This Love

6

Daniel

As soon as I get back to the pits after the screw up I jump out of my car frustrated anger coursing through my veins. My angry thoughts are interrupted when a dark blur drops in front of me, landing at my feet. I blink looking down to see a baseball cap, I tilt my head confused. I look up first but don't see anyone leaning over the upper railing so I pick up the  hat off of the ground, "Dan where'd that come from?" I turn to one of the Renault team members, "no idea, it just came out of nowhere" I reply, "I can get rid of it" I look at the hat again and have this urge to find out more before I never see it again, "nah mate, I think I'll keep it for a bit" the guy shrugs and walks away leaving me to go over to my private quarters while holding the hat.

——

Callie

Once I have calmed down my friends pull me back over to the race. I take a deep breath and pull my hair up into a messy bun trying to stay relaxed as I focus on the high speed cars. My gaze moved to the leaderboard watching the names moving periodically with the big screen next to it following some of the race cars. "Cal" I turn to Jill who is looking down over the railing, "where'd you say your hat fell" I shrug, "I was standing where you are" I reply, "no hat down at the paddocks, just one of the cars getting backed into the Renault garage", I sigh sadly, "well there's no point dwelling on something that is most likely in the trash" I tell her, Lexi throws her arm across my shoulders pulling me close, "we'll get an even better one here, i'm sure of it" I shrug and she kisses my cheek making me giggle.

"AND THE WINNER OF THE AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX IS LEWIS HAMILTON, STARTING OFF THE SEASON WITH A BANG HERE IN MELBOURNE" The three of us lean over the railing to catch a glimpse of the winner, who drives in circles in celebration. The crowd cheers him on, the volume increasing by the second making me grin at the electrically charged air. "Come on let's get down there" Jill exclaims while pulling us out of the VIP area, asking the nearest usher how to make our way down to the crowd. We run down the various sets of stairs finding ourselves in what feels like a village of team buses and mini buildings, "this way" Lexi chimes in pointing towards the crowd noise ahead, I grin letting my friends pull me in that direction. The momentum of us running makes me reckless as we weave between people, I shoulder bump someone making me look back as we run, "sorry" I yell seeing a dark haired man with gorgeous eyes appearing shocked as he watches us careen towards the celebration.

Once we have celebrated Hamilton's win with the crowd of fans we start making our way back to the transit station. Before getting to the station we stop to grab some food along the way to take back to the penthouse with us. "Am I going to be hooked on this sport? Yes, yes I am" Lexi tells us, "I think I'm right there with you babe" I mumble as I rest my head on Jill's shoulder, "the Colts are gonna love to hear that" she says, I roll my eyes while smiling. "Don't fall asleep yet Cal, it's only 5" Jill tells me with a nudge of the shoulder, "let me rest I've had a stressful day" I mumble, "okay but I'm not carrying you off of this bus" I sit up at her response knowing that I should wait until we get back to the apartment to nap.

——

Later that night while we're playing monopoly on our coffee table my phone vibrates a few times. I ignore it not thinking anything of the notification my focus staying on the board game in front of me. "I'm going to buy this whole town and make you guys regret playing this with me" Jill exclaims as she buys another property on the board, "oh it's on" Lexi replies with a determined look on her face.

I stay out of their competition to check the notification that made my phone vibrate minutes earlier. I see that it's something from Instagram, a message from someone I've never heard of so I open the app to investigate. Once I've entered my message requests I click on the unknown profile my eyebrows raising at the blue verified check mark next to the guy's username. When I see the most recent post on his account I gasp making Jill and Lexi turn to me, "what happened?" My mouth is hanging open unable to reply, not even knowing how to tell them. Jill grabs my phone quickly her eyes widening at the situation "why is...how did...what?" I shrug, "I don't know" Lexi pouts, "tell me what happened" she whines, "Daniel Ricciardo wants to message our bestie through Insta" Jill explains. "HE WHAT?!" I cringe at the volume of her voice, "have you read it?" I shake my head, "I checked who he was first" I reply, "well put us out of our misery and read the damn message babe" Lexi exclaims as Jill shoves my phone back at me. I fumble with it clumsily before getting my grip on the device realizing how clammy my hands have become. I take a deep breath and go back to my messages, opening up the conversation between me and this race car driver.

danielricciardo
Hey there I know this is random, but I think you're the one that dropped this hat at the race today

"He has my hat" I say to my friends, "oh my god what?" I nod showing them the picture he attached of my lost baseball cap. "No way, how are you this lucky" I push my glasses up gently, "I wouldn't call it luck Lex" she grabs me by the shoulders making me face her, "this man went out of his way to somehow find you through social media to return the hat, he looks like a Greek god and you will probably have to meet him in person to get it back, there is nothing unlucky about that". My shyness suddenly surfaces, "I didn't want this, I was accepting that the hat was gone and I was becoming okay with it" I mumble while looking down at the message waiting to be answered on my screen, "Cal, what if this is fate" I look up at Jill who is smiling at me, "I don't think I believe in that sorta stuff" she tugs me into her side gently, "doesn't mean that it doesn't exist" I sigh at her response. "We just want you to be happy Callie, maybe this is what the message will lead to" I smile slightly at Lexi, "I know but you guys make me happy already" Jill waves the statement away, "oh please, we all know that there's more out there for us" I shrug while biting my lip, "answer him for us? And you can be as awkward as you want" I snort and they bring me into a group hug. "Fine, but only because I love you guys" they cheer and let me go so that I can grab my phone, my thumbs hovering over the keyboard as I plan what to type.

callieandrews96
That was me unfortunately...the wind took it away from me, like a kid in a candy store, wait no bad comparison...I'll stop...yes that's my hat thank you for not trashing it, means a lot to me

I hit send before I retype the whole message making it worse than it is. "Did it, babbling happened might never live this one down" I tell Jill and Lexi while dropping my phone. They lunge forward grabbing the device, I watch their faces scrunch up, "babe have you never texted?" I bring my hands over my face embarrassed, "I know it's bad, he'll most likely not answer and I'll never get the hat back" I mumble. My head snaps up at the collective gasp my two friends let out, "he's typing" I scoot closer to them nervously. Lexi hands me my phone so I look down while holding my breath in anticipation.

danielricciardo
I'm glad I found the owner, it looks like a well loved hat 😃 are you still in Melbourne? I can get it back to you ASAP

callieandrews96
It's definitely been through a lot with me 🙂 I am still in town, but don't go out of your way, just leave it at the race venue and I can pick it up tomorrow or something

I feel my friends stares on me as I bite my lip while typing, deciding to ignore them for now. My fingers hover over the keyboard waiting for him to finish typing.

danielricciardo
No I need to make sure you get it, I don't trust the people at the venue to not lose your very important hat, I gotta personally hand it to you to be sure 🧐

I'm surprised by his very insistent answer, my eyebrow raised as I type my response.

callieandrews96
You really don't need to, it's not a big deal

danielricciardo
I'll be at the track at 11 tomorrow, shoot me a message when you get there ✌🏻

I blink a few times getting out of the app, "what happened?" I turn to Lexi and Jill, "I guess I'm going back to the track tomorrow to get my hat from Daniel Ricciardo" they squeal, "he was insisting that he give me the hat personally so that the venue staff don't lose it" Lexi hugs me tightly, "nothing wrong with that Cal" I shrug, "just seems kinda weird if you ask me" Jill pats my shoulder, "I think you've caught the eye of an F1 driver babe" I wave her off ignoring the untrue statement. "I'm going to bed, goodnight" they smile and wave as I go to my bedroom to change and go sleep not missing the slight fluttering in my stomach thinking about seeing Daniel tomorrow.