Earn My Trust - CL16

6 - Baby Steps

"So don't act like you know who I am, 'cause the more I'll explain, the less you'll understand." She's Alright, Zach Bryan

Thursday July 1st, 2021

Cami Beaufort

My hands were clammy, sticky with sweat as I walked into the paddock for media day. I had spent my few days off between races in Austria surrounding myself constantly with my friends in an attempt to distract myself, but I couldn't push this off any further. Today, I actually had to interact with Charles. Pierre would act as our buffer this weekend, but we would be mostly on our own after that and I couldn't help but spiral every time I thought about it.

Lando had been really good about distracting me, but I could tell that it was eating him up inside. He wouldn't even say Charles' name. I had told the drivers that I was close with, namely Alex, George, Daniel, and Max, and Charles would surely tell the others that he was close with. My friends were all appalled, but understood where we were coming from, and my refusal to lose my seat over this.

But today was the day. I couldn't avoid this any further, but my anxiety was going through the roof when I came into the garage at the Red Bull Ring. Chiara was standing there with a pleased smile on her face, a reluctant-looking Pierre already at her side. The Alpine PR manager clapped her hands together cheerfully, grabbing my attention as if she didn't have it already.

"So, the plan is for you two to go grab coffee, and for Charles to meet you both there," Chiara explained with an eager smile, as if she wasn't ruining my day with her meddling. "Not for long, just a chat, but please at least make it look like you're enjoying it."

That last comment was for me. I was awful at concealing my thoughts. I was generally an expressive person, and those emotions played out on my face. It would take a lot of concentration to act like I didn't want to rip my hair out. At least Pierre would be there. I nodded reluctantly, and Chiara gave me a warning look before shoving us off out the doorway of the garage.

It was a gorgeous day. The sky was blue, sun high in the sky. I was sweating in my polo and tennis skirt, although most of that could be attributed to my anxiety. The surrounding mountains made the area picturesque. The Red Bull Ring was in the middle of nowhere, but what a beautiful nowhere it was. I pulled out my camera to take a picture of it, making Pierre laugh. Photography was one of my favourite hobbies and I couldn't help myself anytime I saw something pretty.

We ended up at one of the cute mobile carts that allegedly sold half-decent coffee. Pierre grabbed two coffees, one for both him and Charles, and I just grabbed a bottle of water. I didn't drink coffee, and I wasn't going to let this interaction change my race weekend habits. We stood there talking for what must have been twenty minutes before Charles showed up. His coffee had gone cold, but Pierre handed it to him anyways for appearance's sake.

"Nice of you to join us, mate," My teammate teased Charles with a stupid smile. I liked Pierre, but didn't understand his friendship with the Ferrari driver. I knew that they'd basically grown up together through karting just like Lando and I had, but that was basically it.

"I was just trying to hold this off for as long as possible," The Monégasque muttered under his breath. I glared at him before remembering that I was supposed to look like I was enjoying myself, so instead I fixed a smile on my face. He didn't have to be so rude. I hated this as much as he did, but it wasn't only my fault that we were in this situation.

We mostly talked through Pierre. I could tell that my teammate hated how awkward the interaction was. The conversation was stilted and dry. Charles appeared to be just as boring in real life as he seemed in the media- he was just a blank slate waiting for someone to tell him what to do.

"Excited for Red Bull Ring part two?" I asked, turning to try and at least somewhat engage in conversation with the Ferrari driver. It was mostly because I knew there were cameras around, but at least I was trying.

"Not particularly," He heaved a dramatic sigh. I wasn't a massive fan of racing in the same location twice in a row, but he clearly disliked it more than I did. The way the schedule had worked out was weird for everyone.

I waited for him to continue on with the conversation, to at least say something, but he didn't. At that point, we had all drained our drinks and had press conferences to head to, so Pierre and I split off from Charles, heading in the direction of the Alpine garage to grab Chiara before going to the press room.

"Is he always like that?" I asked Pierre, who had seemed lost and annoyed during the entire staged conversation. He shook his head.

"Definitely not, no. I'm not sure what that was about," He sighed, and so I took his word for it. I had never really spoken with Charles, so I didn't know what he was really like. I tried not to judge people too harshly based off of my limited interactions with them, but the Monégasque was getting on my nerves. He didn't seem to care much about this at all. I didn't like it, but I needed it to work. To make it happen, we both at least needed to look like we didn't hate each other. I was doing my part, but was he doing his?

"Cami, as much as you aren't a fan of Charles, he's a good guy, okay?" Pierre nudged me with his elbow, knowing that I was deep in thought about how much of a struggle this already was. "You both hate this, but you'll figure it out."

I nodded, understanding what he was telling me. I could deal with this. I was strong, and had dealt with much worse. It was just a PR scheme.

*

For once, I was thankful that my day was packed full of media engagements because it meant that I didn't have to interact with Charles anymore. Nobody mentioned our conversation during any of my interviews, but why would they? The whole point of this was to build it slowly so that it looked natural to those who didn't know that it wasn't. As far as anyone else was aware, we had just hung out with a mutual friend. We were colleagues, after all.

The media was going to catch on quickly. If I so much as smiled at any of the guys, they jumped on it as if it were an engagement announcement. We needed them to believe that it was real, but flames would catch once the sparks were noticed.

I went back to my hotel and had dinner in the restaurant there with my friends. We couldn't talk about the whole thing while we were in public, so we ended up in Alex's room playing Uno and gossiping, mostly about the whole thing with Charles.

"I feel like he's going to ruin it," I mused as I placed a +4 card down, sticking my tongue out at George who just groaned as he drew more cards from the pile, adding to an already ridiculous number of cards in his hand, "He doesn't seem to be motivated to make it look real, but we both need it to work," I sighed.

Alex shook his head. He was the oldest and most emotionally mature out of the four of us, so when it came to things like this he was often the one I went to when I wanted real advice. If I wanted to be cheered up I went to George, who always had a joke to crack. Lando was my ride or die, the one who could pick me up from anything and push me in the right direction. They all played different roles in my life and I would forever be grateful for them.

"It's a lot to adjust to," Alex spoke as we played. His thoughtful tone made it evident that he'd given my situation some thought, "You both have a lot at stake, but you can't just pretend to like each other right away. Give it time."

He always knew what to say. I gave him a small smile that told him I appreciated his input, even though Lando bristled. He hated this as much as I did. He was more worried for me than anything, I think. We had grown up together, and he was about as overprotective as best friends came. Even though he was a few months younger, he acted like an older brother. I loved him dearly, but he needed to learn to let me handle things on my own. I had a hard exterior, and was completely capable of defending myself. 

I could get through this.