Under the Microscope (Book One of Three)

Chapter 26

A short one, hope you enjoy it!

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"Nice of you to make it, Elodie," Toto says as I walk into his hotel room. 

"I'm not going to lie to you, I went way too hard last night. I got out of bed an hour ago. Which, quite frankly, is a miracle." I say as I slump into the sofa in the lounge area of his suite, immediately resting my head in my hands, elbows on my knees. Toto chuckles as he pulls a bottle of water from his mini fridge and hands it to me. I smile accepting it and take a sip, leaning back.

"Good, you deserved it, just be careful." He says, taking the seat across from me. "I know some drivers get distracted by the party."

I nod, "trust me, I am not drinking anything until the summer break! You could not pay me to touch alcohol." I say as I think back to the last half a day, most of which has been spent by my toilet bowl, I wince as I remember it.

"I don't doubt that, you look awful." He says, his brutal honesty shining through. I snort in appreciation. He's not wrong, I'm there in fluffy socks and jogging bottoms as well as a cropped sweater, my hair in a simple ponytail.

"Where's your nicer half?" I retort looking around the room, not seeing or hearing any signs of Suzie.

"With the kids back home, I'm just here for you." He says, leaning forwards to the coffee table and opening his laptop. I shift nervously, feeling bad.

"I'm sor-" I begin but he holds his hand up to tell me to be quiet as he searches through documents on his laptop. I snap my mouth shut, pursing my lips and move to sit cross-legged on the sofa, kicking my shoes off in the process.

"Alright, so we have concrete offers from a few teams now." He begins, turning his laptop around so I see the proposals of three different teams on the screen. "You've shown your skill, decision-making abilities, and you come with a nice bounty of sponsors now." I nod as I lean forward, scanning the teams. 

McLaren, Alfa Romeo and... 

...Alpha Tauri. 

My eyes light up at the last name. Score! I grin as I nod, listening to the praise. 

"But now I need to know what you want from the teams," he says, turning the laptop back round to face him. "So..." he raises his eyebrows waiting for me to respond. I lean back and tip my head to the side.

"I want a multi-year deal. Two or three years ideally." 

"Obviously, I mean the specifics." He replies flatly, looking at me in despair. I shrug, suddenly not really knowing anymore. 

"X number of women in my personal team?" He nods, noting it down. "Not just in media, all the way through the team engineers and analysts as well." I continue, he just responds by typing. "Minorities too?" 

"Ja," I pause as I hear his keys go. "Break clause for their underperformance?" I hum in agreement.

"To be honest, I really want input on the wheel again, I think that's really important," I say and he nods. "Investment into adding more women into their teams? I don't know what I am meant to ask for?" I say stressed all of a sudden, puffing out my cheeks. 

"Well...usually money." He says flatly, but the amusement is evident in his voice. 

"Well, what should I ask for there, I don't know?" 

"Hm, well you're coming out your rookie year, you have outperformed your car and teammate pretty consistently. Plus, you bring a particularly unique audience and fan base as well as sponsors. But it depends on the team." I nod as I listen, tilting my head to the side as I scrunch up my face. "So, the best question is, which team are you most interested in?" I sit silently staring at my hands as I twiddle my thumbs, I know what I want, and when I look up at Toto, he does as well. He sighs as he looks at me, "really?" I shrug as I sit up straight with newfound confidence.