Sparks - Daniel Ricciardo

Twenty Seven

📍16th November 2021 - London, UK

The triple header was well under way for Daniel as he consistently had back to back races for the next three weekends whilst Amber worked tirelessly at the school in the day time and focused on her other writing tasks in the evening.

The added stress and pressure for her other work commitments was making it harder each day for Amber. Harder to focus on the lesson planning for her year group.

She only had a few more weeks left until the children would break up for Christmas and then their original teacher would be back after the festive period.

Amber would definitely miss her teaching role, but she was feeling slightly happier to have a little more time to focus on her other work and spend some well earned time with Daniel. It had been a long couple of weeks already, and the break was only going to get longer whilst he remained in Brazil and Qatar.

The only saving grace was that Daniel would be heading back to Monaco in the week period between Qatar and Saudi Arabia and Amber had managed to pull some strings to allow her to have a weekend free, as well as a Monday morning.

It was her birthday after all.

Amber had been resiliently alone in London ever since leaving New York and she was starting to feel slightly reassured that she was safe. She had been here two weeks with no sight of danger or harm. Although, she had made friends with the neighbour across the hall who looked out for her.

But on this Tuesday morning, Amber looked at herself in the mirror, feeling incredibly bloated as her stomach puffed out a little. Now she came to investigate her appearance; she noticed that her lips were considerably more plump and her breasts felt heavy and sore.

It has been exactly a month since Amber had stopped taking her contraceptive pill and Daniel hadn't been offering to wrap it up either. She didn't want to get ahead of herself as her mind filled with the constant thought that she could be pregnant, but she couldn't help herself. Excitement brewed deep inside her system.

"Do I take a test?" Amber asked herself as she looked into the mirror. "No." She shook her head and reached for her makeup bag. "Maybe tonight."

Talking to herself was Amber's biggest coping mechanism. She felt as if she was accompanied by others even when she was gravely alone.

As she paced around her bathroom, she reached for her phone and unlocked it to uncover her period tracking app. Her fingernails tapped on the back of her phone case as she noticed she was coming up to be ten days late.

Ten. Whole. Days.

Amber took a deep breath as she closed her eyes and calmed down.

"Amber, wait until after work." She told herself and she continued to get ready for work, scrambling her hands through every cosmetic item she had to her disposal before moving to pin her hair up and out of her face.

It was safe to say that Amber's day at work had been more than chaotic. The children didn't seem to want to settle, only wanting to do physical tasks like music and dancing. Not that Amber minded, but she had to cover certain topics with her group over their academic year.

But her mind was elsewhere. She couldn't focus on anything other than what may be happening inside her body. She kept taking deep breaths and calming herself down, but all she wanted to do was race back home and take a test. She had worked herself up now and she was almost hyperventilating.