Turbulence [𝗠.𝗩.]

Travel Day, June

PADDOCK RUMOUR: James Webb and Jessica Bond have had a falling out - @PaddockRumourMill

@PaddockRumourMill, James, you seeing this? LMAO @JamesWebb I h8 u god how dare you race me im gonna cry and tell everyone u bullied me - @JessicaBond57

@JessicaBond57 This is the dumbest thing ever. I love it. When do we kiss and make up? - @JamesWebb

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SPAIN
FREE DAY
JUNE

Christ, can my flight stop being delayed?

As I stare at the board and see it's been pushed back another hour, I want to smash my head into the table. I'm never flying business class again. Okay, that's a lie. I might do, but right now, I really don't want to.

The only benefit to my delayed flight is that I'm going to have time to talk to Daniel. I had planned to call him once I landed at Heathrow, but talking face-to-face is better... if the idiot actually shows up.

Danny Boy;
Where are you?

I stare at my phone, trying not to sigh. Well, at least he's here at last.

Jess (Me);
Lounge. Bored. Flight pushed back another hour.

I hear him before I see him; Daniel isn't exactly a quiet guy. He joins me at the table. His smile, though genuine, carries a nervous edge. I can't help but think I'm the reason behind his unease. I want to remove that as fast as I can, because despite all of this insanity, I know he wasn't trying to cause problems. He was just trying to play matchmaker, albeit clumsily.

"Right. Let's get this out the way: I'm. Not. Mad. At. You. I'm not mad at you, got it?" His smile is gone, but I get why. Liam will have told him everything about how uncomfortable I felt. And he might've used some unkind words, which will have left Daniel thinking I'm genuinely pissed off in some way. "I just wanna understand it all, 'cause you and Charles came across so strong it gave me whiplash."

He slaps his hands on his thighs, inhaling slowly, holding it for a few seconds before forcing the breath out between parted lips. He's buying himself time to speak, and I stay quiet, because I don't want him to feel like he's got to justify himself, I only want to understand his motives.

"Well, you remember that big dinner after the first race?" He starts with. I nod, not speaking so that he can continue. "Max kept staring at you, and I was making jokes at his expense, telling him it's weird to be staring at you just 'cause you're a chick on the grid... all that shit. Anyway. After that lunch in April, I realised he was still staring at you a lot. So I asked him what was up and he said he was interested, but that he didn't think you were even noticing him."

"Is that why you sent him to ask me out for lunch?"

"Yeah..." He says slowly, another nervous smile appearing as he struggles to make eye contact. "I asked Liam about what food you like and good places to get food near you, and I told Max to ask you out for lunch but to be cool about it."

"Okay, pause there. Did you see the texts?" Daniel shakes his head, and I pull up my WhatsApp history with Max, scrolling it to the day of the texts we exchanged, where I made a fool of myself. Daniel laughs at them before he carries on talking.

"That wasn't what I told him to do, I said be cool about it, not literally no you." He seems a little calmer, his smile doesn't have that layer of falseness, and his eyes aren't darting away from my gaze as much. "The other time, when I told you about dinner with both of us? That was entirely me too. I thought if I made it seem more natural, more like some friends hanging out, you wouldn't feel pressured."

"Where did Charles factor into this?"

"He said I was doing things wrong, and told me to lay off for now. We didn't know about the airport thing 'till I saw it on Twitter. I'm pretty sure that's where I fucked up."

"Yeah, just a tad. You came on so strong, and then Charles..."

"Charles said to leave it with him. He said he had a plan and told Max to trust him."

"Yeah, at least you were direct and honest about it all. You admitted it when I asked. At that point, I was ready to just ignore it and be fine with it, but to have Charles get involved two days later was a bit much." I look over at the departure board. Thankfully, my flight isn't further delayed... yet. Shifting my focus back to Daniel, I catch the subtle flicker of uncertainty in his eyes. It's as if he's treading on fragile ground, unsure of my reaction. I do my best to offer a genuine smile, even if I'm still mildly worried that he will try to keep pushing Max and me together unnaturally fast. "Well, that's that. So, I'm guessing Max told you we talked."

"Yeah."

"We're just gonna see what happens. Maybe we skip the friendship stage and something happens, maybe not. Maybe by the end of the season we'll be trying to murder each other." I shrug, matching the grin that breaks out on his face. "He's a nice guy, and we do seem to have a lot in common already, so I'm willing to see where it all goes. But you don't tell anyone, got it?"

"Crystal clear." He nods as he speaks, and his smile is finally reaching his eyes. The slight crinkling at the corners of them tells me I've managed to help soothe his worry, even if only temporarily. Good. He was just trying to help his best friend. I'd be a heartless cow to treat him like shit over that.

"Andnow that's settled, we chuck it behind us and move on! Oh, but first: ifthere's a bet going on between any of you guys, I'm gonna crash into you guysin Canada."