahead of the competition. I was in costume, which Evie and I had changed to as baggy pants as possible, which made it possible to still wear a smaller knee pad without it showing. It was going to be difficult dancing in it, but I wouldn't be disqualified from failing to perform at the competition.
"Understood," I replied, grimacing at my reflection as she pulled my hair to make it as snatched as possible, but it hurt a little.
Evie wasn't a big fan of me dancing with my hurt knee, but she also didn't want to end the season, so she just stayed silent whenever my knee was mentioned. She finished off her makeup and then she helped me with some details of mine, and then it was time for us to go on stage.
Warmup had been going well, my knee didn't hurt and it didn't seem too noticeable. But I was getting nervous. Evie and I hugged before we walked into the spotlight and got into position. The music started and I did our number. I had to focus a lot harder on getting right considering I hadn't been physically doing it for some time, just watching and studying from the side, and then had less than a week to prepare for the competition, but I thought I had it down pretty well.
It went great. My movements in my knee were a bit limited because of the knee pad, but I still thought I managed quite well, and I made no mistakes except for the ones that were caused by the knee. I also tried to listen to what people around were saying when we were done, and it didn't sound way too bad. However, people seemed to notice something was wrong, even more so when I went on to do my solo later on.
The results confirmed that it was noticeable, as we got third place instead of a win. It wasn't near as thrilling as a win, but it was still better than many others and I liked knowing that not even an injury could stop me. For my solo I ended up in fourth place, which wasn't even a podium, but I had been alone on the stage for that one. In the duo, Evie helps to carry the load.
But we were still in the game.
—
We went back to Los Angeles when the others flew to Singapore. We were going to help a dance creator make and then teach choreography to some students before posting it on Youtube. There was a lot going on, and we were getting more and more popular in the dance world. People actually started to know us from winning the competitions. They shared our dance videos and they talked about our dancing rather than our relationships and what we wore to the different races. We really liked it like that, having something of our own.
I tried to talk to Charles at least once a day, but considering there's a 16 hour time difference between Los Angeles and Singapore, it was a bit difficult and we couldn't talk for too long. He got a pole in Singapore and a second place which I didn't get to see until I woke up in the morning, and by the time I was up, he had gone to bed already, so I couldn't congratulate him until he woke up again.
Evie and I worked on the choreography for our next competition, which was the same one we were going to teach. We had a popular choreographer help us get the choreography into place, and then Anna was there to help us perfect it and make it look spotless. When the choreography was done it was time for us to meet the large group we were going to teach, and I had to pretend like I wasn't horrified by standing front of them all at once.
Almost every day was spent the same for two weeks. We woke up, we went to practice on our own to get ready for the competition, and then after lunch we'd teach the choreo until dinner. Evie and I went out to eat together, and we'd find ways to get some drinks, even though none of us are twenty one. The choreographer we worked with, Matt, got us some wine that we drank at the place we rented while we were there. It wasn't too smart to drink when we had to be up and active the next morning, but Evie was really set on living her best life while she's still young, and I wasn't going to stop her.
Anna noticed that we were hungover one morning and she really wasn't happy, telling us it looked bad and we needed to stay in shape. She told us not to do it again, and we did it again that same night and just tried to hide the hangover better the next morning. Now, I know this is irresponsible, but that was kind of the whole point, and I kind of liked it.
We were finishing off our final day of teaching the choreo before we were going to film. I was in front of the studio watching as Matt was splitting them into the groups they'd be dancing in while filming so that they could prepare something that might make their version of the choreo unique to them, and then Evie came up to me, grabbing my arm.
"Can I talk to you?" She asked and I nodded as I went with her, walking out into the corridor that was way less crowded. "Emma just called... We've been offered to be dancers in some music video and she wants to know if we're interested."
"When?" was my first question, considering our schedules are pretty tight most of the time.
"In two weeks... the weekend they're racing in Japan," She replied. Using their F1 schedule to specify what week you're talking about is something that's been proven helpful.
"What kind of video is it?" I asked, knowing I had told Charles I'd go with him to Japan. Arthur would be there too as he's not racing that weekend, and we had just planned on trying to make that track a good one again. After going there last year I felt like I could do it again, but I was still kind of dreading it, but I know I had told them I would go with them anyway.
"They want us to dance a street choreo in Malibu to some pop-ish star," She told me with a shrug, telling me she didn't really know either what it was. "Emma said they want to know if we're interested before they tell us the whole thing."
"It's only two weeks... and next weekend we have a competition in Amsterdam, when would we have time to learn the choreography?" I asked her. She nodded slowly, but I could tell she was kind of interested anyway. "When do the others start learning choreography?" I asked.
"I think she said they'd start next Monday."
"We'd be back here and ready by Tuesday... maybe we could," I shrugged and watched Evie get all excited again. She nodded and took her phone out of her pocket, starting to type on it, sending a text message to Emma.
We were booked by the following afternoon.
—
"Salut, Cece," Charles said joyfully when he picked up the phone. I knew he just landed in Italy and was probably on his way to his apartment in Maranello. "Vous êtes en route pour l'aéroport?" Are you on your way to the airport? he asked.
"Nous venons de nous enregistrer," We just checked in, I replied. I hadn't told Evie that I had intended to go to Japan, and now I had to tell Charles that I wasn't going anymore. "Je sais que j'ai dit que je te verrais au Japon le week-end prochain... mais quelque chose s'est passé," I know I said I'd meet you in Japan next weekend... but something came up.
The other end of the line was silent for a moment, and I could picture him putting his thumb and index finger to his eyes and sighing as he was listening to me. In my head, he didn't look happy with me for that.
"Qu'est-ce qui est arrivé?" What came up? he asked, sounding slightly dry.
"Nous avons été réservés dans un clip vidéo ici à Los Angeles, c'est une excellente opportunité et nous ne voulions pas la laisser passer," We got booked in a music video here in LA, this is a great opportunity and we didn't want to pass it up, I said and I really wanted him to understand that it was important to me, and also to Evie who is my partner in this.
"D'accord...alors quand est-ce que je te verrai?" Okay... so when will I see you? he asked, and I was kind of confused considering our birthdays are only a few days after, so I thought it would be obvious that I would see him then.
"Juste après le week-end prochain," Right after next weekend, I said, "Je ne manquerai pas l'anniversaire d'Arthur," I won't miss Arthur's birthday.
There was another silence, and I could hear him stepping out of a car and then I heard him let out a heavy sigh before I heard the heavy door to his apartment complex open as he walked through.
"Si tu ne veux pas venir pour une autre raison... tu me le diras, n'est-ce pas?" If you don't want to come for some other reason... you'd tell me, wouldn't you? he asked, keeping his voice down so his words won't echo for all his neighbors to hear.
"Oui," I replied shortly.
"Il n'y a pas que toi qui essaie de t'éloigner du Japon?" It's not just you trying to get away from Japan? he asked while unlocking his door and stepping through it. "Tu n'aimes même pas avoir des caméras sur toi... et maintenant tu vas tourner un clip juste ce week-end," You don't even like having cameras on you... and now you're gonna shoot a music video just that weekend, he added.
"Ce n'est pas pourquoi j'ai réservé le travail," That's not why I booked the job, I said as assuringly as I could, but I wasn't even sure why I actually booked it, so it didn't sound too sure. He could probably hear it, but if he did, he didn't push me anymore.
"D'accord, eh bien... tu me manques," Okay, well... I miss you, he said instead.
"Tu me manques aussi," I miss you too.
—
The next competition we got another third place. I still wasn't completely better and when giving my all into the choreography I preferred to still use the smaller knee pad for support. It was visible though and it scored us another third. We couldn't continue like that if we wanted to win amongst the Europe contestants and go up against the other dancers in the world.
But as soon as we were done at the competition we had another long flight to LA, where we were immediately put to work to learn a new choreography for the music video. We knew the star who was shooting and the song was good, but she rarely talked to us dancers, thinking she was too big of a star to even acknowledge us before the end of practices when she'd wave to us and thank us all before walking out. We also had some fittings for the clothes we were wearing in the video, and then it was time for shooting during the weekend.
We had some different locations around Malibu where we were shooting. We danced some, and then we got to watch some of her solo shots being filmed, which was quite interesting. She had gathered quite an impressive group of dancers too. Most of us were used to winning, some were popular dancers on social media and two of them had actually won a championship together in modern/lyrical dance. I talked a lot to the boy in that duo, and he told me that he wasn't going to dance with his partner anymore since she was pregnant. He also mentioned that he had seen us dance and that we were impressive dancers. Being recognized for my dance by someone who was good at it felt like a big achievement.
The best part was that no one even mentioned Pierre, Charles, Arthur or Max. It was about our dancing and not Formula 1.
—
"Evie..." I said, knocking carefully on the door to the room where she was packing her suitcase so that we could leave for the airport and go home and have three days of birthday celebrations. She looked up and smiled
"Yes?" She asked. I walked into the room and I sat onto the bed that she was yet to make after sleeping in while we've been here. I took a deep breath because I was dreading this conversation, and she could tell by my body language because she sat back and looked at me, suddenly looking worried. "C, what happened?"
"Nothing, I just have to talk to you about something... about next season..." I started and watched her face fall. She looked down at the pile of clothes and silently continued to fold her clothes, waiting for me to continue talking. "You know the guy who had won the world championship with this other girl that was there at the music video shoot?"
"The pregnant girl? Yes, I know him," She nodded quickly. I nodded slowly, not really wanting to continue in case I'd make her upset or something.
"So... since she's pregnant they won't be dancing together next season... and he asked me to dance with him... here in America," I said, nearly whispering because of how bad I felt about it. "I won't say yes unless you're okay with it. I'm your partner and I won't jeopardize your career by leaving you high and dry, so I just wanted to bring it up because I'm not sure if it's a good idea... but maybe it could be a good opportunity and-"
"Céline," She said to cut me off, and she stood up from the floor and walked over to the bed and sat down next to me, "they want me on Dancing with the Stars... they gave me the offer through Emma like two weeks ago... I just didn't want to say yes before knowing you wouldn't be upset. I know you can handle your own and all that, you don't need me," She said with a little smile.
"Of course I need you!" I objected, "we're not getting podiums because of me and my limp ass knee! We're a team and it wouldn't be a team if I didn't need you."
Evie laughed as she took my hand and squeezed it before she looked down at our hands, her smile fading a little bit. It felt like we were going to break up. We only had one season and now it seems like we're going our separate ways, after spending a full year together for this season it feels bittersweet. It's been the best season ever, as we've had so much fun practicing, competing, traveling everywhere together. The best part was that we together managed to make our names become something without only being related to the Formula 1 crowd.
"Are we saying yes?" She asked after a little while. I was thinking, getting a little lump in my throat as I was thinking about moving on from dancing with my best friend.
"We'd have to move..." I said, nearly whispering again, because that was something I was dreading too. I'd have to bring it up with Charles, as we just moved in together and I would have to spend so much time in LA for next season. I'd be away more, he's always away too, and I'd be super busy. He wouldn't be happy. "At least get a place here for when we're here."
"I know," She nodded, frowning a bit. I bet she's not any more happy about moving than I am. Max and Pierre aren't going to like it any more than Charles. "Maybe we should talk to them first and we can decide later?"
"I can't take too long though, and you've already gone two weeks without giving them an answer... and I don't want to tell Charles while we're celebrating our birthdays. He was upset when I didn't come to Japan... imagine moving a 14 hour plane ride away."
Dancing is what I love to do, it's my passion and now that I get to do it professionally and on this kind of level, I don't want to waste it. I want to win and come as far as much as Charles wants to do in Formula 1. He has to understand. I want to pursue my passion as much as he wants to pursue his, and I've been nothing but understanding of him having to travel a lot and be away from home and from me.
But I love him. I love spending time with him, living with him, cooking with him, waking up next to him and just doing our thing and living our daily lives next to each other. We do things together instead of separately and we laugh together a lot. How am I supposed to choose between the two things I love the most?
//
Whoop whoop birthday party time #it'sfridaytheeeenit'ssaturdaysundaywhat
but also it's race weekend HELLO?! my boyfriend is a lot happier than me about the Red Bulls being better than Ferrari and that makes me even more mad about it bc hello give my boy Carlos some pace please ;( Excitement is through the roof though... for now