Amber & Honey ~ [DR3]

1. Monza

Monza, September 2021

"Excuse me!" I call out to the bar man who's just popped another bottle of champagne open in front of me. He quickly pours the foamy liquid into the glass, placing yet another one in front of me without even bothering to ask what it was I wanted. I lift the glass to my lips, taking a sip, testing, to see if in the last 15 minutes my tastes have changed. No, definitely not. I swallow the light bubbly liquid cursing it's association with F1 and all things fancy. It's not what I want to drink, I simply don't like it. "Don't people have anything else to drink here?" I grumble to myself, my hands gripping onto the cool marble top of the bar. It's a nice contrast to the sticky heat of the bar where this party is taking place. Behind the bar all they're handing out is freaking champagne. Some people are even taking bottles of the stuff. It's free champagne, but still, a little bit of choice would be nice.

Everyone else in the bustling room seems completely oblivious to the lack of drink choice. Too busy celebrating the first Mclaren P1 and 2 of the season, the first in too long. Cheers echo around me periodically whenever the music volume dims. There'd already been slight drunken ramblings from the team principal and engineers. Then, of course, my lovely (and very drunk) brother and his (more sober) teammate. It made me laugh out loud when Lando slurred into the microphone thanking everyone before trying to spray a bottle of champagne around the room as he had earlier on the podium. Someone put a stop to that quite quickly. He really doesn't drink much so I doubt it took much for him to get that way.

I take another sip from the champagne in the flute in front of me and wince a little at the bitter liquid in my mouth. I wish I could like it, it's so light and...fancy, but I've never been a fan of carbonated drinks.

"You alright?" A voice comes from my right. It takes me a moment to realise the question is directed at me. I don't know anyone here apart from Lando, everyone else is just from brief waves or introductions around the paddock. "Yeah?" The voice asks me again.

I turn to my side, my eyes widening a little when I see that the person is, in fact, talking to me. "Yeah, I just want a drink." I say gesturing hopelessly to the busy bar in front of me and the bar staff ignoring me.

"Is that not a drink?" My new acquaintance is quick to mock the glass of champagne in front of me.

"I hate champagne." I say simply, a gracious smile on my face to answer his joking question.

"What?!" There's a pause as a grin graces the man in front of me's face. "I think you're in the wrong place to hate champagne." It's in this moment that I realise exactly why half of the grid wants to be best friends with Daniel Ricciardo. He's beyond charming and all he needs is that grin of his.

I hum. "Maybe."

"What do you want?" He asks quickly his eyes dropping to the half finished drink in front of me.

"Anything but this." I reply honestly, gesturing to the champagne flute in front of me. This makes him laugh.

"How about a shot?" My face twists. The last time I did shots it...did not end well for me. Daniel runs his tongue over his top lip, as though he's assessing my reaction, judging if I'll turn him away if he orders a shot or not. "I won my first fûcking race of the season today, you can't say no to me darling." Whilst his words are harsh, the tone is joking and something I find myself not wanting to say no to todays race winner.

How could I disappoint a man who's grinning at me like I've just told him the greatest news he's ever heard?

"Okay fine, I won't." I concede. Another grin is flashed my way before he's gesturing over one of the bartender. One of them immediately comes our way and I curse at them internally.