Full Throttle

One Secret Out, Another One Hidden

I clutched the side of the table, squeezing my eyes shut as my heart fluttered uncomfortably. It felt like I was on a boat during a storm, when actually, I was just out for dinner with the other drivers in Russia.
"Are you alright?" George said quietly into my ear. I nodded. My stomach lurched and made me snap my eyes open. I reached for the water and took little sips, trying to calm the nausea. My mouth filled with saliva, and I excused myself from the table, making a hurried beeline towards the bathrooms. I managed to collect my hair and hold it back before spilling my guts into the ceramic toilet bowl. I groaned, spitting out the last of the unpleasant substance and wiping my mouth before flushing the contents of my stomach. I held my mouth under the running water of the sink, swirling the liquid around before spitting it out and going back to the table.
"Jessie," Max began as I sat down again, "I'm not being funny, but that's like, the fifth time that you've been sick, and it's only Friday."
"I know how many times I've thrown up, Max. Surprisingly enough, I am aware when I'm puking my guts up," I said sarcastically.
"I know that, but, well, all I'm saying is, are you sure you're not pregnant?"
Everyone's heads swivelled towards me: Charles, Daniel, Pierre, Lando, Carlos, George, Alex, Lance, all looking at me as I felt my face heat up.
"No," I said confidently. "I am not pregnant."
"Are you sure?" Carlos asked.
"Yes, I'm sure."
"I'm not convinced." Daniel looked to Max, crossing his arms.
"I'm not having this conversation with any of you," I said, trying to dismiss the conversation by having some of my drink.
"You did go on a date last weekend," Alex said, making me almost spit the Pepsi back out again and glare at him.
"And you haven't been drinking any alcohol," Pierre pointed out.
"I am not pregnant!" I said, a little too loudly. "Stop interrogating me."
"Can we just go back to the announcement that Jessie had a date last weekend? What the fuck? Why didn't you tell us? Why weren't we informed?" Daniel chuckled. I put my head in my hands.
"Hello," the waitress arrived with menus. "Would you like dessert?"
Her appearance thankfully changed the subject and drew the attention away from me. I kicked Alex under the table as he was sitting opposite me.
"You weren't supposed to tell anyone that I had a date!" I hissed.
"I had a fair point!"
"It would not take me less than a week to start showing symptoms of being pregnant, idiot!"
"So you did have sex with him," he grinned, happy that he thought he'd found something else out.
"No! I did not have sex with him! Just fuck off, okay? No more questions," I sighed. We gave our orders for dessert and the waitress left again. My phone buzzed and I smiled as I checked the screen, before it was snatched out of my hands by Daniel.
"No! Oh, you bastard, give that back!"
"Ooooh, 'Julien'," he read out. "'Bonjour, bellissima, I cannot wait to see you again when you're back in Monaco-'"
"Daniel! I swear to fucking God, give my phone back!"
He scrolled upwards on the messages.
"Ooh, Max, look, he lives in Monaco as well. Maybe we should pay him a visit and tell him all of the embarrassing stories that we have about Jessie. You know," he said, turning back to me, "he's very, what word shall I use here, affectionate."
"Give me my phone back," I said slowly, my voice low. Daniel's face showed over-exaggerated fear as he handed me back my phone.
"Jessie and Julien sitting in a tree," George started singing quietly, which was stupid seeing as he was sat next to me.
"Shut the fuck up, Russell."

I was lined up on the grid, in 19th place after my car was unable to take part in Qualifying, waiting for all of the red lights. Three sets were up, then four, then five.
Breathe.
I pressed my foot onto the accelerator, getting a good start but not moving up any places before or after the first Turn. It was crowded, but I made it through without getting hit. It was a long run up to Turn 2, which I took at 95mph in Gear 4, the bend of Turn 3 making me upshift all the way to 8th gear before downshifting to 5th for Turn 4. My former teammate was still on my tail as I rounded Turn 6 at 93mph, but I let him go on team orders on the run up to Turn 7. He overtook Kubica and George, allowing me to get on his slipstream to leave the two Williams cars behind me. I took turn 10 in 4th gear, moving all the way up to 8th until just before Turn 13, which I had to take in gear 3. I was behind Pierre.
"Can we race? Or am I leaving him?" I asked down my radio.
"Jessie, you can race, you can race him," Jonathon replied.
"Copy," I said down the radio before taking my thumb off the 'talk' button. "Come here, motherfucker. I'm gonna get you."
I almost got the chance to overtake him down the inside of Turn 17, but he cut me off, accelerating away from me. I gave chase after him. Getting the slipstream on him after the final Turn, I tried again, trying to go down the outside into the first Turn, but once again, I was unsuccessful.
"Pierre, I'm gonna fucking get you," I half-sung to myself, maintaining the slipstream on him around the bend of Turn 3. It carried on like this for the entire lap, with me continually putting the Frenchman under pressure.
"Okay, Jessie. You're within DRS range of Pierre, go for it," Jonathon informed me. I felt the extra push of speed after Turn 1 as I reached a speed of 200mph and finally overtook my teammate, decelerating down to 145mph for Turn 4. Now I just had to keep him behind me and keep moving up the grid.