The One That Got Away (Sebastian Vettel)

12. Spanish Nightlife (1)

Things didn't exactly go Mollie's way that weekend, and she was glad when it was Sunday evening. 

Practice and qualifying hadn't actually been too bad. She'd been fifth in practice and third in qualifying behind Bereshnakova and her teammate Laurent.   Not bad for her first weekend.  She was quietly confident of a podium.

However, it wasn't to be. Laurent had had a bad start, allowing Mollie through to second, but then tried to take the place back almost straight away, putting Mollie and herself out of the race before the end of the first lap. Mollie had been fuming. She'd had to bite her tongue in the media pen. She didn't want to come across as another gobshite like Bereshnakova. 

To Mollie's delight Sophia managed to finish in second so it wasn't a total disaster for the team.

She'd watched Sunday's Formula 1 race from the Thorne garage, cheering on Will and Luca. Will had been unlucky and had broken down 14 laps from the end whilst in eighth place. Luca managed to finish in tenth and get the team's first point of the season.

Now she was getting ready to hit the town with them. She needed a good few drinks after the previous day's disaster.

She slipped on a pair of black tights. It would probably be much too hot for them in the club but she still felt self conscious about the scar on her shin. She took her little black dress off of the hanger and put it on.

She looked in the mirror at her hair. She really couldn't be bothered to spend time on it so brushed it and left it hanging loose halfway down her back.

After applying minimal makeup she was nearly ready. She slipped her feet into a pair of black glittery stilettos.

Then she grabbed her bag, not bothering with a jacket as it was quite a warm night.   She headed down to the lobby to meet with Sophia, Ash and Garrett.

                         ***

The atmosphere was buzzing in the club. Most of the revellers were from Formula 1 teams. Mollie had already spotted several drivers, besides Luca and Will. Pierre Gasly, Daniel Ricciardo, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, George Russell, Nicky Latifi, Antonio Giovinazzi and Cody Parker.  No Seb, but she hadn't really expected to see him as he'd never been a clubbing kind of guy.

Will got the first round in. Mollie took a long sip of the vodka and coke that he'd handed her.

"Mmm I needed this."  Luca hung his arms round her shoulder.

"Don't stress babe, you'll have her next race. You're so much better than she is."  Mollie laughed at Luca calling her babe. It was so good to be hanging out with these two again. She regretted losing contact for all these years.

As if he could read her mind Will put his hand on her arm.

"Mollie, don't overthink things. Main thing is we are mates again now. There's no stopping us. We're the Three Musketeers remember?"

Mollie laughed as she remembered the stupid nickname they'd called themselves back in their junior days.

Sophia, Ash and Garrett had gone to sit out on the terrace. Mollie decided she quite fancied a dance so dragged Luca up onto the floor.

Spinning around she collided with a hard body.

"Oh I'm so sorry,' she said, before realising that it was Daniel Ricciardo. He grinned at her.

"No worries sweetheart. You can throw yourself at me any day. Oh hey Bonucci, who's your beautiful friend here?"   Mollie laughed. Daniel obviously didn't follow Formula W too closely, and he obviously didn't remember meeting her a couple of times when he drove for Toro Rosso.

"I'm Mollie," she said, holding out her hand. "Mollie Rashford.  We actually met several years ago." His jaw dropped.

"Mollie Rashford, oh my. I didn't recognise you. I'm so sorry. How are doing kid?"

"I'm good. Not a kid though."  His eyes dropped to the hint of cleavage visible.

"Yeah so I see, " he said, cheekily winking at her. She slapped his arm, playfully.

"My face is up here," she laughed, pointing upwards. He laughed back.

"I'll see you later Mollie Rashford," he said, wandering off into the crowd.

                           ***

Seb had debated with himself whether to go to the club or not. He felt like an old fossil compared to some of the youngsters. He'd never been a clubbing man. He usually just stayed back at the hotel whilst Elena went out with Annette and a few of their crew.

He'd just decided that he would stay in when he'd bumped into Will Barnes on his way out of the paddock. They'd had a brief conversation and Will had mentioned that Mollie was going to be out with him and Luca tonight.

Seb made his mind up. He would go to the club. He wanted to see Mollie. Really see her. He wanted to hear that sexy British accent of hers. Would it sound the same after all those years in the States?  Luckily Elena was going to a different club. He wouldn't even tell her he was going out. She'd just get shitty about it. He'd deal with the fallout after.

He dressed in a pair of fitted blue jeans and a claret coloured shirt. He combed his hair to tame his curls that were going a little wild on top.  

He texted Daniel to see if he was going to be there. Daniel answered yes so Seb said he'd meet him there.

When Seb walked in the first thing he noticed was how many of the other drivers were there. He raised his hand,  returning Antonio's wave and headed to the bar. He ordered a bottle of beer. When he got it, he navigated his way through the drunken revellers and joined Antonio, Daniel, Carlos and Charles at their  table.

"Wonders will never cease," joked Charles. "She let you out to play?"

Seb laughed but inside he was a little cheesed off. Did they all really think that Elena was the boss of him?

"She doesn't know," he admitted. "But I fancied a drink."

"Tell you what I fancy," added Daniel. "A bit of that!"
Seb turned his head to see the girl who Daniel had his eye on.

His eyes nearly popped out of his head. Mollie. He'd never seen her in a dress before. Just jeans and team gear, and even her pyjamas. Oh and a smart top and jeans that night in Monaco. She looked amazing! He felt a rush of desire for her.

The dress wasn't even that revealing but it clung to her curves in all the right places.

As Luca spun her around on the dance floor he saw the bare skin of her back. Damn, that dress had a low back.

"I'm going to have that girl," Daniel stated.

Seb felt jealousy rising inside him. He didn't want anyone else touching her. He knew he was being unreasonable. He was in a relationship and he was nothing to Mollie. He clenched his fist as he saw Luca put his arms around her waist and pull her close to him. Tonight was going to be torture.