The starting line was, strangely enough, one of Alessia's favourite places to be. It was where she zoned out everything else in the world. All she had to do was focus on either winning the race or getting a good time. Nothing else in the world in those few moments mattered.

"On your marks."

The official yelled out the instructions and suddenly, the butterflies vacated from her stomach. She crouched down, making sure her feet were comfortable against the starting blocks. Her hands were the appropriate distance apart and her fingers were behind the white starting line.

"Set."

The entire arena fell silent. Not a single word was to be uttered whilst the athletes were on the starting line. Nothing was to alter their focus.

Alessia set herself for the race, making sure that she was in the right position to ensure that she would have the best start possible.

Waiting for the starting gun felt like an eternity, it always did. She inhaled deeply before exhaling once more and heard her father's voice in her ears.

"Come on, Alessia. Push yourself until you can't anymore. Do your best and I'll be proud."

"Bang!"

That was the starting gun.

Alessia powered out of the blocks. She kept her body low, driving as hard as she could until she was forty metres in. Only then was she able to hit her top speed and pull away from the rest of her competitors. Her arms sliced through the air and her legs powered her forward.

The crowd was cheering them on, everyone cheering for someone else. To anyone who wasn't a competitor in the current race, they would tell you just how loud the crowd was. A mixture of yelling, shouting and clapping could be heard from the stands but not by Alessia. When she was racing, she couldn't hear a single thing. It was only her in that moment.

Powering over the finish line, Alessia was proud of her run. She felt that she would have a good time and it would give her confidence to push on at the Olympics but the moment of pride and elation was cut short by the agonising pain that shot up the back of her calf once more.

Alessia hobbled off of the track, dreading the look that she would receive from Carla. She had always pushed her body to its limits but this time, she might have pushed it too far.

"Are you okay?" Pierre was the first to rush towards Alessia. He snaked an arm around her waist to help her into a seat but she insisted on standing. His hand lingered on the skin exposed from her top that had ridden up ever so slightly.

Pierre's eyes never left Alessia as she described the pain that she was experiencing to Clara. Evelyn noticed the look of concern on the Frenchman's face and the way that he held onto her. A small smile appeared on her face as she watched on, subtly nudging Clara so that she too would take notice.

"Rest up and ice it tonight and if it's still as bad tomorrow morning, drop by the hospital and get checked out. Don't panic until we have something to panic about." Clara reasoned with Alessia, knowing that she would immediately start to panic. They had been working towards the Olympics for the past four years and if she weren't able to compete, it would be devastating for Alessia.

"I can take you tomorrow, if you need." Pierre offered almost immediately but Alessia simply laughed. It seemed as though he had forgotten something very important.

"You can't, you have practice, remember?" Her smile seemed to light up Pierre's entire world as he too smiled. He couldn't help it. Her laugh was contagious.

Eventually sitting down with the help of Pierre, Alessia changed out of her spikes and back into her trainers which gave her a sense of relief. The pain had already died down just from changing out of the shoes that were designed to be molded to her feet and promote speed and into the ones that had been designed for comfort and to support her joints.

"Oh shoot, there's an emergency at the hospital and they need me. Carla, would you be able to drop me there? Pierre, could you drop Alessia back home, please?" Evelyn asked the two who both complied with her requests. In fact, Pierre was elated to have some more alone time with Alessia.

Evelyn bid farewell to her daughter. She was unsure how long she would be working for as some emergencies lasted for more than twelve hours. It could be at least a few days before they saw each other again, with Alessia's social life now taking off thanks to a combination of Carla and Pierre.

"I thought you drove here yourself?" Carla asked in confusion. She walked alongside Evelyn out of the stadium and into the car park.

Evelyn winked at Carla as she pulled her car keys out of her handbag and unlocked the car that was parked right next to Carla's.

"Oh my gosh! You wanted Alessia and Pierre to be alone! You've still got it, Mama Bianci." The blonde girl nudged Evelyn before waving goodbye as the each drove off in their cars.

Meanwhile, on the track, Alessia was still struggling with her injury.

"Pierre, can you do me a favour? I think they've just posted the times on that wall over there. I was heat four, athlete one hundred and eight and I was lane four. Could you find out my time for me, please?" She asked. She was desperate to find out her time for the race. Alessia would be able to find it out later when they posted them online but she couldn't wait until later, not when they were just a few metres away.

"Oui, mon ensoleillement." And there it was again. That same pet name. Alessia still didn't know what it meant buy it gave her butterflies every time she heard him say it. Maybe it was the pet name. Maybe it was the French. Or maybe it was just Pierre.

Pierre made his way over to where the times had been posted, remembering exactly the information that she had given him just moments before. He peered over the shoulders of other athletes who were just as eager to find out how they had done as Alessia was. Finally, Pierre was able to see the piece of paper that her time had been posted on. He took a picture with one of his phones, just in case he forgot on his way back over.

Alessia was eager. She couldn't wait to find out what her time was. She feltbas though she had run a good race. It felt fast but sometimes, what felt like a good race wasn't as good as she thought it was.

"Your time was 10.55 seconds." Pierre informed Alessia. He had no idea what that meant. Was it fast? It looked fast when she ran but he knew that even a tenth of a second made a massive difference in all forms of racing.

Suddenly forgetting about her injury momentarily, Alessia jumped up from her seat and tightly hugged Pierre.

"That's a personal best and it's one hundredth of a second slower than the second fastest one hundred metre time run by a woman!" Alessia exclaimed and that was when it hit Pierre just how well she had done. He had always known she was amazing, she was an Olympic athlete but to be so close to the some of the most decorated athletes was a huge achievement.

"Maybe we should celebrate." He suggested. Pierre didn't mean going out and partying all night, not when he had a race weekend to prepare for and Alessia was nursing an injury.

"How should we do that?" Alessia questioned, curious as to what the Frenchman had in mind.

"I was thinking something like this," he leaned in and instinctively, Alessia closed her eyes, allowing for the magic to happen.

Pierre had his arms securely wrapped around Alessia and her arms rested loosely around his neck. His slightly chapped lips met her soft ones and as they kissed, they were reminded of the Fourth of July because every kiss felt like the first.

1388 words
3rd July 2022

note from e !

A double update! I'm making real progress, aren't I? I told you that I would be back in my active era!

Anyway, I feel like I'm falling back in to the swing of things again and I'm really loving writing and updating again which is honestly one of the best feelings ever because this has been my love for so long and not having the time because of uni was such a drain.

In terms of the story and chapters, things will begin to pick up a bit again really soon. Please stick with me! We're getting to the good bits again soon!

What have you done today?
- I cleaned the kitchen, took the dogs to get a haircut and walked the dogs :)

Enjoy and stay safe!

Lots of love, e x