Lifeline (Daniel Ricciardo)

Chapter 40: Scream

I sat in the back, in the middle, as Simon drove his newly upgraded Infiniti down the M25. The highly anticipated Thorpe Park was only a mere five minutes away, and judging by the look on the rest of the group's faces, I wasn't the only one who was incredibly excited.

Daniel sat next to me, giving me a smirk every so often. The glint in his eyes said it all.

"Ah, Daniel...just to tell you again that you need to be careful today. You can't overdo it, and I'm to take your blood pressure at lunch time." Mia chirped, tapping her bag full of medical equipment. She was like a walking A&E department. She made bleeping sounds just as much too.

"Yup, I know." Daniel sighed, facing Mia. On his strict instruction I had sat between the pair to stop the Australian from strangling her. She had been chatting away to Si constantly since we pulled out of his driveway.

"Just making sure you know. And you're to tell someone immediately if you start to feel faint, or have a headache. Daniel, are you listening to me?" The Australian was gazing out of the window as we drove directly past the theme park and came off at the next junction.

"Huh? Ow!" Dan responded to my gentle kick and nodded, "uhhh...yeah, course."

"Right." Mia bit her lip and leant forward to talk to Sam who was sitting happily in the passenger seat. "And Samuel, same for you. I'm going to be your your crutch holder."

"Wait, what?" Sam chuckled, very nearly spitting out the drink he had just taken a swig of.

"I'm minding your crutches whilst you go on the more sedate rides."

"Does Nemesis count as sedate?" Sam raised an eyebrow, turning round. Nemesis was arguably the best ride there.

"No." Mia asserted, shrugging.

"What a load of bollocks then."

"Samuel," Si sighed, turning into the park entrance. I could have sworn I had never seen Simon give such a warning look, "be nice."

"Does this mean we get to go to the front of the rides first?" I asked cautiously, knowing that Sam at least would be allowed in the disabled queue.

"Christian got us all fast track passes for the whole day." Daniel said and I felt my heart rate pick up. On Thursday he had paid for just about everything in London, and now half of our tickets here too. At least I had given something small back to the rest of my friends by paying for their actual ticket.

Simon pulled up in a disabled parking bay and Sam left his temporary blue badge on the dashboard. He wasn't proud of it, but walking far for him did still hurt and, if it meant more time in the park, then I don't think he was going to argue.

One by one we filed out of the Infiniti and I grabbed the rucksacks out of the boot. Daniel made sure that he was carrying the food bag that Mia was to mind.

"What are you doing?" I asked, noticing he was rooting around the cool bag, trying to feel for something.

"Attempting to get out my secret Twix stash so Mia doesn't reprimand me for eating chocolate." Daniel frowned initially before smirking at my gaze of disapproval.

"I don't think she'd care too much, everyone knows you haven't been sticking to your meal plans very well." I brushed his arm as he leant in to whisper in my ear.

"Between you and I she thinks I follow those dietary plans as if it's the Bible. I'm hiding the Twix bars..." His lips were practically touching my ear as he spoke, "can I borrow your rucky to put them in, instead?"

"Fine." I rolled my eyes and unzipped my bag. He could do whatever he wanted to and, he'd still charm me into thinking he was right.

Daniel Ricciardo, ladies and gentlemen.