Strangers At A Bar

Seven

Saturday September 23rd

Warm sunshine beat down on Lily's face as she stretched and rolled over in bed, only to find the other side empty she pouted to herself.

"Breakfast." That voice. It sent shivers down her spine. Lily sat up, running her fingers through her hair as Toto placed a tray of food carefully on the bed. "On me. To make up for not being great company last night." He smiled and handed her a cup of coffee.

"You don't have to make anything up to me, I like just being with you." She bit her lip coyly as she stared down at her hands. "Waking up and you still being here, it's nice." She shrugged.

"I seem to remember you were the one who said this was just supposed to be sex." Lily looked up at him, her cheeks flushing red. He sat down on the bed next to her, leaving a trail of delicate kisses up her exposed shoulder. "I like just being with you too."

A knock at the door caught them both off guard.

"Rise and shine birthday girl!" The sound of Christian's voice the other side of the door made Lily's blood run cold. "Max promised a clean sweep as your present so we need to get to the track early to prepare." Toto looked at Lily who remained frozen and silent, staring at the door, unable to string a coherent sentence together through her panic. "Come on Lils, if we're quick enough we might even make the FIA meeting, everyone's going mad about track limits."

"I'm just getting in the shower." She blurted out hastily, her voice shaking, as Toto pursed his lips to hold back a smile. "I'll meet you in the lobby."

"Alright, but hurry up. It might be your birthday but you're not the queen, no need to take forever."

"Yeah, okay. 10 minutes, I promise."

Lily waited with baited breath for a few more moments, her eyes still locked on the door, until she was sure that her dad had left before turning to Toto who by now had a mischievous grin on his face.

"It's not funny!" She scowled.

"You never told me it was your birthday?" He said curiously.

"I'm an adult Toto, I don't need to make a fuss about it." She answered frankly, getting up and crossing the room to get dressed.

"Maybe I'd want to make a fuss." He replied, causing her to turn to him with a raised eyebrow.

"Why?"

He chuckled and moved towards her, taking the clothes she was holding out of her hands and placing them back down on the dressing table. "It's what normal people do for people they care about." He planted a soft kiss on each of her cheeks. "Let's have dinner tonight."

Lily sighed. "I can't, I already have plans with my dad."

"I understand. Tomorrow night?"

"Toto, I-"

"When we get back to London then."

"I'm sorry." She frowned, even though they spent almost all of their free time together it still never felt like enough.

He shook his head. "Please don't ever apologise to me schatzi, you can never do wrong." They shared a small but deep kiss before Lily pulled away.

"I should get ready, and so should you..."

"You're right." Toto turned to leave but Lily grabbed his hand before he reached the door, causing him to stop and turn back to her.

"You know, if you really wanted to make my birthday special, you could always get Lewis and George to wipe each other out again like they did in Spain." She grinned cheekily making him roar with laughter.