Battle Scars // Esteban Ocon

11

After missing the Dutch Grand Prix due to the fact she couldn't move from her couch after coming back from Belgium, Abi was now in Monza with her crutches in tow.

It was Friday afternoon and this weekend was another one of F1's sprint weekends. Free Practice was at 2:30pm and qualifying was at 6pm.

Abi spoke with many people as she hopped through the paddock on her crutches towards Alpine's hospitality building.

She arrived outside where she met her replacement, two time world champion, Fernando Alonso had been hired in Abi's place while she was recovering.

"Abi. Hello." Fernando said with a smile as he held the door open for the brown haired girl.

"Hello. Thank you." Abi replied as she hopped inside passed the Spaniard.

Abi headed inside slowly and towards Esteban's drivers room. She hadn't spoken to her teammate properly since the hospital in Belgium and just briefly over text messages.

She knocked on the door using the bottom of her right crutch and stood there waiting. After a couple seconds the door opened to reveal Esteban.

"Hey you." He spoke with a smile as he stepped aside to let her in.

"Hey." Abi replied as she hopped into the room using her crutches before sitting down on the bed.

"How are you?" Esteban wondered as he closed the door.

"Good thanks. You?" Abi asked in reply.

"Good." The Frenchman nodded his head in reply.

The pair looked at each other before both simultaneously bursting out into laughter at their situation.

"This is so awkward." Abi commented and Esteban nodded his head in agreement with his former teammate.

"I was thinking the same thing." He told her.

"We can be friends right? We were both very drunk that night and if anything I think it-" Abi was cut off from talking by the feeling of a pair of lips on hers.

Knowing it was only her and Esteban in the room it was very clear who was kissing her and the lips felt familiar from that night back in Paris.

"And then there's that." Abi finished causing them both to laugh.

"I like you Abi." Esteban admitted nervously causing Abi to smile.

"You do?" She asked hopefully and the Frenchman nodded in reply. "I like you too Esteban."

—————

Abi spent that afternoon in the Alpine garage with a smile on her face as she watched qualifying unfold in front of her.

It was strange to say the least, to be sat in the garage with her team watching a car drive around that she should be in and have a different number on it.

Her goal was to drive again and more importantly in 2021. Being the only girl in F1 meant a lot of pressure but also a lot of expectations.

She needed to get back into the car as soon as possible in order to keep her career going. It was no secret that Fernando was a fantastic driver and a two time world champion.

The team were lucky to have him and Abi knew she could possibly have a fight on her hands to get her seat back especially if Fernando started to perform really well over the next few races.

With her career in one side of her mind, the other was thinking about what happened early between herself and Esteban.

She knew it would be hard to have a relationship with her teammate especially with media and all that watching her every move. Her life was difficult enough at the best of times without giving people the ammunition to throw at her.

Unfortunately both Esteban and Fernando were knocked out in Q2 with the Frenchman finishing P14 and his teammate just one place ahead of him in P13.

The pair returned to the garage together and exited their cars to speak with their engineers before they had to go for their media duties.

"Hey. I gotta run but meet me back in my driver's room?" Esteban spoke as he approached the Brit.

"Sure." Abi nodded her head in reply before the Frenchman disappeared along with Fernando for interviews.

—————

After Esteban came back from doing his interviews, the pair decided to have dinner together after Esteban nervously asked her.

So now they were in the Frenchman's hotel room waiting on room service to come while Esteban a shower.

They thought it best to have dinner there instead of trying to get Abigail comfy in a restaurant somewhere.

Abi stood up from the bed as she waited for Esteban to get out of the shower and for the food to come too as she was starving.

She walked over to the mirror without the use of her crutches, playing her cast briefly against the floor as she hoped across the room.

She stood in front of the mirror and raised her Alpine t-shirt to see the bruises. Some were healing well and were now a bluish, yellow colour while some were still dark in their purple stage.

The Brit sighed as she turned around counting the different bruises across her abdomen including the big on from her fractured ribs.

"Abi." Esteban's voice spoke catching the girl in surprise causing her to drop her t-shirt and lose her balance.

"Thanks." Abi said as Esteban caught her before she hit the floor.

"What were you doing?" Esteban asked as he helped her back over to the bed where she could sit down.

"Nothing." The Brit shook her head in reply.

"Abi." Esteban replied in a warning tone of voice.

"Looking at my bruises." Abi told him quietly.

"Abi, you can't keep doing this." Esteban sighed in reply.

"I know. I just hate it. I hate the bruises. I hate this stupid cast and those stupid crutches. I hate the thought of possibly months of rehab before I can get back in a car. I-." Abi was cut off by ranting by the feeling of lips on her own and she physically relaxed into the touch.

"It's going to be okay." Esteban assured her as he wrapped his arms around the girl next to him as he felt his heart continue to race.

—————

Another chapter✅ let me know what you guys think please

Feel like this book could be slow enough as I don't really have a plot goal at the minute for it so we'll see how things go.

-ky❤️