The Dutch Grand Prix [EN] [16+]

16

As we walk towards the end of the paddock she thanks me for not saying her name to the media yet. I tell her that I would never put her in such a position so fast. Luckily the media has lots to speculate about my decicions for next season so they will not pay too much attention to my love life. I cannot help but wonder why luck is suddenly on my side, what did I do to deserve all this?

When we continue our way to the camping we decide to cook at her camper. We stop by my parents' camper to tell them but they are not there. At Mauve's camper I take out my phone to send them a message as Mauve gathers the food from the fridge. We are cooking outside because she does not have a real kitchen yet but that makes the camping feeling complete. While I cut the chicken and Mauve cuts the vegetables I can not help but wonder what will happen to us in the future. "Tomorrow I have to go to Spa," I say. She looks at me and replies: "I know," and she focusses on the vegetables again. "Do you want to come with me?" I ask her after a minute. She does not look up at me. I think that she has to let it sink in before she can reply.

"So, this is what I am going to be?" She asks and then continues, "I have to follow you wherever I go from now on?" "No of course not, I just thought Spa is quite close to Zandvoort so maybe you could come with me," I reply. When she does not reply to me nor looks at me I stand up and touch her arm, "Hey, I did not mean to make you do things that you do not want or put you in a difficult situation." She finally looks at me when she says "George, you know so little about me yet. I do not know what to say or where to begin. My life is just not that simple that I can just drop everything and go with you," She replies. I have no clue what she is trying to tell me with this answer. "I want to know everything about you and your life Mauve. I want to be a part of your life from now on," I tell her. She chuckles a little sarcastically before she says: "Oh george, you have no idea what you are getting yourself in to." "Please tell me everything," I beg her with my puppy eye look. "Well for starters, I need to work." Before she can continue I bring in my argument: "But you can work from your camper, like you did on Friday. Am I right?" "I could," she replies. "But I did not bring enough clothes for another week," she continues. "We could drive by your place to get you some more. I have to be at the track on Tuesday so we have a whole day," I refute her argument again. "I live in a fourty square meter apartment George. Your hotel rooms are usually bigger than that," she laughingly replies to me. Eventhough she might be right I do not tell her that. "I do not mind. If I had to live with you in this camper for the rest of my life I would," I grin at her. She she looks thoughtful, looking for a new argument to throw at me. "Okay, I will come with you," she finally gives in. I jump up and run to her for a hug. "But, I have to call my father to ask if I can use the camper for another week and I have to make sure there is somebody else to take care of him," she says. I let her go and ask: "Why does somebody to take care of him? Did something happen to him? Are you usually the person who takes care of him?" I rattle. "Okay, you better sit down if you really want to hear it all," she says before she tells me everything.

Two years ago, her father found a lump on his skin so he went to the doctor. The doctor send him to the hospital to take a biopsy. The result was negative, no cancer cells were found. A year later the lump grew a little so he went to the hospital again for another biopsy. The results were positive this time and it had already spread to his lungs. They could not remove the original lump because it had grown too big. Different therapies were suggested but chemo seemed to be the best option to make the lump shrink. A few months ago they finally removed the lump and her father is now recovering from it. Mauve, her brother and sister all take turns to take care of him. She had a boyfriend but they had to break up because of it. He works in motorsports as a performance engineer so he had to travel a lot for work. They wanted to move in together but she could not find a job near his racing team and he could not find work at a Dutch racing team. They tried but after a few months she could not combine the travelling and taking care of her father anymore so they broke up. Now I understand why she is so reticent towards me. I try to comfort her until she has calmed down and then tell her that she should not get in trouble just to come with me. But she tells me that it might be good for her to have a little escape from it all. So she calls her father.