003 ⸺ the red car.

Evangeline smiles to herself in the mirror as she finally perfects her outfit for the Monaco Grand Prix. The girl would be watching from the Mercedes garage, courtesy of Lewis Hamilton.

After all that frustration of choosing an outfit, Evangeline decides on a white tank top and denim jeans, adding a Mercedes cap she found in the box underneath her bed. She places her Prada sunglasses on the bridge of her nose before sliding her leather shoulder bag over her shoulder.

"Adoro le tue scarpe!" Clementine gasps as she watches her sister tie her shoelaces.
[I love your shoes!]

"Grazie, Clemmy," Evangeline grins.

Evangeline hugs her mother and sister goodbye before walking to where Stephanie Garfield-Wolff awaits in her blue Mercedes.

"You're glowing, girl!" Stephanie exclaims as her best friend buckles her seatbelt.

"Um, hello? Look at you!"

The girls exchange banter and sing along to their old favourite songs before arriving at the paddock. "My dad is unbelievably excited to see you, dude!"

Evangeline giggles at her best friend, knowing full well her former team principal would feel that way. Evie and Toto had a strong father-daughter relationship, hence why Stevie and Evangeline have such a strong sister-like bond.

"Papa, schau mal, wer es ist!" Stephanie calls out.
[Dad, look who it is!]

Toto Wolff turns around with a big grin. "Evangeline Blanchard!"

"Toto Wolff!" Evangeline responds, chuckling as the man hugs her.

"How are you doing? Are you feeling better?"

"I'm doing alright, getting better as the days go by," Evangeline shrugs, trying to keep the topic light.

"That's good to hear. I'm glad you came to join us today!"

"Me too," Evangeline smiles.

Toto begins to converse with his daughter in German, which Evangeline can only understand so much of. Evangeline makes her way towards her ex-teammate.

"How are we feeling?"

Lewis exhales, shaking his arms and legs around. "Nervous because the Evangeline Blanchard is watching me!"

"Oh, hush," Evangeline chuckles, gesturing her hand as if to shoo the man away.

Lewis chuckles before raising his eyebrows to acknowledge someone behind the girl.

"Evie, there's someone you would be happy to see," he explains, leading the girl towards an excited blue-eyed boy.

George Russell smiles politely, engulfing the girl in a much-needed hug for the both of them. "Good to have you back, Firefly."

"It's nice to be back. I missed you, Georgie!"

George chuckles as he rubs her back in a friendly manner. "I missed you too."

Evangeline inhales deeply as she watches the 20 cars zoom around the Monte Carlo circuit for the final lap. The two Ferrari cars lead the race, but Lewis Hamilton was hot on the second red car's heels.

"He's so fucking slow right now, and won't let me pass!' Lewis screeches through the radio, cussing out the Spaniard in front of him.

Evangeline sighs, adjusting the headphones that adorn her head. "C'mon, Lew."

"I can't watch!" Stevie yelps as Carlos Sainz and Lewis go wheel-to-wheel.

The blue-eyed girl clutches to Evie's arm in anticipation. Evangeline gulps as she notices the first car to pass the checkered flag. The red car that continues to haunt her.

"That's Leclerc P1 and... LEWIS P2!" Bono, Lewis' engineer, exclaims as he watches the Mercedes cut past the second red car and zoom down the final straight.

The entire Mercedes garage erupts in cheers of happiness. Toto nods, not bothering to fight off his smug smile as he congratulates Lewis through the radio.

"We need podium barricade, Evie, let's go!"

Evangeline chuckles, placing her headphones on the table in front of her. She follows behind her blonde best friend. The pair stand excitedly at the front of the Mercedes barricade and engage in a small conversation.

"Oh..." Stephanie shuffles to stand in front of her best friend before turning around to face her.

Evangeline furrows her eyebrows, trying to peek past Stephanie. "What? I wanna see!" Stephanie shakes her head furiously. "Stevie, you look insane. Why are you hiding me?"

"Leclerc just looked over and went pale as a fucking ghost, I don't want that happening to you too," Stephanie explains, feeling upset as her friend's smile fades at the familiar name.

Evangeline nods.

Stephanie moves out of Evie's way so the girl can safely watch the trophy-awarding ceremony. Evangeline feels her stomach churn and her knees weaken as the familiar Monagasque man runs onto the podium.

Evangeline's heart is a tumult of old memories and trepidation, each glance at the Leclerc boy stirs a bittersweet ache that left her yearning for the past years of their friendship, but a cloud of apprehension shadows those memories.

Her thoughts are cut short by the screaming of people surrounding her.

"YEAH, GO, LEWIS!"

Evangeline snaps into reality, clapping and calling out to her former teammate. Not too long after Lewis lifts his trophy into the air, followed by more applause, Hymne Monégasque plays through the speakers.

The curly-haired girl allows her lips to mouth the lyrics of the familiar anthem, and her eyes unconsciously make their way back to the middle of the podium. This time she finds the culprit staring right back at her.

Her heart aches in sadness, anger, and fear as she tears her eyes away from the man and his first-place trophy. Evangeline's pulse quickens, syncing momentarily with the applause around her as the national anthem ends, but she feels detached as if floating outside her body.

The cheers for the three on the podium ring hollow, as she stands frozen, reliving the crash that ended her dreams and career. Nostalgia mixes with a bitter edge of resentment and fear; a cocktail of emotions that leave her throat dry and palms damp.

From his vantage point on the podium, Charles Leclerc catches the briefest flicker of emotion across Evangeline's face amid the celebrations. The fleeting contact halts his breath; the weight of shared history presses heavily on the joy of his victory. As the champagne sprays and the crowd roars, his smile falters, awareness dawning that she is here.

A mix of regret and concern floods through him as he remembers the accident vividly, as though it had etched itself into his very soul. Seeing Evangeline now, the thrill of his triumph dims, overshadowed by the sobering realisation of the pain he had inadvertently caused.

He knows that he needs to get her back, which would mean talking to the girl and stepping into reconciliation and understanding. 

(🎡) MAL SPEAKS,

me when i literally wrote charles' home
win into existence?!?!?!? unfortunately, my 
magic typing did not bring the same luck to
mr. hamilton 🙁 but either way i am so proud of cha!!!!

when this is published i will be sleeping (it's a scheduled one),
but PLEASE spam the comments bc i love replying and
reading them 😁😁😁

okay that's all! love ya!!

xoxo, 
mal <3