The following day, Alessia was back in the paddock with Pierre. Clara had once again disappeared off with Daniel. The entire journey home the night before, he was all that she spoke about and Alessia loved it. She had never seen Clara so invested in a guy before. Sure, she had had her one night stands and a few failed first dates but she was entranced by the Australian.

"Clara and Daniel seemed to hit it off well." Pierre observed as he took her into his trailer. There were still a few hours left until he had to start getting warmed up and ready for the race, he just wanted to spend as much time with her as possible before he had to leave Miami to go to Monza in less than twenty four hours.

"She really likes him." Alessia giggled as she sat down on the small, single bed beside him.

Taking in the decor of the room, Alessia noticed that there wasn't much to it. There was of course, a bed as Alessia remembered Pierre telling her that he always had a power nap a few hours before the race. She also noticed several print outs that looked like a strict schedule of sorts and a whiteboard with motivational words scrawled messily on it. It wasn't much but it was far more than anything she ever received on a race day.

"I think so and I think that Daniel likes her too." He chuckled and laid back on the bed with his arms behind his head.

All Alessia could do was stare at him. He was just so dreamy.

Pierre patted the spot next to him and hesitantly, Alessia laid back next to him. It was a tight squeeze and so she was forced to eradicate any space between them both.

"Careful, you'll fall." Pierre teased and shuffled so he had an arm carefully placed around her to prevent her from falling off the side of the bed.

When Pierre had invited her to watch the Miami Grand Prix, she didn't think that at any point, she would be sharing a bed with Pierre.

"I thought when you invited me, I would be watching cars go 'vroom' around a track, I didn't think we would be sharing a bed." Alessia admitted sheepishly. Her curly hair was spread out behind her but Pierre couldn't help himself. He lifted a hand and allowed for his fingers to tangle themselves in it.

"How do the cars go?" He asked, wanting her to do her impression once more for his benefit only.

When Alessia followed through with his request, his signature, joyful laugh came out. Everyone in the rooms nearby could hear him and Alessia loved the fact that she had made him laugh the way that she had. Making Pierre laugh wasn't the most difficult of tasks but she loved it nonetheless.

The pair had a few more moments to themselves before Yuki came barging through the door.

"Pierre! We have a meeting!" The man yelled, paying no attention to the tranquility that Alessia and Pierre were sharing together. In some ways, she appreciated it. It saved her the embarrassment of being the butt of any jokes but at the same time, she wondered why Yuki had paid them no attention. Was this something Pierre did with women at all the race tracks? Would someone be replacing her the following weekend?

"Come see me in the garage fifteen minutes before the race." He climbed over her and paused as he hovered over her. He had one arm either side of her face and his gold chain necklace was hanging out of his shirt.

He looked at her face briefly, his eyes flickering between her eyes and her lips until he eventually kissed her. He lingered more than he maybe should have with Yuki still loitering by the door but Alessia didn't mind. The second that he pulled away, he jumped off of the bed and disappointment down one of the many hallways with his teammate by his side.

Deciding that being confined to that one room for the next few hours would drive her insane, Alessia picked up her crutches and hobbled out of the trailer and into the centre of the paddock. She looked at all of the bright coloured motor homes and tried to make out the ten different teams. Of course she knew AlphaTauri but she hadn't paid much attention to the other teams until now. The famous red of Ferrari caught her eye. An Italian team. Her father had never been into motor sport all that much but she had remembered him telling her that he had a team in every sport picked out, just in case and Ferrari were it. With such a rich history and proud heritage, Alessia felt a sense of home and nostalgia when she looked at the badge.

Continuing to hobble around on her crutches, she made it back to the AlphaTauri trailer. The Italian took a seat on one of the benches that she had been sitting at the previous day with Pierre and Yuki. She didn't feel at home in the paddock. She felt awkward trying to see into different bits, as if she didn't belong and the crutches only made it worse.

"Excuse me, have you seen Pierre?" A man dressed in red came running in, asking Alessia as she was the first person that he could see.

It was pretty obvious that he was with Ferrari, but was he a driver? Alessia had no clue.

"Um, I think he's gone for his power nap around now." She concluded after checking the time on her watch. Alessia didn't know much about what Pierre did to prepare for a race but the power nap and the coffee beforehand was something that had stuck in her mind ever since he told her about it.

"It's that time already? Nevermind," he sighed and took a seat across from her. He removed his hat and ran his hand through his already messy hair. Alessia noticed the several rings on his fingers and she wondered if he would have to remove those before the race.

"I'm Charles Leclerc, I drive for Scuderia Ferrari. Pierre is my best friend in the paddock." The man explained to Alessia and she was grateful for the introduction. Not just the introduction but grateful that it wasn't in gibberish.

"Alessia Bianci," she started but paused after saying her name. How was she supposed to introduce herself? Telling him that she was an athlete didn't feel necessary and how was she to explain her relationship to Pierre?

"I know, I've seen you at the Olympics." He gave her a bright smile and Alessia couldn't help but think that his dimples were cute.

It was soon revealed during their conversation that Charles was a fluent Italian speaker and so Alessia enjoyed her first Italian conversation with someone other than her mother for the first time since she moved to Miami. She learned that he was from Monaco and him and Pierre had known each other from a very young age.

When Charles had to go back to Ferrari to finish his race preparation, he took Alessia with him, making sure that she was well looked after.

1215 words
4th July 2022

note from e !

Our first Alessia and Charles interaction! It's going to be the first of many because these two are going to have such a great friendship!

It's the fourth of July tomorrow and it would be criminal for me not to update 'Pierre' so you can expect chapter twelve to be uploaded tomorrow! I really need to lay off the exclamation marks.

What's the best book you've read this year?
- I actually haven't read as many books this year as I would have liked, that includes Wattpad books by all you lovely people. However, of the very few that I have read, Her Greatest Mistake by Hannah Cowen is easily the best book I've read this year. I adored it and it's up there with Redeemed by Lauren Asher (not quite the same level but very close) and if you know me, you'll know that Santi and Chloe are my all time favourites.

Enjoy and stay safe!

Lots of love, e x