Against all odds

Chapter 10

I just sat down with my steaming hot cup of liquid gold as Max came down the stairs into the sitting room.

"Maximus! Do you feel better now?" I asked smiling at him.

"I little bit yeah. Now what happened yesterday?" the driver asked curiously.

"You remember me driving the mechanics home and then taking those shots with us, right? he nodded, Well, I'll just tell you the important stuff. Christian got really drunk and went to hug everybody he even kissed you on the cheek. But his assistant, I forgot what her name was, got him to go to bed at around two. Then we drank more beer and you and I went to the gas station around the corner and got some more beers and some tequila because we ran out. Then we finished the beer we bought, and I got you to your room. You were out before I even took your shoes off." I giggled taking a sip of the coffee in my hands.

"What the hell? How do you not feel like complete shit? You must have drunk a lot more than I did."

"Oh, I did. For sure." I shrugged, Max didnt even answer. He just sank into the chair and went to take my coffee cup.

"Hey! Stop! COVID!" I exclaimed.

"We both got tested yesterday. We both followed the rules." He mumbled taking a sip and immediately spitting it out again.

"Oh my god! What are you drinking?! This tastes like shit!" Max screamed making several people turn around and look over to us.

"Come on, its heaven on earth! What are your tastebuds! This tastes great and you cant tell me otherwise! I scolded him, How do you drink your coffee!?"

"With sugar and milk! But for real what is this!" he asked drinking some water trying to get the taste out of his mouth.

"Thats two shots of espresso and some fresh coffee out of the French press." I explained sipping again.

"What the hell?" the dutchman clearly didnt believe what I just said but he didnt get the chance to ask any more questions because Christians assistant, I still didnt know her name, asked me to follow her up to the office.

I did as I was told and as I stood in front of the room, I just kept asking myself what my boss could want. Getting the okay to enter I stepped through the door and took a seat when he said so.

"Hi Christian. How are you?" I asked trying to start some Smalltalk.

"Not that great after last night but I'll manage thank you. How are you?" he returned the question.

"I'm great. Thanks for asking. You wanted to see me?" I pointed out the obvious.

"Yes. Helmut and I talked and wanted to ask you if you wanted to stay with the team for the next four races. We really want to see you develop as you get to know the car and it will take a while until Checo is back." He smiled at me.

"Of course, I would love to work with you. How do you want to go with this? Do you announce it right away? Do we keep it a secret?" I wanted to bounce in this chair, but I held back keeping this meeting professional.

"We will announce it in an interview today or tomorrow. Please keep it a secret until then. "

"Okay. How secret is this secret? Can I tell Ian for example? Or can I tell no one?" I asked.

"You can tell people in the team but no one else. Im really happy you took this offer. He held out his hand, Well prepare a contract and call you in a few hours."

I shook his hand: "Thank you for this opportunity."

"See you later!"

"See ya!" I left the office and started silently celebrating in the staircase.

Returning to my coffee I left with Max, I put on a sad face before sitting down and attracting his attention.

"What did he want? Is he as sick as I am? he asked before getting a good look at my face, Whats wrong?"

"Im just a little sad" I paused making him worry, "for you."

"Huh?" he asked confusedly.

"Yeah. Because you wont get rid of me for the next few races!!" I was now smiling brightly at him.

"Oh my god thats amazing! Why did you scare me so bad!"

"Because your face is so worth it!" I laughed out loud.

Hanging out with the team (most of them were as hungover as Max) I spent the day in the Motorhome.

Christian made sure I had as much information about the next two weeks as possible. I had to go to Milton Keynes to do some work on the Sim and spend some time in the office looking through various data with the strategists and engineers. Leaving for France at the beginning of the week I had time to get to know the track and film a video for the red bull YouTube channel.

In the evening I started packing my things since I was taking a flight to England the next day. Getting my stuff from the Motorhome to the Hotel and putting all of it back into my suitcase. I had no idea how I got all of it in there in the first place, but I luckily somehow made it all fit, falling asleep soon after finishing.

Waking up to the annoying blaring of my alarm I hit the snooze button. Unfortunately, I hit it one too many times because I ended up very late. Not finding enough time to properly do my hair and put on any makeup I got to the airport ten minutes late.

My phone started ringing just as I wanted to have a mental breakdown because I couldnt find any plane leaving for England.

"Hello?" I asked not bothering to look who it was.

"Alex, where are you? Were waiting for you in the plane! "Ians voice came through the device.

"Im here but I cant find the plane anywhere on the screens. Where do I have to go?" I asked desperately.

"Ill come get you. Where are you exactly?" he asked, and I described my surroundings. Luckily, he turned up a few minutes later and we managed to get onto the plane just in time for it to take off.

"Thank god we made it. Youre lucky its a private plane, otherwise we would have gone without you." The man scolded.

"Im sorry. I overslept. I didnt even have enough time to get coffee!"

"Its okay. Just dont let it happen again please. "

The whole duration of the flight I caught up on Uni work and e-mailed my professors that I would be going into fully studying remotely again. In the last few years, I did most of my studies remotely because I was travelling with formula 2.

"What are you doing?" a bored Max asked as he sat down in the empty seat next to me. He tried to talk to the other crewmembers previously and loudly declared that he was bored multiple times.