Full Throttle

To Race, Or Not To Race

I yawned as we touched down in France. It hadn't been a long flight, but I was tired, nonetheless. I nudged Katie, who woke with a start.
"We're here already?" she said drowsily, stretching and looking out of the window that I was sitting next to. I loved sitting at the window seat, I always thought that the lights of the city were so beautiful at night time. I'd told dad that I was moving to Monaco when I got back home from being at Lando's house for 3 days He took it better than expected, and I promised him that he could visit whenever he wanted, and that he could stay there whenever he wanted to. Beth, on the other hand, was very upset. We had an argument, and it wasn't resolved by the time I left for Canada for my next race. Canada had been uneventful, apart from the fact that I didn't finish the race: engine trouble. I was disappointed, that was obvious, but I told myself that it was alright; there were other races. I was conflicted about this race if I was truly honest with myself because, yes, I was getting back into the car, but at the same time, I knew that the Paul Ricard circuit was pretty boring. However, a race is a race, and I was grateful for every single one I did. The plane taxied to the terminal and I observed everything and everyone that was outside, wondering, as usual, what their lives were like. Getting off the plane, it was a little bit cold. There was a breeze that whipped around, and I snuggled my hoodie closer to me as I pulled my suitcase after me, listening to Katie talk about whatever it was that she was talking about. I wasn't really paying much attention. We got into the cars to the hotel, and I sat next to Alex. We eventually ended up playing rock, paper, scissors because, well, why not? It made us laugh, and like all racing drivers, our competitiveness made it the most serious game of our lives. This incessant need to be the best at everything was exactly why my family could never play Monopoly or Uno or anything that had a winner. Dylan and I would end up not speaking to each other for a few days if one of us won the game.
"You're cheating!" Alex cried after losing yet another round.
"How can you cheat at this? What, do you think I can see a few seconds into the future?"
"Shut up!"
"You shut up!"
"I don't know why I choose to work with racing drivers," Nick groaned.
"You love us really," I mumbled to him, winning another time.
"That's it. I'm not playing anymore," Alex declared.
"Awww, is poor wittle Awex getting gwumpy," I mocked, earing myself a glare.
"Shut up, Jessie."
"Shutting up."

The weather in France was nice, and it put me in a good mood. I was having a kind of brunch in the paddock on Sunday, and the race was due to start in a little under 3 hours. Thursday, media day, hadn't been too bad for once, and I'd not gotten any questions that weren't about the race or how the team was faring. Friday's practices had gone by smoothly, and the same went for FP3. Qualifying, I guess, wasn't terrible, although I could've done better. I'd only made it into Q2 and hence was starting P14. At least I wasn't driving a Williams and starting P19 like George. Lando, the lucky bastard, was starting P5, he'd done his fair share of bragging about it to me, which was fair with all of the bullying I'd sent his way. The Sky F1 presenters had started a new game that was open to the public. The basics of it were that you had to guess what colour I was going to dye my hair next. I found it funny, and it was great meeting new people and having some of them come up to me and request colours for me to try. I still hadn't gotten used to fans asking for autographs, though; not quite anyway.
"-and so now, we have a bit of free time, so you can just drift about, unless Nick wants you. Nick?" Katie finished talking and I zoned back in.
"Nope, I don't need her at the moment, although come and find me about an hour and a half before lights out so we can get you all warmed up before you get into the car."
I nodded, taking another spoonful of my granola. They left and I got my phone out, texting the group chat that was made before a night out in Canada.

Zoomies

Jessie: Are you guys busy atm???
Charles: Yeah, I've got a meeting
George: Nope, unlike some people I get my meetings done early
Charles: Is that why the Williams is so slow?
George: That doesn't make any sense, Charles
Jessie: Boys, take your bickering somewhere else
Pierre: I'm not doing anything at present, to answer your question @Jessie
Alex: I'm not busy either
Lando: I'm with Carlos rn
Jessie: I was just thinking, we could hang out for a bit before the race
Lando: Can Carlos come?
Jessie: Yeah sure
George: I'm down
Pierre: So am I
Alex: And me
Jessie: Cool, meet at the cafeteria?
Alex: Sure
Pierre: Sounds good
Lando: Coolio
George: See you all there