Something Gained

Chapter Fourty-One

We sat down at our table and ordered drinks before I took out my phone to check to see if Daniel had text back, which he had;
You're welcome, I love you x

I smiled and went onto Twitter and saw some news reports, of course there was ones of me. Knew that was coming

Daniel Ricciardo's girlfriend shops in LA with friend while he parties hard on a yacht in Monaco

I clicked on it and showed Hannah. There was pictures of us shopping and laughing, and then pictures of Daniel on a boat in Monaco and the yacht was packed with people. Well at least he was having fun by the looks of it, I could see Lando, Max and Charles in some pictures as well, they all lived in Monaco so I wasn't surprised.
"Daniel Ricciardo's girlfriend. What an achievement in life" Hannah sighed, sipping her drink
"I grew up watching formula one, never did I think I'd be working for a formula one team, let alone working so closely with two drivers and dating one of them, like what is this life"
"It's a wonderful life, he sends you flowers and cars, like damn" she made me laugh. Our dinner was brought to the table and we started eating
"So how are you and Liam then?" I asked her
"I mean he went back to the UK obviously as he doesn't get the same time off we do. Like he's off for the weekend so we're spending Sunday together before we fly to Turkey Monday, but it's hard to find the time. I'm sure it easier for you, you work with Daniel"
"Make the time. You have evenings, we have days off, time off"
"But our schedules never line up" she said, looking down at her food
"Do you like him?" I asked, putting my hand on hers
"Yeah I really really do"
"Then you will find a way, I'll make sure the boys don't cause any damage for a couple of weeks so he doesn't have to work late. Or just go have a movie night when we get to turkey" I said, she laughed
"Thank you, I'll try and think more positively about it"

We headed back to my apartment after dinner and chilled out before going to bed.
The next couple of days sped by, we went to the beach yesterday and then ended up going out for a night out, that was interesting. Because now I had woken up and was regretting all life decisions. There was a lot to drink and it wasn't a good idea but here we are. I laid in bed and pulled out my phone, 6pm in Monaco. I text Daniel and put my phone back down.
"Alex?" I heard Hannah call from the spare room
"Mhmm" I didn't have the energy to speak
"I feel dead"
"Can we have a chilled out day today" I said. She nodded and climbed into bed with me
"Beach?" She suggested. Beach it was

An hour later and we had walked down to the beach, I pulled off my T shirt and laid down on the sunbed on my belly. My phone started ringing, I pulled it out my bag and saw Daniel was FaceTiming

"Hello" i said. I didn't sound okay, it made me laugh
"Oh hello, are you okay?
"Not really, we went out last night"
"Oh, brilliant" he said laughing at me
"Not my finest hour. How are you?"
"I'm good, missing you, but passing the time with the guys"
"I saw, partying hard"  he chuckled
"I saw that to, made me laugh. I also saw the pictures from last night, someone else partied hard"
"Are they bad?"
"No you look hot, you always do"
"Well thank you"
"What you doing?"
"Laying on the beach topping up the tan" I said lifting up my phone so he could see behind me at the sea
"Wow that view"
"You know you see this all the time, you live here to"
"I meant the view of your bum"
"Oh ssh you"
"Oh Michael's hollering, we've got dinner tonight and then he has me up early tomorrow for training"
"I'm doing nothing tomorrow, enjoy dinner though"
"I will, I'll see you the day after tomorrow thank god, I love you"
"I love you to, bye"  i blew him a kiss and ended the call

"Honestly, cutest couple in the world" Hannah said, her tone was so odd today, she sounded hungover. At least we were in the same boat.

Waking up alone in my hotel room back in England was miserable, the weather was miserable. Compared to the last few days with Hannah in LA, this was crap. I headed to the MTC, I had a day to catch up on some things before the team flew to Turkey for the next race. Daniel and Lando were flying straight from Monaco so I would meet them there and I was lonely. I walked into my office and got set up for the day, as I was replying to emails there was a knock on the door.

"Hey Alex" Zak walked into the office and sat down on the sofa in my room.
"Hey Zak. Good few days off?" I asked him
"Yeah, nice to recharge and now ready to get back to it. How about you? Was LA good?" He asked
"Yeah it was, Hannah and I had a great time" I said
"That's good to hear, you and Hannah are good friends?" I nodded "good, to hear. I wanted to come and speak to you and let you know that as a company we're giving offering you a promotion"
"What?" I was in shock, a promotion?!
"So you will be now Senior McLaren Communications if you want the job?" He asked
"Are you joking? Yes!"
"Brilliant, your salary will be doubled" my jaw dropped. I couldn't believe it "As you know Hannah is McLaren Communications Manager so you will be working directly with her doing some more in-depth stuff and looking after the media for the entire team. You will still be working closely with Daniel and Lando, as the drivers they are your main priority, especially on race weekends, but you'll be overseeing the media and content teams as well and reporting to Hannah where you need to, you'll be looking after the McLaren emails and things as well" he continued
"I can't believe it"
"Happy? I've drafted a contract for you, so if you can get it back to me by the end of the day but take your time if you need to" He asked
"I'm over the moon, thank you so much for believing in me and keeping me here and promoting me. McLaren is my home and I can't believe it"
"I'm glad to have you here, you're a wonderful asset and Hannah never stops talking about how hard you work and how well you do, Daniel and Lando are pleased to have you with them. Im very excited to be able to give you this opportunity"
"Thank you so much!"
"Monday evening in Turkey we will be going out for dinner to tell everyone and let them know and to celebrate you. Hannah knows but otherwise no one does we will tell them then"
"Zak you have no idea how happy I am. Thank you so much"
"Of course, now I'll let you go back to work as your last day in this job" he got up and left the office and I just sat in shock.

I picked up my phone and called Hannah. I knew she was off today but I couldn't wait. I needed to speak to someone and I couldn't speak to Lando or Daniel, they probably wouldn't answer anyway thankfully, they would have to wait until tomorrow.