One Day // Daniel Ricciardo

CHAPTER 20

Race day in Singapore flew in, nobody had told their other half their secrets and my head was swelling knowing all the information. It would have exploded by not but obviously I told Daniel, I'm good at secrets but I'm not that good.

Walking in to the paddock knowing I had absolutely no control over anything that happened with the cars was stressing me out more than anything.

With it being a night race, I napped the entire afternoon hoping I would be refreshed and ready, again I was still a sweaty mess.

Daniel and I arrived separately, but as soon as I arrived in the paddock, he was straight out to greet me.

"You look tired, if you want to skip and watch from the hotel it would probably be much better."

"It's only me, no need for stage fright." I grinned, kissing his cheek. He was never one for having family or friends to watch a race, I only got away with it for so long because it was my job. "This is our first race together again, as us, I want to be here."

"Just maybe stay out of the paddock?"

I screwed up my face, where else was I supposed to go? I was here for him, not for anyone else I couldn't go elsewhere and watch him.

"I'm not trying to be difficult Jess I just- I think some people are being a bit difficult."

"Jess! It's so good to see you here, we were all just saying how sad we are you left but how excited we were you'd be here today, colleague or not you know this paddock is yours!" One of my ex-colleagues shouted, running in to the office.

I took a deep breath and let go of Daniels hands, "You don't want me here, not them; I understand don't worry."

I didn't understand it but I didn't push it, I just wished him luck and walked away.

"Must be tough walking back in to the McLaren paddock again, you're always welcome in here Jess. permanently if you'll reconsider?"

I rolled my eyes at Christian Horner's comment and laughed, no chance I was going back to red bull but I was glad they let me hide with Kelly while Danny rejected me from McLaren.

The race was a mess, Daniel was dropping positions faster than he was moving. The strategy was all wrong and it was obvious the car was a mess.

I waited until the end when he'd finished P18, an extreme low for him before storming in to the paddock. I found his cool down room and walked in without knocking, "That was shit!" I exclaimed, "Who's behind this shit show?"

Okay, not the reaction he was looking for. A cuddle and sympathy would have probably gone down a lot better. He stayed silent and I crossed my arms in despair, still standing by the door.

"I told you to leave the race and you stayed."

I shuffled on my feet before turning and storming out.

"It's not all sunshine and rainbows on the other side, is it Jess?"

I stopped on my tracks, hearing an uncomfortably familiar voice behind me.

"Tom? Why are you here?"

He smirked and tucked a clipboard under his arm, leaning against the wall casually "I took your job."

"Congratulations Tom." It was all I could say. "But you've clearly got a lot to learn if you think your first race went well."

"Can't help if I was left a bit of a shit tip."

"We both know that's not true but if it helps you sleep tonight, I'll let you have it."

"I see you still have that...wonderful sense of humour."

I squinted my eyes, angry at his sarcasm but trying not to cause a scene where people could be listening.

"I truly wish you the best, however just know that if you ever intentionally do something to fuck over Daniel you will be sorry."

I stormed past him and went to the visitor's room to retrieve my stuff. Post-race interviews always took forever and it was boring so I decided just to head back to the hotel.

The worst thing about Tom was he grew up being my best friend, he was my family for the most part and he let that go to shreds when we broke up. He spent the entire relationship fixated on what ifs for Daniel in the end he drove me away.

I opened a bottle of wine and poured a glass after my shower. The shower got rid of all the sweat and dirt from the day but looking at the wine was enough. I didn't drink it; Daniel was in a mood with me because I didn't leave and I was in a mood with him because he didn't tell me about. It was incredibly petty and if this was the normal 'us' we would never have let this bother us.

I was already in bed when I heard him come back, my eyes were shut but I wasn't sleeping I just didn't want to talk. I heard Daniel banging about in the bathroom, talking to himself continuously before slipping in to bed beside me.

"I know you're not asleep, you don't sleep in that position... I'm not going to sleep on an argument."

"It was barely an argument." I defended, sitting up realising I had bit too fast. The corners of his mouth twitched a little but he didn't smile. I rolled my eyes and lay my head against the headboard.

"I'm sorry I never told you Tom had your job; I didn't want you to freak out."

"I would rather you told me than you told me to leave then I found out walking in to him."

He ran his hands through my hair and I almost melted straight back in to his arms but I kept my ground and stayed where I was.

"This isn't us Jess, I hate arguing with you."

"Let's forget all of this ever happened, someone was going to replace me I need to let the control freak in me relax and you need to just tell me things yourself."

He leaned over and kissed me on the forehead but we were interrupted by someone knocking on the door. I quickly ran to the door expecting hotel staff, only wearing one of Daniel's t-shirts and my pants.

"Lando what are you doing here?"

"Can I come in?"

His voice sounded low and sad and not losing a race kid=Nd of sad. I knew exactly what had happened and was really wishing I had managed to update Daniel.

He instantly walked towards the bedroom where Daniel was sat up in bed, Lando face planted on to the covers at the bottom of the bed allowing me to run and cover myself in the bed.

"She ended it. She waited until the end of the race and Luisa ended it."

Daniel looked over at me, "I forgot to tell you... sorry." I mouthed.

I let the two of them have a heart to heart, I had my input every so often to try and cheer him up but he was completely heartbroken.

"You'll always remember your first love and you'll never get over it but this will not last forever, you're being dramatic." I scorned after he told me this break up was the end of the world. "But three of us in this bed is also a bit much Lando, it's disgustingly hot in here."

I fanned myself down and slid on my pyjama shorts from beside the bed to give myself some modesty and jumped out of bed.

"It's really not that hot in here Jess, this is the coolest I've been in a while."

The movement had me feeling instantly nauseous so I subtly but quickly made my way to the bathroom to be sick. I was as quiet as possible but I knew what this meant, I had to take a test.

I could finally hear Lando and Daniel laughing and somehow, I don't see us being able to get rid of him any time soon.

There was no pressure on the test, I kept telling myself, if its negative it won't change anything, I can still be happy. We were nowhere near close to trying, we had only just officially got back together, there was so much time for us to make steps like that. We had done so much travelling recently, we were living and enjoying it.

I took a deep breath and flipped it over. Fuck.