Lights Out

Temple Of Speed

Wednesday 8th September.
"I don't really know why I agreed to this, to be honest," I sighed, swinging my golf club around.
"Can you stop doing tha-, Jessie, stop," Charles said. I sighed again.
"Chica, we are in Italy, enjoy the scenery," Carlos said in Spanish. I replied in the same dialect.
"What I'd really enjoy is a glass of wine or two, or maybe a bottle and a new tattoo."
"Eh, no. Playing golf is better for you."
"I'll get upset if I lose."
"Then don't lose," Charles said in Italian, evidently having picked up on some of the words.
"I'm also very lonely because Lily isn't here," I said in English loud enough for Alex to hear.
"She'd hand our arses to us, Jessie," he said.
"Let's just enjoy the time we have together," George added.
"I'd much rather enjoy it with a bottle of Tequila."
"You need help, Chica."
"I need Tequila."
"And I need to start playing," Lando said. "Are you done talking?"
"Is he in a bad mood today?" Carlos asked in a low voice to me. I shrugged.
"You're his best friend," I answered. "Why don't you find out."
"No, no, I'll see how it plays out."
"Right."
There was a pause before Carlos spoke again even quieter and closer to my ear.
"It isn't something to do with Luisa, is it?"
"I don't know! Why don't you go and bother your Ferrari friend instead of me."
"Ay ay ay, I think you might be the one in a bad mood, Chica."
"I'm never in a bad mood with you, Carlos. You've helped me the most."
"Gracias, Chica."
"De nada, querido amigo."

Thursday 9th September.
My heart pounded in my ears accompanied by the constant rush of blood and the breath that I was chasing. Sweat ran down from my forehead, dripping from my nose and mingling with tears that I hadn't even realised had spilled from my eyes. My muscled body glistened with the sheen layer of moisture that covered the tanned skin, the dim lighting only serving to accentuate it. I bent over, my hands on my knees. I could feel the anger rising in my body again. It started in my stomach. The bubbles foamed and frothed, prompting the fight or flight feeling to emanate from deep inside my chest. I let it consume me, my breathing getting harder and harder as I let myself be riled up. My arms weighed themselves down from the shoulders and my legs became weak with the anticipation on acting upon the adrenaline coursing through my veins. My face hardened, my eyes bearing a glare that would pierce the heart of anybody that saw me at that moment, but there was nobody here. Nobody was with me. There was only me. I let out a cry of anger as I started hitting the punching bag in strict and controlled jabs. My muscles tensed. The whoosh of air leaving the leather joined the continuous crescendo that deafened me from the outside world. My body twisted, my waist serving as its axis, as the gloved fists came into contact again and again.
Discipline.
Speed.
Aggression.
This was all I needed. This was all I needed to do. This was all I had to do.

Friday 10th September.
I was laughing so hard that my stomach was hurting, tears streaming down my face as the smile contorted my cheeks and made them ache with the strain of the muscles holding it up. Danny was telling a story about his summer; and break action-packed with new experiences and relaxation, as well as a few funny stories of drunkenness.
"Oh my God," I said, gasping as I dug around for my phone. "You have to see this video of Harry when he got drunk over the summer."
"If it includes nudity, I don't want to see it," Danny said.
"No, no, it's fine. Here." I gave the Australian my phone with the video on. Max and Charles craned their necks to see, as did Pierre, Lando, George, and Alex. Harry was busy at the garage, a late night fix on Yuki's car that he couldn't tell me any more about for obvious reasons.
"I didn't know he was this bad that night!" Lando exclaimed, his eyebrows raised in shock.
"Well yeah, you were just as bad," I chuckled.
"No I was not."
"You really were."
"Did you really have to laugh so loud?" Max asked, obviously taking the piss. I flipped him off, making him laugh even more.
"This is your boyfriend," Daniel said, passing the phone back. "I hope you're happy with that as your boyfriend," he laughed.
"Well she wouldn't have been able to do that with Julien," Max laughed, making my chest pang a bit. I tried not to show it. It wasn't like it hurt that I was never able to do that, it was yet another realisation of how much I was restricted when I was in that relationship. Harry made me feel happy and warm and I wasn't scared of him. I could film him whilst drunk and go out with my friends without him and he was completely fine with that.
"You okay?" George asked into my ear. I snapped out of my daze and turned to him, nodding with a smile on my face. The smile was, of course, completely put on.
"Guys I want to take a picture with all of us," I said.
"Why?" Lando asked, pulling a face.
"Shut up, don't be a dick," I scoffed. "Come on."
The all huddled in and made various faces whilst I snapped a few shots.
"Muchas gracias, pendejos," I smiled sweetly. Carlos choked out a laugh at my seemingly innocent nickname for all of them and tutted at me.
"Ay, Chica, palabrotas te atrapará en ningún lugar."
"Hipócrita."
"What are you saying?" Alex laughed.
"How we hate you and wish you never get a seat in F1 again. Well, actually, with Georgie-boy going to the big leagues, you're going to-"
"Shut up! You know that nobody is supposed to know about that," Alex hissed.
"What's this?" Pierre asked.
"He's not taking your seat, don't worry," I reassure my old teammate. "Or Yuki's."
George kicked me gently under the table. Only me, him, and Alex knew about our friend's whereabouts next season.
"Okay, how about you, Jessie," George said. "Where are you going to be next season?"
"At Red Bull, obviously."
"You know Checo's been seen with Horner," Charles said nonchalantly, sipping his drink.
"Why?"
"I don't know," he shrugged. "There's just been sightings of him talking to Christian."
"Well he's one of the reserve drivers, it's nothing to worry about," Alex said, shooting me a fleeting glance.
"Well the last time one of the reserve drivers was talking to Christian for that long that often, Pierre was back in AlphaTauri before the second half of the season started," Charles said. His body jolted and he scowled at his French friend. "I'm just saying," he said, defensively.
"He's just a reserve driver," I said, "It's fine. Besides, I've got another meeting on Tuesday via teams to do contract negotiations. I'm not going anywhere," I chuckled. As soon as I'd said that, the food started coming to the table, and we all dug in.