Perfect Strangers (Sebastian Vettel)

2: Their First Meeting

He was there again.  The man in the maroon hoodie.  This time he was doing push-ups on the beach. Lucie sat down on the sea wall again.  She watched as he relentlessly did push up after push up.   He must have an amazing level of fitness to do that many!   Lucie could only manage thirty and that was on a good day!

She cast her gaze around. Everybody must have had the same idea this morning. She'd never seen so many here at this time of the morning. By many, she meant at least seven people, not including herself or Mr Maroon hoodie. There was two swimmers today. She could see their swimcap clad heads bobbing up every now and then. There was a young couple that looked a bit worse for wear. Lucie had the feeling they may have pulled an all-nighter. She smiled as she remembered the early days of hers and Callum's relationship. Many a time they'd stayed out, just wanting to be together all the time.

The other three people were like her. Sat alone. She wondered what their story was. Were they alone through choice, preferring to watch the sunrise by themselves? Or did they have no one to share it with?

It wasn't very often that Lucie felt lonely nowadays. She had Freddie. She had her mum. And she had her job. She was kept too busy to feel lonely. But as she watched the young couple cuddling and enjoying the sunrise together she felt a pang of envy.

She knew Callum could never be replaced but sometimes, not very often, she wished she had someone to share moments like this with. Someone to hug. Someone to just be with.

She sighed and closed her eyes for a few minutes. When she opened them again everyone else had moved further along the beach and it was just her and Mr Maroon Hoodie. He was doing sit-ups now.

She tried to make it not so obvious that she was watching him. It was hard not to. She wondered what his body was like underneath that hoodie. If his legs were anything to go by it would be something rather tasty.

His black shorts were riding up as he carried on with his sit-ups. Lucie held her breath as she took in his firm, muscular thighs. Damn, if the rest of him was that fit....

She forced herself to look away but kept sneaking quick glances back at those thighs. She told herself off. It really was disrespectful to ogle a stranger like that. But damn, those thighs...

***

Seb noticed her as soon as she sat down on the sea wall. He'd been hoping he'd see her. He hadn't been able to get those eyes out of his head since he'd first seen her yesterday morning.

He carried on with his routine. He had to keep his fitness up. Nothing could really compare to working with his trainer, Antti, but this was better than nothing. The physical pain took his mind off of his emotional pain. Natasha. How long had she been  cheating on him? And why was he not good enough? Ferrari obviously felt the same way. He was just not good enough.  So why would he be good enough for Aston Martin?  He was no closer to making his mind up about his future. He was filled with doubt and uncertainty.

He switched to sit-ups.  Was she checking him out?  He was certain she was looking at his legs.  He grinned to himself.  Maybe he should give her something to look at.  He glanced around.  Everyone else seemed to have moved on further down the beach.  He glanced at the woman again.  Yes, she was definitely looking at his legs. 

He moved on to doing some squats, his motivation fuelled by knowing she was watching him.  In fact he began pushing himself, showing off a bit even.  

Maybe he should just talk to her? Say good morning and make small talk.  No, what if she recognised him?

He didn't know what it was but he was just drawn to her as she seemed drawn to him.  He raised his head and stared directly at her.  Their gazes locked.  He lifted his hand in greeting.