Taming the Bull ~ [Sebastian Vettel]

Chapter 10 - Mutual Connections

The sheer energy and ambiance of the paddock never failed to give Ingrid butterflies in her stomach. She still had trouble fully believing that Formula 1, walking around in the glitzy paddock, coming face to face with people she had only seen on television before was now a part of her life. She was here, it was real, and hopefully she would stay for a long long time.

It was Thursday in Barcelona and the paddock had finally started feeling properly busy. The first two days of testing had passed and the teams were frantically trying to work out how they could improve before the start of the season. There were people milling about everywhere, from team personnel and track workers, to the media and of course the drivers themselves.

Talking about drivers, Ingrid hadn't been able to stop thinking about a certain driver since Tuesday night.

Her encounter with Sebastian had left her scarred, every time she thought about his beautiful eyes and charming smile her heart would start beating rapidly in her chest, but equally as fast it would stop when she thought about how dejected he had looked after she had turned him down. He had looked like a kicked puppy, and that didn't sit well with her.

However she had to forget all about that, this weekend was about so much more than just a man named Sebastian Vettel. This was still her first weekend to properly prove herself in the workspace with the FIA, and she had to do just that. She couldn't go about with her mind stuck on some silly drivers, it wasn't even just one of them. There were two.

Tonight would be what felt like one of the biggest nights of her life and she had never felt so sick before meeting up with someone ever before. She didn't know what she would wear, what she would do, how she was going to act.

That very evening she would be going on a date with none other than Jenson Button.

The fact that she still had no idea what they would do or what his plans were made her feel even more nauseous than she usually would before a date, not to forget of course the fact that he was a handsome Formula 1 world champion. She wouldn't even have time to prepare herself properly since she had no clue about what kind of adventure he would take her on and as a control freak, it most certainly freaked her out.

Ingrid didn't know if she was fearing the night more than she was looking forward to it. Sure Jenson was a lovely guy to be around, but could she really keep company with someone as handsome and charismatic, and not to mention successful, man as him for an entire evening. She didn't know if she was hoping to bump into him today in the paddock, or if she was hoping to stay away from him for as long as she possibly could. Her head was not in a great space today to say the least.

The cool sun was beaming down on the tarmac of the Barcelona paddock on this chilly morning as she hurriedly made her way towards the FIA medical centre where she was just about to meet up with Dr. Gary Hartstein and medical car driver Alan Van Der Merwe to go over their day.

The third day of testing was about to start and Ingrid felt just as excited as she had over the first two days. Seeing the cars roaring around the track still gave her shivers and the feeling was exquisite every single time. Gazing around her it still felt like an outer body experience, not to talk about her new-formed strange relationship with two of the drivers. Two people she never once thought she would even meet or get close to a couple of months ago. The way her father was nagging at her about getting autographs and taking pictures with the drivers, it truly felt as though her life had turned into a fairytale novel.

It was not just her new work that felt like something out of a fairytale though, her walk home from the restaurant the other day with Sebastian still haunted her body and soul. When she got back to her own hotel room that evening and finally got a few minutes to sit down by herself she hadn't been sure if it had actually happened or not. For a couple of moments she had thought that perhaps she was just going insane and had made it all up in her head. But the proof that it hadn't been just a fragment of her mind was still there in the form of his jacket, the jacket she had forgotten to return to him when they'd parted. The jacket that smelled incredible, because it smelled like him.