golden | d.ricciardo

sixteen

XVI. Running After You

MIAMI: May 2023

FP3 & Quali: Interviews were a normal thing for Daniel. He didn't expect much difference except expect Clara to be with him. But as of that moment, she was stuck to Max's side and another person from the PR team was with him.

He tried his best to become silly but nothing was working. It made him nervous and tense, had he done something wrong? And because of these thoughts he could barely focus on the questions. Something Christian had noted.

So, when the interviews were finished, Daniel couldn't take it anymore. He had to know why his Lara was avoiding him. He wanted to know.

"Lara!" Clara heard him but she did not slow down. She continued walking as she gripped her pager. She scrolled through it, despite not having any new messages. To be honest, she just needed a distraction to not stop walking and to not look at him.

But, Daniel caught up to her. He grabbed her arm, finally stopping her from walking. "Lara..." he trailed. But despite being there, his hand on her arm, she didn't turn. She kept scrolling through her pager. He sighed and slowly moved her to face him, she stayed silent, still not looking at him.

Daniel frowned, she was confused why she was acting that way. He moved closer her, grabbed the pager carefully making her sigh. "Please look at me Lara." he begged silently.

Clara pursed her lips, "Daniel." she simple said. That caught him off guard, something was definitely wrong.

"Whoa. Did I do something wrong? Why are we back to Daniel?" he asked. Clara pursed her lips and turned to look at him. There was something different with her eyes that day. Daniel couldn't decipher what it was, only that it wasn't good. Her eyes was sad and that made him sad.

She couldn't help but frown, his eyes glazed over, a familiar confusion and worry appeared in them. She gulped before pulling her arm away from him, and that broke her. One. She licked her lips and let out a breath, grabbing his hand and grabbing the pager away from him. Two.

Placing the pager inside her pocket before clenching her jaw, "We're at work Daniel." Three.

Daniel furrowed his eyebrows, "Oh. I'm sorry." he muttered and moved away from a bit. Four. Clara sighed, closing her eyes for the moment before gulping and opening them again, "No worries. Did you need something?" she asked him. Acting as if it didn't bother her at all. Five.

Despite the breaking of his heart, he decided on saying what he thought would pull them back to how they were back to his home in Australia. "Are you free tonight?" he asked.

Silence was what Clara replied to Daniel. His heart hammering of nerves, he waited for an answer but he knew she wouldn't say it. Six.

He sighed and shook his head, lowering his head in defeat. "I wanted us to get dinner. Lando told me about Mia's favorite restaurant-" But he didn't get to finish his sentence. Clara had cut him off.

"Daniel." There it was again, calling him by his name. Seven.

"I can't." Eight.

The driver clenched his eyes shut and his palms close. Nine. "But, we're going as friends and it's after hours." He tried convince her despite knowing fully well of what her answer could be. But at least he tried, right?

"I can't tonight Daniel. I'm sorry." - At least she apologized. Ten.

Ten times their hearts dropped. Ten times that they regretted the words they were saying to each other and how it affected them.