NINE

"I bring some breakfast for you."

Mick Schumacher smiled as he walked in to the design studio of his best friend, Lennox Knight, for the first time whilst carrying a small brown paper bag full with different pastry things that he had bought from the bakery opposite the building.

He noticed how she was concentrated solely on what was in front of her on her desk, her hand scribbling away as she drew, as well as also being able to see multiple coffee cups beside her which signalled that she had been awake all night.

As he stood behind her, his eyes fell upon the sketch that she was working on, which was almost finished and he couldn't help but notice what it looked like.

It looked like an outfit for Gina to wear when she was competing with her horses.

The brown paper bag was placed in front of her, but not too close so that it stopped her from sketching, his crystal eyes noticing how her own eyes darted to the bag, and more specifically, his hand, before her pencil was placed down.

"Did Gina send you?"

Her croaky voice sounded, since she had not used it in over twelve hours, which caused it to sound a lot more croaky and rough sounding.

"No, she just told me where you'd be, because I wanted to see you." Mick sat down on the wooden oak floor of her design studio, making sure that he was sat opposite so he could admire her beauty.

"Is something wrong?"

Mick shook his head from side to side with a gentle smile on his face, watching as her eyes darted across his face to look for any signs that something was wrong with him.

"No, Lex. I just missed you, that's all."

The hazel eyes of the Knight girl widened at the words that he had spoken from his soft pink lips, a million thoughts running through her head.

"You missed me?"

Yeah, quite a lot actually." The Schumacher boy grinned as he watched the look of confusion fill her face, her eyebrows pinching together as her lips formed a slight pout which made her look absolutely adorable.

She slowly nodded her head up and down as she tried to understand what it was that he was telling her, before she took a hold of the paper bag that he had brought with him, opening it to see what he had gotten her.

"Oooo, croissant!"

The French-American girl squealed in happiness as she noticed some of her favorite baked goods, grabbing one that she didn't like so that she could pass it to him.

Mick just chuckled to himself and accepted the baked good, ripping it in half so that he could eat it, figuring that she must not have liked it because of its smell that was due to the flavors inside of it.

He noticed that whilst she was chewing on a croissant, that her cheeks puffed out a little bit which made her look funny, but cute. It reminded him of a chipmunk from Alvin and The Chipmunks.

"I have a design that I need a model for, can you help me?"

"Sure."

Mick agreed instantly, since he figured that he could help her whilst he was visiting her studio. He noticed how relaxed she was whilst she was in her studio, figuring that it was her safe place that she could go to and not worry about anything.

Lennox's hands gently grabbed her newest design, walking with it back to the Schumacher boy as he held his hands out to accept it.

It was pink, a sweatshirt and it had long sleeves, with small white splatters on it to make it look slightly distressed. He liked it.

He pulled his shirt off his body, revealing his bare chest, noticing how the Knight girl had covered her eyes so that he could have some privacy whilst he pulled the sweatshirt on.

He gently cleared his throat as he tugged at the ends of the sweatshirt, signalling to her that he was ready to pose whilst she adjusted it where it needed to be adjusted.

Lennox quickly grabbed her glasses, placing on to her face with them sitting on the bridge of her nose, whilst holding some safety pins and a measuring tape. She got to work with examining the fit, taking mental note as to the way it fit his body.

She was also trying to ignore how the fabric would ride up whenever he lifted his arms up, revealing his chiseled abs.

She adjusted it slightly underneath his arms and a little bit on the sleeves so that it was just a little bit tighter, but overall she was very happy with how it fitted him.

Considering she had guessed his measurements, she was very happy that it fit him the way it did.

"Do you like it, Mick?" The Knight girl questioned with caution, biting on her bottom lip as nerves began to fill her body unsure if he liked it.

"Yeah it's great, I love it." Mick smiled happily, not quite getting what she was trying to say to him. "Whoever buys it will love it.".

"I-it's uh-" Lennox stuttered, her hands starting to shake since she had only ever made clothes for Gina before.

"It's for you."

The crystal eyes of the Schumacher boy immediately widened at the words that left her plump lips, his hands shooting to hers since he noticed how they had began to tremble.

"You made something just for me?"

Her head nodded up and down as she felt the thumbs of the man in front of her rubbing circles on her hands to calm her. Her fear filled eyes calmed as she noticed how his face lit up.

"Lex, it's amazing. You know, I've never been given a gift that was made just for me." Mick noticed how her cheeks flushed pink before she stepped closer to him, wrapping her arms around his frame.

His arms wrapped around her waist as he hugged her back, one of his hands cradling her head and her chocolate brown curls.

"I can make you a new piece of clothing whenever you want me to, I like seeing you happy because I made you something." Lennox muttered quietly, the last sentence sounding mumbled to the man's ears.

Their hearts were beating in sync whilst they hugged one another, the pair of them finding comfort in each others arms, goosebumps covering their skin which was not covered by clothing.

"You are one amazing person, Lex." Mick smiled in to her hair, pressing a gentle kiss to the side of her head.

He noticed how she pulled back from the hug suddenly, staring down at the ground with a frown on her face as her body language changed, making him furrow his eyebrows together in confusion and worry.

"My mother didn't think so."

The air in the lungs of the German boy was forced out harshly at the sudden admission from the girl, surprise and shock flooding him since she had never mentioned her mother before.

"I-I, well she was clearly stupid for thinking that." Mick attempted to soothe her, though he noticed how she was shaking her head from side to side.

"She's not dead." Lennox muttered, short puffs of air leaving her lips as she sighed. "She lives nearby."

"How do you know that?"

"I saw her." Lennox lifted her head to meet the eyes of the Schumacher boy. "When you were in that meeting and I was shopping with Gina. I saw her. I know it was her, I never forgot her face. I always thought that she'd come back, hoped that she would come back, but she never did."

"She doesn't deserve you, Lex. If she left you, then she clearly didn't deserve to have a daughter as amazing as you." Mick took a step closer to the girl, placing his hands on to the sides of her arms so he could draw circles on her skin.

He realised quite quickly that the cause of the panic attack was due to seeing her mother for the first time since she was a child, and he couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

Lennox must have grown used to not having her mother around and accepted that she wasn't going to come back, only for her to see her mother in the shopping mall closest to the race track.

"I'm not amazing though, am I?" Lennox began to chew on her nails as anxiousness flooded her body. "Everybody sees Autism as some super power but they don't have to live with it like I do."

Mick noticed how she was getting worked up and more erratic, and pulled her back in to his arms in an attempt to help her calm down.

"I have OCD and I hate it because I can't leave the apartment without making sure that all the switches are off, windows are locked, surfaces are clean and that everything is in their right place. I have anxiety where I can't leave the house without being scared that something bad could happen, or if a room is too busy that I have to run and leave as quickly as possible, or if there's a new person that I don't know I have to make sure that they are nowhere near me."

She released a deep sigh, bringing her hands up in to her hair to tug at the roots of her chocolate brown hair.

"I can't even let my dad hug me because I don't like people hugging me... except you and Gina. What kind of daughter am I? I don't even let my father give me a hug! I have sensory overloads almost every day and I can't explain why, but everything just hurts my mind. The lights, the sounds, the touch, the smells, even the taste of the air."

Lennox was forced to sit down on her design chair as her legs began to wobble, quickly burying her face in her hands as Mick attempted to soothe her.

Half of the stuff that she was telling him, she hadn't even told Gina. Why? Gina was her safe space, the person who understood her the most and yet here she was spilling her thoughts and secrets to her best friends brother.

Of course, she really enjoyed being around Mick and he often helped her stay calm, but she hadn't known him for anywhere near as long that she had known Gina.

She could fall asleep in Mick's trailer within hours of meeting him and she had no idea why. When she had first met Gina and became friends with her, it had taken months for her to even try and sleep around the Schumacher girl.

Mick made butterflies form in her stomach, goosebumps to cover her whole body, her heart beat faster to the point that she was scared it would beat out of her chest.

It was similar to the way that it would happen when she was having a panic attack, except she never once felt panicked when it would happen just because she was around Mick.

Mick was so caring and gentle around her, as if he was trying to help her fight the world that always beat her down, and she just couldn't really understand why.

He was her best friends brother so he must have felt like he wanted to look after her because of that, but it was the way that he would stick around and come to see her with breakfast that made her think that maybe there was something else that kept him around.

Him being around her made her all warm inside, but she knew that if she got too close to him and he left, that she would be forced to start all over again with her progress.

She just wasn't quite sure that she could do that.

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A/N

Here we go I'm back with updates, I apologise I needed some time to sort my head out

What do you think?

Honestly, I'm tired of seeing Autism being shown as a superpower in so many shows and movies, so Lennox is here to show some of the real side to it. (Using some of my experiences as somebody with Autism.)

Anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you all soon for the next one,

I'm so proud of all of you, my loves

Love you all,

-RUBY