No Love Greater

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The team was set for free practice that morning after everyone had breakfast and geared up for the meet. And as usual, Lewis, Angela and I rode with Toto while others carpooled to the circuit.

Motorsport fans were already visible and many were seen waving the Union Jack as Toto made his way to the car park and for us to take the long walk to the motor home. We were walking side by side before he realized he forgot his phone and went back to get it, leaving me walking behind Lewis and Angela, but to my surprise, Lewis dropped back and began to walk beside me and made small talk about the previous night causing me to laugh. Angela noticed and stopped for us to get to her mentioning how the paparazzi's were around taking pictures, and to cover our mouths while talking. The three of us ended up walking together to our motor home.

After we had greeted the fans at the hospitality, Simon the race engineer started briefing the team about what he looks out for, the reliability of the car, if there was an overload and if the temperature was too high or too low and this was normal procedure to let people continuously be aware of their roles. As the lead data analyst / strategy, I had the final say on our strategy, what tyres to take and when to pit.

The two free practice sessions went smoothly for us and all parts replaced had aligned with the cars making them move faster. Lewis and Valtteri also had photo ops with fans of the Mercedes Team and Formula1 causing loud chants from over excited people. Very few interviews were set on that day and accomplished in to time. We all got back to the hotel later in the evening and prepared for dinner.

Jeffery had sent me and Instagram request with a username @jefferysullivanR and I wondered why his name was Sullivan and not Reiss on his account. He explained that Sullivan was his mothers' maiden name and in his early years, our father Fabian Reiss was an absent one which made his mother change his surname. He only started becoming present in their lives when he turned fifteen and he never bothered to change it back. Somehow, both Jeffery and I had suffered neglect from our father but look how things had turned out now. I followed him back and liked many of his pictures especially that with his gorgeous girlfriend Monica.

The Silverstone circuit was very special to us because this was our home race and the entire team were in high spirits. People had broken up into small groups and were seen talking about different things that concerned them or happenings at the track.

Valtteri had come to meet me when I was ready to retreat for bed and I wondered what he was up to.

"Selena wait up", I heard Valtteri say to me and I turned to face him.

'Sup Val", I said to him smiling.

"What happened to you and Lando?", he asked.

"I always wanted to ask you but it kept on skipping my mind", he added with a smirk on his face.

"Nothing Val, we are just friends, I promise you will be the first to know if there's something between us", I said chuckling to him.

"He said so, but that brings me to the actual question, are you and Lewis a thing?", he queried.

"Why would you think that Val?", I asked suspiciously.

"It's kind of a hunch you know, he seemed upset the day I introduced Lando to you, and I noticed that during our outings at the club you would always sit beside Angela and he would come to meet you and check on you, even when you wanted to dance he would always be around and look at you from time to time", he said.

I burst out laughing and some people turned.

"Val you are beginning to sound like a romance author", I said laughing hysterically.