Racing Home

CHAPTER 9

You walk through Alpha Tauri hospitality looking for Pierre when you come across Ben.

"Hey Ben!" You say waving.

"Hey Maddie!"

"Have you seen Pierre at all?" You ask.

"I think he just went to his room to change. He should be out soon though if you want to wait here I'll let him know you're out here." Ben says smiling.

"That would be great Ben thanks!" You say smiling back.

You sit down on one of the Alpha Tauri couches and pull your phone out scrolling through Instagram. You see a photo of you in Pierre's car posted to the Alpha Tauri Instagram page with some cheesy caption about giving fans the complete experience and you smile.

They don't even know the half of it.

You look up and see Pierre walking towards you. You smile and get up from the couch walking towards him. You meet half way down a hallway and he pulls you into a corridor where you won't be seen.

"Sorry I took so long," he says giving you a big hug, "meeting ran longer than expected."

"That's okay I don't mind waiting." You say hugging him back. He leans down and kisses you, in a slow and gentle way.

"You did amazing today by the way," you say. "I don't know much about racing, but I'm still proud of you, you looked like you were going really fast."

Pierre chuckles. "Meh, it was okay. Got to feel out the car on the track so I know what I have to do tomorrow for qualifying to get a good starting position."

"You'll crush it, I know you will." You smile. "I love the hat by the way, I thought that was a really cute gesture. Some girl offered me $1000 for it after you left."

"No way, and you didn't take it?" Pierre says laughing. "I could give you like 100 of them, make some real money." You start laughing with him.

"No way babe, this hat is worth way more than that."

"We should go before someone gets suspicious," Pierre says kissing you again. You nod.

"Oh, before I forget, we're having dinner with Carlos, Anna, Charles and Charlotte tonight, 7pm." You say wiping lipstick off of Pierre's lips.

"Oh, are we?" Pierre says raising an eyebrow.

"Yes we are, John will drive us there for 7 so don't be late." You wink as you walk out of the corridor and Pierre follows shortly after.

You walk with Pierre to the driver's parking lot, and as the gentleman that he his, he opens the car door for you. Pierre drives out of the parking lot, and you think you've made it clear when you start to see camera's flashing from fans eagerly wanting a picture. You pull the cap over your face and try to duck down so they don't catch your face.

"So much for no camera's today." You say with a sarcastic tone.

"Hey at least you have a hat on to hide your face this time," Pierre says reaching for your hand. You take his hand and start to relax.

You make it back to the hotel and you both head to your own rooms to change and get ready for dinner. You text John, Pierre and I need a ride to Carlo's house for 7pm tonight, are you still available?

John texts back almost immediately. Absolutely, will be at side door at 6:30pm waiting.

You respond - You're the best, see you then!

You're putting on your heels when you hear the door open slowly. You jump up walking over to see Pierre standing just in the doorway all dressed up.

"Wow, you look beautiful," Pierre says taking a step back to see your whole outfit as you do a little spin for him.

"Thanks, you don't look so bad yourself." You respond kissing his cheek.

You make your way down to John and head off to Carlos and Anna's house in silence enjoying the view out of the window.

You arrive a brief time later and John helps you out of the car. You link your arm with Pierre's as you walk up to the house smiling. You think back to just a few days ago when you first met, and now it feels like everything has changed, in a good way.

Pierre knocks on the door and Carlos answers.

"Hey guys, come on in. Charles and Charlotte should be here soon."

You walk inside and can hear Anna fumbling away in the kitchen, "ah shit that's hot," you hear her say a little too loudly. The three of you walk into the kitchen but immediately get shoed away by Anna. "Out out out, I'll let you know when it's ready." Carlos chuckles. "I promise she's not usually like this, she just wants everything to go smoothly."

You get settled in the living room and Pierre hands you a glass of red wine. You hear a knock on the door and Carlos runs to grab it, "that's probably Charles and Charlotte." The three of them come back into the living room and you notice Charlotte is wearing one of the sample dresses from the other day.

"Oh my god Char you look amazing!" You say giving her a quick hug.

"Thank you, you look really good too!" Meanwhile Pierre just shakes Charles hand with a "hey man."

"Dinner's ready!" You hear Anna calling from the other room.

You all make your way to the living room and get seated. On the table is a full meal spread with bread, salad, pasta, and chicken.

"Anna this all looks amazing!" Charlotte says excited. "How did you have time to make all this?"

"I can't take all the credit; Carlos did help too." Anna says smiling.

Everyone starts eating and chatting about the days coming up. Everything is going well when you hear your phone ring in the other room. You excuse yourself and ignore the call without looking at the caller ID. A few moments later your phone rings again.

"I am so sorry guys, let me just go turn that off." You say excusing yourself again.

You look at the caller ID this time. Shit, I need to take this.

"Oui hello," you say answering the phone and stepping outside.

Everyone looks around the table puzzled.

Charles, "Did you know she spoke –" looking at Pierre. Pierre just laughs, "yeah I found that out the other night."

"She knows Italian too," Anna adds in.

Meanwhile Outside on the Phone (in French)

"Maddie when are you coming home?" the voice of a young girl says on the phone.

"Soon honey soon, just a little bit longer." You respond trying to reassure her.

"But I miss you so much," the little girl says crying on the other end of the line.

"It's only been a few days honey, you'll see me again soon. I promise." The little girls crying lessens.

"Besides, I've made some very cool race car driving friends here."

"Race car? I wanna be a race car." The little girl starts crying again.

"Oh, my sweet I know you love race cars. How about I come down and take you to a race? You can meet a real-life race car driver." You hear the little girl on the end stop crying.

"Now you need to be good while I'm gone okay?"

"Mhmm." The little girl says softly.

"I love you honey; I'll see you soon. Now off to bed." You say with tears in your eyes.

"Okay Maddie, I love you too." The little voice says.

An older woman comes onto the line, "thanks Maddie, she would not go to sleep without hearing your voice." You take a deep breath trying to suck back the tears forming in your eyes.