One Day // Daniel Ricciardo

CHAPTER 19

We travelled straight from Australia to Singapore for the Grand Prix and arrived plenty of time before Daniel had any media duties, giving us time to explore.

If I thought the heat was bad in Australia then I was rudely slapped in the face with the heat in Singapore. I think I was already averaging on four showers a day and we had only been here a few hours.

"Lando called us, he wants lunch... well, he's still not talking to you but he does want you to be at the table during lunch."

"He'll get over it, he's a big boy."

I was nervous about being at the race this weekend, I didn't know the general vibe of how much they despised me.

I checked my phone, emails, missed calls, emails again, nobody was trying to get hold of me.

Our hotel suite was easily one of the nicest we've ever been in, two separate rooms to allow separation between the bedroom and living area. A four-poster bed with pristine white, crisp bedding sat in the middle of the room which had a balcony overlooking the race track where Daniel was standing.

I walked out to him and wrapped my arms round him, hugging him from behind.

"I promise as soon as lunch is over and he's happy with how much he's seen us we can come back here and just be us."

"In fairness it's just been us the past few weeks, I think we owe it to everyone to make some time for them."

I didn't want to leave, I wanted to take him up on the offer and stay in the hotel room just the two of us, watch movies and take mass advantage of the 5-star bed we had.

We walked hand in hand down to the hotel lobby to meet with everyone else, the rest of the hotel being just as grand as the bedroom.

Seated in the restaurant was Lando, Luisa, Max and Kelly.

"I'm so glad to see you Daniel, it's nice to see you brought company too." Lando announced coldly, greeting Dan and returning to his seat.

I didn't answer him, just greeted everyone else and took a seat.

Today was the first time seeing them since Hallie's court case, other than Lando holding a grudge about me leaving McLaren they thankfully didn't make a fuss about anything else.

"I'm sorry Lando, let's just clear the air now I know it was shit of me but you're one of my best friends I can't deal with you being so angry."

"I'm not angry," He finally rolled his eyes and unfolded his arms, "It's just you didn't tell me, we had rituals and you listened to us, we liked working with you and now we're stuck with god knows who."

"It's the nature of working life." I shrugged, "You're gonna get attached to the next person and then eventually they'll leave, you'll get attached to Danny and then he'll leave."

"Who said I'm leaving McLaren any time soon?"

"I didn't, I'm just making a point." I rolled my eyes, making a mental note to not thank Danny later for the moral support. "I'll still be about, if the new person isn't living up to my expectations, I don't think I'll keep my mouth shut."

"I don't think you'll be able to keep your mouth shut anyway." Lando responded, receiving a not-so-subtle kick under the table from Luisa.

I burrowed my eyebrows and looked at them in confusion.

"Any intentions of coming back to red bull?" Max interrupted, "Christian is scouting you."

"He calls me weekly offering me a job, I think you're doing fine without me. I'm doing fine without my job, I'm here and I'm happy not to be working."