"Piper, Charles is literally hounding me. Please just talk to him!" Alex said exacerbated on the phone.
"No, Alex. I don't have the energy," Piper replied.
"It was just a racing incident, Pip. He didn't do it on purpose."
"There was so much room. He was playing dirty, and yeah friendships goes out the window on track, but he was driving so dangerously. He was trying to push me off track. He had no regard for my safety."
"But the FIA rul-"
"No, the FIA just support the bigger teams. I'm so angry, man. He didn't even get a penalty. I'm done talking about this." Piper hung up the phone.
"You okay?" Lissie said looking at Piper sadly. Piper just nodded. Emma, Lissie and Piper had been hanging out. Piper and Lissie had become quick friends, so they had organised to have a chill day together on the weekend before heading to Barcelona. It was nice to have another girl around, seeing as she was constantly surrounded by boys.
"Has Charles messaged you?" Emma asked.
"Yeah, but I just can't be arsed replying to him, Em" Piper moaned.
Charles had messaged her every day since Miami. Apologising, checking on her, the whole nine yards. Piper just wasn't having it. At the time, she really was furious with him. He did create a dangerous situation, and it was entirely her fault. However, Piper was more upset that he did it on purpose, that he willingly took the risk, compromising her safety. She understood that friends stop being friends when the lights go out, but still, she thought they were close, she thought he might have some regard for her safety. She was also embarrassed by her reaction, she was scared and she was furious, but she should not to have screamed at him on live TV.
"It's all over tiktok, you've really divided fans" Lissie said, scrolling through her phone.
"Yeah, either Charles was completely justified and I was just an idiot little girl, or I was completely valid in my reaction and Charles drove like an arse."
"I think both of you were in the wrong, he was driving aggressively, and you probably shouldn't have gone off on him like that" Emma concluded.
"I'm still not talking to him until Barcelona, I need time to cool off."
-------
5 days later, Piper and Charles were on different ends of the press conference sofa. They still hadn't spoken.
"Our final question is from Danica Patrick," the mediator announced.
"So, I direct my question to Charles and Piper. I would like to discuss the events from two weeks ago in Miami."
Piper rolled her eyes, "is this really racing related? I thought the FIA ruled all press conference questions had to be regarding racing, following that press conference in Bahrain."
"Well, this is regarding racing, Miss McLaren, you are the one who decided to take the racing dispute off track. You were crude across open radio channels, you screamed at Charles on international television. You caused this line of speculation. The media has been divided about whose side to take. I want to know, after two weeks of contemplation, how do you two interpret the incident. Piper, seeing as you've already spoken, you may as well continue."
Another large eye roll. "Well, Danica, thank you for your entirely non-supercilious unbiased question. I stand by what I said to Charles, however I do regret airing that frustration on F1 TV."
"So you stand by the fact that Charles intentionally endangered your life. You believe your friendship should have been a greater priority than race craft?" Danica probed
"I think he willingly took a incredibly dangerous risk, intentionally disregarded my safety, yes. It's nothing to do with friendship, its a blatant disregard for regard for the safety of another driver." Piper snapped.
"Charles, would you care to comment?"
"Yes, Piper is entirely in the right. I made a reckless move intentionally, and even though my goal was not to harm her, I willingly disregarded her safety and my own. She had every right to be upset with me." Charles said, looking directly at Piper, "can everyone just let us handle this ourselves".
Following Charles' response, the press conference was ended, and Piper hightailed it out of there. Charles tried to catch up with her to clear things up, but she was too fast. Charles had been furious with himself, and even more furious with Xavi. He had been consistently firing code at Charles, telling him to forget everything else and protect the podium opportunity at all costs. He really did care about Piper and he hated himself for risking her safety. If something worse had happened then he would have felt guilty for months. Piper's friendship was important to Charles, and if he'd ruined that in one stupid corner, he'd kick himself.
--------
Piper walked into Williams to absolute chaos. Alex was dying everyones hair with spray-on dye, and laughing maniacally.
"You're turn, Pippy. Come on, take a seat," Alex said patting the chair in front of him.
"My hair is too dark Alex, it won't work," Piper laughed.
"Red heads are hot Pip, you've gotta let me try."
"ALEX" Lily shouted.
"Oh c'mon, I'm just trying to convince her."
"Fine, I'll do it. But I swear to god, if you get spray paint on my white Dior skort, Jane in PR will kill you." Piper said sternly, placing herself down in the chair.
In 30 minutes time, Piper had entirely red hair. It was only after the fact that Alex told her it was semi-permanent, and that it would wash out over 5 or 6 days .
"You mean my hair will be red all weekend! I do not want red hair in Monaco!"
"It'll wash out by Monday Pip, Tuesday at best." Lily said sympathetically, "if it helps, I think it suits you."
"I have to go to an interview about women in motorsport with Lissie, Naomi Schiff, Natalie Pinkham, and Susie Wolff! I'm going to look stupid. I look so stupidly patriotic! You're lucky I'm wearing this black Dior singlet, not this blue team top" Piper growned, pulling off her team top, exposing the black top underneath.
"Oooh, black eyeliner and red lipstick, OMG we can make you look so cute!" Lily squealed, pulling Piper behind her to quickly touch up her makeup.
"Okay, you're set!" Lily said clapping her hands, "Have you spoken to Charles yet?" Piper shook her head. "Pippy, come on. You need to talk to him."
"I know, I know. I plan on it, I just haven't got round to it yet." Piper muttered.
"Go talk to him after the interview" Lily demanded.
"Mhm, mhm. I have to go or I'll be late"
"Talk to Charles, Piper!" Lily shouted as Piper walked out the door.
--------
"Hi, is Charles here?" Piper asked at the door of Ferrari.
"Yes, as long as you don't murder him." Carlos laughed coming into view, "Ooo red hair, are you switching teams?"
"Shut up, Carlos. Alex spray painted m-"
"Is that Piper?" Charles called from the distance.
"Sì, ma non ha ancora promesso di non ucciderti, quindi fai attenzione!" Carlos switched to italian to stop Piper from understanding.
(Yes, but she hadn't promised not to murder you yet, so be careful!)
Charles came down the hospitality stares with wide eyes, looking fearful, but when he saw Piper's sheepish face, his own relaxed. "Hi" he smiled.
"Hey, do you want to go for a walk" Piper asked, not meeting his eyes.
"Yeah sure," he smiled wider.
Once the pair were out of the Ferrari hospitality, they made their way down the paddock to a small grassy area, secluded from fans.
"Piper, I'm sorry," Charles offered up.
"Okay," she muttered.
"I just, I didn't think, I was so preoccupied. Xavi was shouting at me over the radio, and you were right on my tail and I panicked. But Pip, you've got to understand, I didn't mean to intentionally put you in danger. If something had happened, I just, I don't know. But I'm really sorry."
"So you agree you were driving like a twat," Piper said sharply, "because we all have our engineers shouting in our ears, but I am still concerned for others wellbeing. I mean, you purposely turned in on me Charles. I'm lucky it was only a punctured lung. I get friendship goes out the window, but still, I thought you might have at least a second thought for me."
"Pip, please. I really am sorry, I wasn't thinking, I do care about your safety, and if I'd had a second to think without Xavi in my ear, I would never have done that."
"Okay," Piper nodded.
"I want to make it up to you, please. Come for dinner with me and my family in Monaco next week. Very relaxed, and Lorenzo, Arthur and his girlfriend are obsessed with you for calling me a 'pepe le peu, and a french fucking idiot', and mum called me to tell me I was stupid. She also might be able to help with whatever is going on with your hair."
"Sure, that'd be nice. My hair is Alex's doing, he wanted us to match. I'd love your mum to get rid of it for me!"
"Okay, well it looks nice at least, but Mum can definitely fix it for you."
"I'm sorry for calling you french. I know you don't like that."
"It's fine, this time I'll allow it. Only from you, and if you tell anyone I'll kill you." Charles laughed.
"I better head back, Lily has probably told Emma about my hair by now, and she'll be dying to see it." Piper said, pointing back towards Williams.
"Okay, so are we friends again?" Charles asked, pulling Piper into a hug.
"Of course, Charlie boy."
-------
Piper qualified 5th on Saturday, after the team had brought updates to the car, and Piper was really loving the feel of it. As long as she could get past Fernando and Esteban, she had a very good chance of getting on the podium. However, on the opening lap Piper and Yuki made contact, causing her to spin and end up at the back of the pack.
"Pip, everything looks okay with the car, you can make these places back up. C'mon, show them what you got, head down." Georgia said over the radio.
Piper put her head down, focusing on making up at least 10 places in 60 laps to be back in the points. At lap 42, Georgia came back on the radio, "Okay Pip, P10, that's points, see what more you can do."
She spent 12 laps fighting with Pierre for P8, but once she cleared him, she cleared Lando and Lewis. Fernando had clearly had his own incident and had fallen back to P5. Piper was determined to get back to her quali spot back from him. They were side by side across the finish line.
"Georgia, georgia, who got across first?"
"We're checking, Pippy, hold fire."
"C'mon, I really wanna know."
"It was you, Pippy. Great recovery, that's P5!"
"Let's go!" Piper cheered.
"Great work Piper, that's some great points for the team. Bring the car home in one peice and I'll buy you a drink!" Jost cheered over the radio.
Alex grabbed her as she got out of the car, "See, red hair makes you faster!" he laughed, swinging her round.
"Alex, I'll be sick. Put me down, seriously," Piper said pounding his shoulders.
"Guess what, you got Driver of the Day." Alex said placing her on the ground and patting her head.
"Yay, do you reckon that mean Will Buxton will give me a popsicle now."
"Maybe, but it's called an ice lolly on this side of the earth."
"Okay, I'm off to find Will then," Piper said skipping off.
------
"You know," Piper said between licks of her ice lolly "I could have stayed at the hotel with Emma and the boys". Alex laughed from his seat opposite her on the jet.
"They'd kick you out before you leave reception, plus you aren't even staying at mine, you're staying in the flat next door. It's been on the market for ages, and I asked if you could stay there for a trial week."
"You are not convincing me to leave my flat, I love my flat. Plus I can't afford to live in Monaco."
"Not yet!" Lily laughed.
"So Lily said you and Charles talked. Are you friends again?" Alex asked smirking.
"Yeah, I'm going to his for dinner on Wednesday. Apparently his mother really wanted to cook me dinner to apologise for Charles' behaviour."
"God, I love Pascale!" Alex laughed
"Did you know I got invited to the Cannes Film Festival to see Elvis on Wednesday" Piper said through a mouthful of ice lolly.
"That's cool!" Lily exclaimed
"I can't go, though. I need to prep for the race, and if you weren't listening before, I'm going to Charles'"
"You're skipping an international movie premiere with Austin Butler, to hang out with Charles and his family." Lily stared at her.
"I'd rather do that than get all dressed up and be around a whole load of celebrities."
"Right okay, sure, that makes sense." Alex rolled his eyes.
"Plus, it's the least I can do. Charles's mum is fixing the atrocity that is my hair on Tuesday for free, before my Prada meeting on Wednesday," Piper fussed.
"Right, right, sure. Anyway..." Lily laughed, " It's your birthday just before Baku right. Are we doing anything?"
"If you tell anyone it's my birthday, I'll kill you."
"It's the 8th, so that's..." Lily said scrolling through her calendar, "Wednesday! Awesome we can go for a drink. I'll sort it with Emma."
"Lily, I swear to you. I do not want a fuss. Please. NO FUSS!" Piper cried, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.
It was a short flight from Barcelona to Monaco, and in no time Piper was settled in the flat next to Alex. She was watching TV, trying to get remember as much of her high-school french as possible. Watching the Kardashians in french was actually hilarious.
Albono
Please turn the french TV down! I can hear it through the wall
Non, monsieur
I hate you
You know there's english channels right
I did not know that.
Goodnight homeboy