Keep Me In | DR3 | BOOK 1

06 - l'après-fête

"Cheers, everyone. To the start of a really great season!"

"And to a very long night."

--

I had been here once or twice with my girlfriends, but I definitely wouldn't call it our usual spot. 'The Ricco' is a more upscale club, most people here were wearing the types of outfits we were wearing - formal, evening attire, nothing too flashy, but also not what you would think to wear on a typical night out "clubbing". The bar was a gloss-black glassy material with an art-deco pattern on the front, setting the style of the rest of the club. The lounge chairs were plush-velvet material in alternating dark blue and purple colors, with short gold lamps placed on each table. The lighting was dim, except for on the stage where a jazz band was playing for the earlier half of tonight.

Daniel lead our group through the crowd of people sitting and mingling until we reached our VIP table, Daniels two friends sat there and two girls that seemed to be their girlfriends. Daniel greeted them both with a hug, and Lando with a fist bump. Rory was the first to introduce himself.

"Rory," he said, shaking the taller guy's hand. "And this is my girlfriend, Molly." He stopped, pointing at Molly who extended her hand to shake his.

"Michael, and my girlfriend Olivia," Olivia looked up from her seat, giving a warm smile as she got up, noticing the larger group of us joining them. "You must be Nicholas' son, I've seen photos in his office. I'm Daniels' trainer. I used to run his life for him basically before Blake came in the picture here." Michael joked as Daniel punched him in the arm. Rory laughed and nodded.

"And you've gotta be Alexa," Daniels other friend, Blake, turned to me beside Rory. "Your Dad talks highly of you. I actually also worked at Red Bull while you were a junior."

Ah, that's where I had seen his face before. I guess Daniel took Blake with him when he left Red Bull.

"I knew you looked familiar, you must've been lurking around the track when I used to do testing," I smiled and shook his hand, as well as Michaels.
I don't know how I felt about the fact that Blake had remembered me. Did that mean Daniel had as well?

We all made our way through the introductions, not an easy feat as there were so many of us and the band was playing music, making it hard to hear. Molly, Carlee, and I decided to take a seat on the curved sofa in our booth with Olivia and Blake's girlfriend, whose name we learned is Jamie. Two bottle-service girls came over, both holding a bottle of champagne. Daniel slipped the ladies a quick tip as he was handed the bottles, one he passed to Rory and the other he kept in his hands. I grabbed my phone and prepared to capture the moment.

"Ror!" I yelled to get my brothers' attention, getting both Daniel and Rory to look at me. I snapped a picture of the two pretending to pop the bottles as you would on a podium.

"Trying to manifest for the season there, Dan?" Michael asked as we all laughed.

"Did you want one with all of you?" One of the bottle-service girls came back and asked, looking at Daniel and Rory.

"That would be great, thank you!" I handed her my phone.

"I would love some on mine as well, if you don't mind," Daniel asked, flashing the girl a sideways smile.

She giggled flirtatiously, "Of course."

I rolled my eyes as I took my place beside Molly, stretching my arms around her on one side and Carlee on the other. She took a couple of photos on both phones before handing them back. Daniel thanked her as she handed his phone back, the interaction feeling like it was taking an eternity. I returned to my seat with the girls, unlocking my phone for us to look at the pictures as Rory and Daniel worked on actually popping the bottles and serving them out to the group.