Chapter XXVIII. Still Friends?

vivienneleclerc ✔

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vivienneleclerc monaco's party night photo dump 💃📸🥂

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user1 ESTIE BESTIE ON THE PODIUM BABEHHH

user2 MA'AM THE PURPLE DRESS AND THEN THE RED FERRARI JACKET
⤷ user3 she looks soo gorgeous
⤷ user4 try not to say mother challenge (impossible)

user5 vivi thinks she'll sneak in pedri's pic in the last slide and we won't notice

user6 NAUR THE CHEEK KISS STOP I'M SLEEPING ON THE HIGHWAY TONIGHT

alexandrasaintmleux 💋
⤷ vivienneleclerc 💋💋
⤷ charles_leclerc my own sister and my girlfriend...top 10 f1 betrayals

charles_leclerc ALSO why does everyone get a good pic but i get THAT ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS photo??
⤷ vivienneleclerc not my fault that ur face is horrendous 🤷‍♀️
⤷ pierregasly LMAO DESTROYED
⤷ charles_leclerc shut up, you didn't even got posted in the photo dump
⤷ pierregasly 😔🔫

user7 DO WE CONSIDER THIS A SOFT LAUNCH OR A HARD LAUNCH

user8 stop we got the half the grid in this post 😭 also what tf are george and alonso doing 💀
⤷ user9 i adore vivi's relationship with the drivers especially the ferrari & mclaren ones

user10 the party looks really wild

user11 pedri and vivi give me so much idiots in love vibes
⤷ user12 best couple !!!
⤷ user13 nah joão x vivi 4ever

user14 WTF IS HAPPENING IN THE 4TH SLIDE 😭😭
⤷ user15 george and alonso are a different breed i fear

user16 where's janice??? isn't she like vivi's best friend???
⤷ user17 she's in england rn and yes even if she's vivi's bestie, she also has a life of her own so grow tf up

hwangmijoo we look so hot together
liked by vivienneleclerc

user18 lmao charles looks so drunk

user19 MOTHERRRR

user20 the last photo of pedri is just too cute 🥹🥹 him & vivi are such a taylor swift lover's coded couple

Initially Vivienne had been really excited for the afterparty because all the yatch parties in her hometown are the best especially the ones hosted by a certain Dutchman who drives for Red Bull.

But now her mood is the worst for two main reason.

1) Ferrari had lost the race so badly. Charles had barely scraped a P5 while Mijoo had crashed into a wall and had to retire from the race because the car was fucked up beyond immediate repair. And as a die-hard Ferrari supporter, it hurt Vivienne to see two of the people she cherishes the most in such a condition. 2) Pedri is being weird with her.

Ever since the race had started, he had been weird. His smiles look fake, he gave a one word answer to all her questions, the physical contact between them had been minimal and Vivienne gets that maybe he was just feeling under the weather in the moment and with that thought, she had let his strange behaviour slide aside. She had thought that he would be back to his cheerful self once the race ended but that had not been the case.

Even after the race had ended and they had gone to the afterparty that's held on Max Verstappen's yatch, Pedri still seems distant.

Throughout the night he seems to be avoiding her.

The moment she comes close to him, he drifts away as if he's scared of something.

This game of cat and mouse and all the chase is tiring and Vivienne is getting tired of it. She wants a simple, honest conversation with him, she wants to know why he's acting like a stranger.

So, when she finally finds him standing alone by the bar, she decides to take her chance and walks towards him. When she finally reaches the Spaniard, she grabs onto his wrist. Her action startles Pedri who originally had not been focused on her.

"Wh-what are you doing?"

She ignores him and instead drags him towards a secluded corner of the yatch, away from the crowd.

"Why are you being like this?" She asks him with confusion clouding her expression as she throws her hands up in frustration. 

"What do you mean? I'm being completely fine." He answers back while standing there stiffly.

"No, you're not." Vivienne scoffs. "You're being weird and you've also been avoiding me ever since we got here."

"I'm haven't been avoiding you, Vivi." He tries to convince her and then tries to go back to the crowded area but Vivienne stops him by grabbing his wrist again.

"You have and you still are."

Pedri looks at her for a hard and long moment and Vivienne feels her heart beating faster and faster. The longer they stare at each other, the more lost they get in each other. Suddenly, the noise around her disappears, she's hyper aware of everything from the how warm his skin feels to how beautiful he looks with the pink flush on his cheeks from all the drinks he has consumed earlier in the night.

"Was it something I did?" She asks softly, trying her best to not break the tranquillity of the moment. "Did I make you mad or uncomfortable by any chance? Is that why you've been avoiding me?"

Pedri shakes his head instantly as if he's offended by Vivienne's words, "No, you haven't and you never will, Vivi. You can never make me mad or uncomfortable."

That soothes her aching heart slightly.

"Then why?" She urges him desperately. Her hands move from where they've been holding onto his wrist to his forearms.

Pedri opens his mouth to say something but then closes it again with a sigh.

"You won't understand..." He finally says, without meeting her eyes.

"Try me."

The absolute conviction in her voice startles both her and Pedri but it also acts as a catalyst of Pedri finally opening up to her. But before answering her, he holds one of her hands in his own and then follows his action by intertwining their fingers together.

"It's stupid. I'm being being stupid." He admits with a frustrated sigh. "I guess the whole story with Mijoo's PR relationship got to me because it's the same situation as us...but it's also so different at the same time."

Vivienne listens to him with full concentration. She understands where he's coming from. The story had also shaken her up a bit but she had covered it up quite quickly because in her eyes, her and Pedri haven't been faking their relationship anymore.

"And then Pierre said that nothing good comes of a PR relationship and it just-" He cuts himself off as he runs one of his hands through his hair, "It just made me scared, I guess. Scared to lose you and this..." He pauses again and something unreadable crosses over his face, "This friendship. Yeah, I didn't want to lose this friendship."

(Friendship? Is this what it is between us? Vivienne wonders.)

She stays silent for a moment, gathering her thoughts before speaking up, "I understand, Pedri. I really do but instead of acting like this you should've just come to me."

"I know, I'm pretty stupid." He lets out a chuckle and the sound makes Vivienne smile.

"Yeah, you are." She playfully pats his chest.

Silence falls over them again. It's a serene and tranquil silence. The late summer air breezes past them and the only sounds that can be heard are the drunken laughter or the sound of waves crashing against the land.

"Pedri," She calls out to him, breaking the silence between them, "We're not like others. Our PR relationship will not end in doom. We'll get through this together. I promise."

He shakes his head with a smile on his face upon hearing her words, "Us against the world, huh? I'd like that."

Then after a moment he speaks up again,

"Still friends?" He asks with a half smile.

Friends. Vivienne decides that she doesn't like that word when it's associated with Pedri. She doesn't want to be his friend. She doesn't want him as her friend. Vivienne Leclerc wants to be something more than just Pedri González's friend. She wants to be the one who he dedicates his nights to, the one who wakes up beside him in the morning, the one who kisses him without any excuse, the one who holds his hand in crowded places, the one who writes songs about him. Vivienne wants all of Pedri, his flaws and all his perfect imperfections. She wants him but not as a friend. She wants him more than just a friend.

She likes him.

Oh fucking hell, she likes him!

But surprisingly this time, the thought of associating Pedri with the romantic aspects of her soul and heart doesn't send her into panic. Rather it's a peaceful realisation. Now that she has finally admitted to herself that she likes him more than just a friend, it makes it easier to breath and the burden on her shoulders vanishes.

Vivienne's eyes flicker all over Pedri's face, she takes in the way the thumb of his hand that is intertwined with hers traces soft shapes on the back of her palm. It's so easy to fall for him like this, when he's bare of all his responsibilities.

She opens her mouth to say that No, I don't want to be your friend. I want to be your lover. No more fake stuff. No more PR relationships.

But the fear comes crawling back. All sorts of irrational thoughs cross her mind. Despite the fact that she has admitted her feelings to herself, she doesn't know if she can confess to Pedri.

And the only thing that leaves her lips is a meek drawl of, "Yeah, friends..."

SUZUMI SPEAKS,
i hate this chapter with a passion UGH like it's so rushed and unedited and i don't think half the dialogue even makes sense but i still posted it because i wanted to update this as quickly as possible. i might just come back and edit some stuff. everything aside, vivi finally admits that she likes like pedri lol it only took what? 28 chapters? pedri still hasn't taken his head out of his ass but he will soon dw. i hope u liked this chapter. vote & comment ily <3