Hit the Brakes - Daniel Ricciardo x OC

Part 17

After my conversation with Jamie, I decide that I'm going to go explore some of the parts of Belgium by myself. Men sometimes suck and I need some independent time because when you work in F1, you don't actually get time to explore outside of the paddock and hotel, because as soon as you do, you get called back to look at something or someone needs an interview from your driver. And of course, you can't trust that driver to do it alone. 

Because they'll say something stupid. 
They always say something stupid. 

I run into the hotel, change out of my team uniform and put on a pair of blue jeans, a loose fitted white top and some white sneakers. I grab a small black bag that drapes around my shoulder, take my hair out of my hair tie and shake it around a bit so it falls into place nicely around over my shoulders, and decide to head out.

Looking on my phone for places to go, I manage to find a small town called Waimes. Calling the car, I manage to get there with no issues, and hop out. I look around towards all of the jaw dropping scenery. Belgium is a beautiful place and if I could stay longer, I would. It's such a shame that the F1 schedule is so busy that you never get a chance to really explore where you are in the world. 

I see a small trail, which I decide to climb up to see where it takes me. Bad decision with my white sneakers and the fact that it had been raining all through the night - the shoes were caked in mud by the end of the trek. But once I made it to the top, I couldn't believe what I saw in front of me. 

f1easton: belgium, i love you! always love to see where i am in the world away from F1 <3

Going up and all the way back down again took around an hour and a half as I am the slowest walker of the century. So, I began to get pretty hungry and once I made it down, I begin to search for a little café in the town. 

I spot a small lunch place in a small and tall brick house. Peering in, it's very cute and decorated very traditionally, with a few tables in front of a fireplace warming the place up. There's bunting draped from wall to wall with different flags and pale, beige coloured ones in-between. It seems very homely and it's precisely the thing I want when I'm feeling a little homesick. There's a TV above the cash register displaying some F1 TV show about Spa in previous years, and I see Daniel on it and my heart jumps a little bit. 

I like Daniel. So much. He's a great guy and the fact that he's now mine is something that I'm still struggling to get my head around. I scroll through TikTok and see edits of him and see the comments, knowing that no one even knows that he's taken - or at least interested in someone - and I just want to scream in there 'thats my boy!!'. F1 can be such a miserable place at times as everyone is at each other's throats 24/7 with wanting to win so badly that I know that mine and Daniel's relationship will probably have to stay a secret for a while. But, I don't want to keep it a secret.

I want to be able to go and run to the McLaren garage when he ends up having a good race and hug him and tell him I'm proud of him. 
I want to be able to walk into the paddock with him holding hands while everyone gushes over how cute we are. 
I want to be able to post him on my Instagram and tell people he's now mine. 

I'm being so zoned out thinking about all of this to the point that I don't realise someone is trying to get my attention. 
I shake out of it and look ahead. It's an old lady waving at me to come into the lunch place. 
"Come in! Come in!" She says, smile spread wide across her face. 
I walk in and sit on the table closest to the fire and place my bag onto my chair. 
"You looked very worried, my love. Is everything okay?" She says, while pouring me some tea. 
"Oh, I'm okay. Just relationships." I reply, pouring milk into it. 
"I understand you. My husband and I always used to have issues when we were younger. You'll understand that whatever you're worrying about is something that you'll probably laugh about in a year or two. Small things." 
"It's tough. Everything is all so new - but I feel like I want to scream about it all from the rooftops. But I can't." I reply. 
"A secret relationship?" Her eyebrows raise. 
"Yes."
"Oh, my dear. It's best that it's like that sometimes. There's always someone who will try and stop your happiness no matter what it is." She says, sipping from her tea that she's just poured for herself. 
"Especially in the business I'm in." I reply. 
"F1?"
"How did you know?"
"It doesn't take a genius. You're a young, British girl here within driving distance from the circuit."
We both chuckle and she nods at me. 
"No matter who you're dating - you could be dating Lewis Hamilton for all I know. But, it's going to be okay. You're travelling the world with the one you want to be with right now. You're one of the luckiest girls in the world." She says. 

That really sticks with me. 
I really am one of the luckiest girls in the world.