Heartdriven

31. Miracle Worker

Still recovering from her hangover, Alice wasn't sure if what she was witnessing right now was real or hallucination. How did he do that? Sebastian had started in the pitlane... and now he was standing on the podium. People around her seemed just as shocked as her, as before the race, the likeliest end results was predicted to be just within the points. And there he was, having fought his way to the front. She was so proud of him. What a wonderful man, so in tune with his talent, to do that... incredible.

Fernando had returned to his frustrated self, when he arrived back in the garage from the debrief to give Alice a ride back to the hotel. Next up was USA, and she would have a few days off again. But Fernando was... he was more intense. Maybe now was a good time to keep quiet, so she just followed him along, and hid herself in the darkness of the car, until they reached the hotel. He didn't speak one word.
As they entered the hotel lobby, he broke his silence, "I'm gonna hang back for a bit," throwing his head to his Ferrari team members at the bar, "But you take care, yes?"
She rubbed his arm, "See you in Austin, Fernando."

Starting to clean up the mess of a room she returned to, she felt embarrassed by the night she had no recollection of. How did Sebastian end up here? She grabbed her phone, sat down on the bed and looked through her messages, only seeing a simple one outgoing, "I need to see you," not that bad, and a quick ingoing phone call, received shortly after the message. Okay. Maybe she should just call him. No, leave it be. It would sort itself out. No. She needed to know. What had she said? What were their current status? God. It was so hard to keep track of this shit. Let it leave your brain, don't think anymore about it... the phone was ringing.

"Alice," his soft voice said on the other end of the line.
"Sebastian," she smiled to herself.
"Don't tell me you're drunk again?"
She chuckled and put her fingers to her lips. "I just have some questions...", he cut her off, "Nothing happened, okay?"
She nodded to herself, "Yeah-yeah, I know that but... did I... what did I say?" She started gnawing on her nail, as she listened to his sigh.
"Alice, it's not. Uhm, I mean, you didn't really say anything, you know? You were drunk." He went silent for a moment. "Alice...", she remained quiet. "I would like to see you in Austin."
Her hand moved from her mouth to her neck, "It's more likely that you will see me than not", slowly stroking her collarbone.
"What I mean is..." he paused and took a deep breath, "Do you want to have dinner with me?"
Alice fell back on the bed and smiled. "Yes."