A girl chasing her dream. A boy looking for the light.
When Florence Nyx started her internship at a Formula 1 paddock, she expected a lot. Fast cars. Exclusive impressions most people could only dream of. An entire array of skills she'd acquire...
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Saying Phoenix surprised me that day would be an understatement.
The way he'd opened up about what happened to him and his mom made me realize there's so much I didn't know about him. There was so much I didn't know about most of the people I worked with.
Truth be told, I didn't make much of an effort to get to know more about them. I was here to make my career, not friends. But the more I worked with these guys, the more I realized I actually wanted to get to know who I spent most of my time with. Jin and I spent the odd lunch hour together, so I've heard a lot about his family's history and how they found refuge in the states. There's a reason he takes his job so seriously, after all. He wants to give back to those who offered him the life they never had: His parents.
Connor, on the other hand, was as transparent as a windowpane. It was pretty easy to figure out what he was thinking, where his motives lay, even though he obviously thought he was hiding his secrets very well.
He wasn't.
"So, what's your plan for the week off?" Connor asked, leaning back on the lounge chair of the hotel pool area.
We just spent the entire day cleaning up the garage after last night's race, which was... Well, it was a disaster. A series of unfortunate events led to both cars retiring before they could cross the finish line, meaning we scored an imposing amount of zero points for the team. On top of that, we also had to repair Lucien's car, as well as install another power unit in Felipe's. It was a waste of time, energy, and money.
"I don't know," I replied honestly. The cinnamon latte in my hands helped keep me awake, but the rest of my body was exhausted beyond belief. The past weeks have been exhilarating and so damn interesting, but I was starting to feel how little prepared I was for the physical fallouts coming my way. Every weekend I've gotten little to no sleep, had to function under the extremest of conditions, and be on one hundred percent focus. All day, every day.
"I was thinking of flying to the Maldives." Connor's words made me glance over at him.
"You what now? The Maldives?"
He shrugged. "Yeah. It's pretty there."
I had to blink a few times, buying myself time to process what exactly he just said. "Connor... You're in Europe. We got Portugal, Spain, Italy, France... Those are all very beautiful countries. All of them are close by."
"Yeah, but the Maldives are perfect. The sand is white, the water is turquoise, the cocktails are supreme..."
"...And you'd kill the planet just a little more by getting on a private jet to go there, when you could simply enjoy what's close by," I added.
"What?" He laughed. "Florence, you work for Formula 1. That's literally destroying the earth with every single race. The amount of rubber our tyres send into the atmosphere, not to mention the tons of fuel we use each season... That's not exactly environmentally friendly."
