"You ready to go babe?" I hear Lewis ask from the kitchen. "Yeah just give me one second." I reply as I zip up my suitcase. I sling my backpack onto my back and make my way to him. He holds out his hand and I graciously take it as we walk out our apartment. As we walk downstairs he lets go of my hand and we walk to the taxi waiting to take us to our flight. This is the first year I will be attending every race with him. Last year I only managed to come to two races, but I was studying and graduated last year so now I can come to every race and Lewis is very happy about that. Some people on the team know that I am his girlfriend but the rest think I'm just his best friend. It was his idea to keep the relationship secret and it has worked for almost a year.
We get to the hotel and it's only Wednesday morning. I unpack some of my things around the room and Lewis does the same. "Babe, I'm going to go to the gym for a little bit." He says and gives me a kiss. "Ok bye Lew. See you later." I say and he walks out the room. Since he is training this gives me time to do something I haven't in a while. Go out and take photos. I grab my camera bag and walk out the hotel and onto the street.
It has almost been an hour and I have made my way down to the beachfront. I take a few photos of the people along the beach front before someone taps my shoulder. "Sorry. Would you mind taking a photo of us." Someone says from behind me. "Yeah sure." I say and take his phone turning to the group in front of me. I instantly recognize the person in the middle. Daniel Ricciardo. After their photo many others came up and asked for photos. Eventually everyone left.
"Hey thanks so much." Daniel says. "Yeah of course. I don't mind." I reply. "Your accent. You aren't from here are you?" He asks. "No, I'm actually here with my boyfriend. He travels for work and I'm lucky enough to be able to travel with him." I say with a smile. "Oh cool. Where are you off to next?" He questions.
"I think next is Bahrain, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Monaco-" I begin to list off the next races before Daniel interrupts me with a smile. "Oh so your boyfriend works in Formula one. I've never seen you around the paddock though. What's his name, I probably know him." Daniel says motioning to the Mercedes team shirt I'm wearing.
"You might know him, his name is Lewis Hamilton. Maybe you've heard of him." I say. Daniel laughs. "Yeah sure. You're dating 7 time world champ Lewis Hamilton." Daniel scoffs. At that moment Lewis runs up behind Daniel, obviously on his daily run.
"Hey man, how's it going?" He says. "Great. This girl here says that she is your girlfriend." Daniel says. "Oh does she now." Lewis says, turning to face me and walks up to me with a smile on his face. "Hi babe." He says with a smile. "I guess the secrets out then." I smile. "Guess it is." He smiles back and kisses me on the forehead before wrapping his arm around my shoulder.
"Oh you were serious. I guess I just never recognized you. Sorry about that." Daniel laughs. "It's fine." I say with a smile. "Well now that he knows can we tell the rest of the world?" Lewis asks, excitedly. Even though this whole thing was his idea. "Yeah I don't see why not." I smile and he instantly pulls out his phone. I peer over to see him posting a photo I took of us in the mirror the other day, on Instagram. "And done. Now the whole world knows you're mine." He says and hugs me. "You two are really cute it's almost sickening." Daniel pipes up from next to us, making the three of us laugh.
