Full Throttle

Faenza

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We will be touching down in approximately 5 minutes. Once again, please ensure that you have your seatbelts on, that your tables are in the correct upright position, and that your window shutters are up. Staff will now be sitting down and preparing for landing, so if you are in need of assistance, please press the button above your heads. Thank you for flying with us today. Signore e signori, questo è il tuo capitano che parla. Atterreremo tra 5 minuti. Si prega di tenere le cinture di sicurezza allacciate, i tuoi tavolini alzati, e le tapparelle alzate. Grazie per aver volato con noi oggi."
I missed home already. I always did whenever I went away. Wednesday with the boys had been funny, but we'd all worked harder than usual in competition with each other. I'd done well on the Simulator that day, too. Thursday with my dad had been good. We went and laid flowers and my mother's and my brother's graves, and he left me alone whilst I told them all about the weekend, and what my plans are for now. We went down to the pub after. Beth, Lexi, and Jacob met us there, and little Michael was so happy to see me. We joked and talked and I played with Michael, and finally said our goodbyes at half past 8 after getting dinner there. Friday was tough, my body still ached from the Wednesday and Nick pushed me really hard because of it. He was already in Faenza as he took the earlier flight. The plane jolted as the wheels met the tarmac, and I looked out of the window at all the lights. It was past 1am here, almost 2am, and I couldn't wait to just get back to my apartment. We disembarked the plane and I hurried to get my luggage. The man in the border control booth eyed me suspiciously as I gave him my passport. He took it, examining it slowly, before giving it back to me.
"Grazie," I said politely and moved on. I'd booked a taxi to take me to my apartment; it was about a half a hour's drive, and I tipped the driver generously for being awake at this hour of the morning.

The building of apartments wasn't special. It was painted that drab shade of almost yellow, and there was no lift. There were 6 floors, I lived on the top one, and dragging my suitcase up all of those flights of stairs when I was already tired was not fun. I unlocked the door and flicked on the light switch that was just inside. Pulling my suitcase inside and shutting the door, locking it behind me and putting on the latch, I walked to my bedroom and flicked on the light. If you listened closely, you could hear the hum of electricity from the lights. My room was simple. There was a double bed right next to the window, the curtains were a dark blue, there was a wardrobe and a vanity table and a chest of drawers. My walls were painted a dark grey: it was my favourite colour. I left my suitcase by the chest of drawers and wandered out to check that the rest of the apartment was still intact. The bathroom had a pulley light and was the same shade of grey as my room, only the floor was tiled. There was no bath, only a walk-in shower, and then there was the toilet, and a mirror above the sink. I took a bath mat out of the cupboard in the hallway and placed it down outside of the shower, and went to inspect the second bedroom. The only reason I had a second bedroom was so my friends could use this apartment as a holiday place if they wanted to. It was painted dark blue, with a double bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers, and a desk. Everything looked just how I left it. Walking down to the end of the hallway, I reached the living room that shared the same space as the small kitchen. The sofa was red and facing the TV on the wall, and there was a wooden coffee table in front of it. There was a small dining table in the corner with four chairs to match it, and the kitchen was a 3-sided rectangle. I walked over and unlocked the balcony doors, stepping out and inhaling the cool night air. Sounds of traffic carried in the soft breeze, and streetlights illuminated the darkness. It was relaxing. I went back inside to fetch some water for the flowers on my balcony railings, before locking the doors and leaving, turning the lights off as I went. I brushed my teeth, unpacked my bag, and went to bed, setting an alarm for 7.30am.

"Hello! I am Jessie Osbourne."
"And I am Alex Albon, and this is-"
"Google questions!"
The Public Relations people had told Alex and I that we were to do a fun video to be posted on the Toro Rosso YouTube account.
"Right, Jessie, you go first," Alex said. I picked up a sheet of paper in front of me.
"How blank is Jessie Osbourne. Um, how old is Jessie Osbourne? No? Uh, how tall is Jessie Osbourne?" I ripped off the piece of paper covering the word. "Aha! I got it right. I am 167cm tall, or 5 foot 6. Go on, Alex." I put the sheet of paper down.
"Why does Alex Albon... um, drive? No? I don't know. Let me pull this paper off, hang on. Oh! Why does Alex Albon identify as Thai, that is a good question. It was a big decision amongst my family and I wanted to keep in contact with my roots."
"Okay, my turn. Why is Jessie Osbourne's... I bet it's going to be 'hair purple'." I took the paper off. "Yep, it is."
"Oh, I know the answer to this," Alex said, remembering the trip to the restaurant in Australia.
"Basically, a teacher when I was in secondary school said that I'd never get anywhere if I didn't have a smart appearance, so I started dyeing my hair. So don't listen to your teachers, kids! Well, actually," I laughed, looking at Alex who was giggling and saying that I can't say that. "Yeah, actually, listen to your teachers, that would be a good idea."
"It would, it would. Don't listen to Jessie, more like," Alex said, still smiling.
"Yeah, don't listen to me. Anyway, Alex, go."
"How blank does Alex Albon blank? Is it how much do I make? Yeah, um, a lot. I-"
I started laughing at his answer.
"I don't know the exact figure!"
"Just 'a lot'."
"Well, yeah," he laughed.
"Great answer, Alex."
"Just do your turn."
"Okay, how blank is Jessie Osbourne? Is this going to be asking my age? Yeah? I'm 19, my birthday was February 20th."
"So young."
"Shut up, just because I'm better than you."
"So rude! Right, how blank is, how tall am I? I am-"
"He's a lot taller than me."
"Shh, the adult is talking. I am, stop laughing, jeez, you're so unprofessional," Alex chuckled, trying to not laugh himself.
"Just answer the thing," I said, head in my hands trying to find the breath to stop my giggles.
"I am 6 foot 1, uh, 186cm."
"I think Jessie's lost it now," one the assistants said. I nodded, still trying to pull myself together.
"Well, it's good timing because we are out of questions. Thank you for watching, guys!"
"Thanks for watching," I breathed, wiping the tears from my eyes with a suppressed smile.
"See you next weekend in Bahrain!"