Alice's spirit is almost broken. She lost her job and her fiancé during the lockdown.
Then, in a stroke of luck, she finds herself working for McLaren and struggling with her feelings for someone who is a bit younger than her. Does age really matte...
"I'll race ya to the paddock!" Alice shouted as she started running downstairs, making her way to McLaren's hospitality, with her long wavy hair flying, through the air.
They had been finally released from the broken lift. The maintenance guys managed to make it go down a further floor and then pried the doors open.
"Shit... she's gonna beat us. Let's go, Lando!" Daniel joked.
"Hell, she will." Lando started running as well.
Alice, of course, needed the head start as she couldn't keep up with the boys. The rest of the gang watched as Lando pulled Alice's arm to overtake her.
"Look at those 3 idiots!" Max said smiling.
"Why does Lando need to touch the girl?" Charles asked with a sigh.
"Are you aware they're probably doing it all the time when they're home?" Max teased Charles.
****
After the qualification session, which saw Charles getting pole position, Alice went to find Charlotte and ask her about having some time off work the following week.
"That's not a problem. I can sign you off work for 3 days, but you will need to post stuff on social, you know the deal. Anything embarrassing, you post it." Charlotte joked.
"Thank you! Err... I also want to come clean about something else..." Alice started saying. She wasn't sure if she was allowed to be with someone from a rival constructor, but she respected Charlotte too much to keep it a secret from her. "I'm kind of seeing someone from a different team... is that a problem?"
"I've heard the rumours... it would be a problem only if you were sharing information from us to them, but I don't think that's the case. The best way to deal with this is for both of you to sign an NDA with your respective teams and you're covered."
"Oh, we're definitely not sharing information..." Alice said with a naughty tone.
"You will need to tell me more!" Charlotte squealed a little bit. "Gosh, my voice. It must be the Leclerc effect. Yes, we do have a name for it at McLaren."
Alice laughed and then looked at her phone that had just vibrated.
"Shit. Did you see the latest update? Charles will be a DNS tomorrow."
"Look at you, using proper racing terms. I'm so proud! Sorry about Charles but good news for us!"
"That's very true!" They high-fived.
****
Alice headed to her hotel room a few hours later. She needed to, desperately, take a shower because she hadn't had the time in the morning. She texted Charles asking if he wanted to go over for cuddles. He was probably feeling devasted for not being able to compete in his own home Grand Prix, after doing great at quali with very little sleep. Charles texted back he was on his way, and she hopped on the shower.
Alice still had to book a place for them to stay from Monday until Thursday. She had put some feelers out and was now trying to decide between two places. She had used her PR skills, as Daniel suggested, and had managed to convince the two places to lower their rates in exchange for social media content and publicity from the drivers. After all, it was an opportunity of a lifetime to host 5 world-class aces. She decided on creating a WhatsApp group and ask their opinion.
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Charles knocked on her door at that moment. Alice gave him a tight hug as he looked so sad. She noticed he placed a small backpack on her bed.
"Did you bring an overnight?" She joked.
"Actually, I did. I didn't want to sleep alone tonight. Hope you don't mind."
"Not at all, we'll order room service and have a chill night."
Her phone started buzzing with new WhatsApp messages. The boys added their girlfriends to the group as well as Dan's and Lando's friends. In either place, she had already made sure that two rooms would have twin beds instead of a king-size one.
Charles was now in her bed with his hands behind his head. Alice rested next to him with her head on one of his arms while checking her phone.
Everyone preferred option 1, apart from Lando who was the only one who chose the second villa. She had an idea...
Alice: By the way, I forgot to mention that villa #2 has a karaoke machine. I think Daniel might enjoy this...
Daniel: That changes everything!! We're going to #2. I came up with the idea, I decide.
Max Verstappen: Another 3 sleepless nights...
Alice had now one day to find a karaoke machine for rent as she had just lied so that Lando could have his way.
Charles paid the full amount for the villa, which was a bargain, and the rest of the guys would just pay him back. It was an easy deal.
"Did Daniel mention there would be a beach festival?" Alice asked Charles.
"Yeah, at Club 55 I think."
"Who the hell does a beach festival on a Monday?"
"It's for club members only... I think they do it often at random days."
"But most of us aren't members... how are we getting in?"
"Daniel is a member; pretty sure he can get us all invited."
"I'm actually looking forward to it!"
****
They arrived in groups, on Monday morning. The villa was perfect. Each bedroom had its own private bathroom and a conservatory that led into the huge garden. They had a swimming pool, tanning beds and a jacuzzi. There was an outside dining area with a rustic table that they could all use to sit together for meals.
Max and Kelly were the last ones to arrive. To avoid confusion, they attributed Max 1 to Verstappen and Max 2 to Lando's friends.
"Sorry, we're late! We went to drop off my daughter with my parents." Kelly explained.
"I thought she was coming as well..." Daniel said.
"We decided to keep it adults only."
Alice introduced herself to the girls, as they had never formally met. They had seen each other during races, but never had never interacted. They were very friendly and accepted Alice as one of their own. Alice, Kelly and Isa decided to use the tanning beds as it was a glorious sunny morning. Daniel came out holding 3 sangria pitchers and a big smile. The rules were that there were no rules, apparently.
"My ladies... let me serve you first." He said pouring a glass to each of the girls.
"Cheers!"
The girls were on their bikinis enjoying the sunshine, by the swimming pool. Lando and Max 2 were swimming, and the rest of the boys were sat around the big table chatting.
The girls found out quick that they could communicate in their own little language, as Alice and Kelly spoke Portuguese as a native language and Isa was Spanish, so they understood each other. They were using this sort of 'Spanguese' to chat without the boys disturbing them.
"Are you and Charles dating?" Kelly asked Alice.
"I don't know. I mean we are having fun, but I don't think we're destined to be together..." Her gaze was now on Lando. She was observing him jumping around.
"How about Lando? I heard you two had a fling."
"Gosh, I feel like the F1 whore."
"Don't worry, I've been around..." Kelly said and they all laughed.
"So, how was Lando?" Isa asked curiously.
"Well, we didn't actually do it, because your hubby interrupted us... but all I can say is that..." Alice stopped talking for a moment and simply used her hands to indicate a length measure.
"REALLY?! He looks so skinny!" Kelly exclaimed staring at Lando with her sunglasses by the bridge of her nose.
