Twists and Turns in Monte Carlo: A Formula 1 Affair

{3}

Joanne sat at the round table with the plush stools in the kitchen. Her coffee was cold by now and she was staring at her notebook, which lay open in front of her.

Wednesday, December. 30th, 2019 was scribbled on the blank page.

It had been a few days since the weekend with her grandparents, but she couldn't completely let go of everything that had happened in the past few days. What she was very happy about was the fact that she was finally back home. 

Joanne doesn't live in the large flat alone, but with her best friends, which means there is always a bit of chaos here. Four women in their mid-late twenties in a city like New York, shit gets real in here.

The only one who is also here on the quiet days is Lina, Joanne's best friend. Born in New York, she is an artist and fits perfectly into the metropolis with her burgundy hair, her eye-catching style and her open manner.

Lina approached Joanne from behind, put her arms around the blonde and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Kenny, are you okay? You've had such a sad aura for the last few weeks." "Stress, just stress Lee," Joanne mumbled. 

"really? what stress? work stress? boys' stress? women's stress? I have my days and I want to die stress? I've been overdue for four days stress?" Lina teased Joanne. Joanne just shrugged her shoulders: "Don't know yet."

"We'll just go and have a really big party tomorrow and then start the new year with a new mindset," Lina took the notebook and scribbled down a few words in bullet points.

-outfits for tomorrow -coffee and bagels- petting dogs at the animal shelter- visit to the hairdresser-get high (optional)

Lina threw the notebook back at her. "So what do we start with?" Joanne grinned mischievously at her best friend. "Get high, optional sounds like a plan." Joanne simply left her half-full coffee cup.

She put on a big jumper over the T-shirt that, to be honest, she also wore to sleep. She took the top pair of jeans from her pile of clothes, threw a few important things into a bag and then met Lina at the door.

The artist is wearing a long brown coat, a large scarf and a bobble hat. "That's my jacket, you thief," the realisation almost hit Joanne in the face, "I've been looking for it for weeks." "Oops." Joanne threw a warm jacket on herself and the two of them began their journey.

The first stop was Mike, the dealer round the corner. Then they went on to the hairdressing salon. The girlfriends' third stop was a second-hand store where they went wild.

The weed was starting to look pretty strong and after shopping for the perfect outfits, there was only one last destination. They urgently needed something to eat.

"If I don't get a bagel now, I'm going to die. Right here on the spot." Lina dropped into a chair in front of her favourite coffee shop. The cold weather in new York doesn't really invite you to sit outside, but they both had to indulge their nicotine addiction somehow.

Whilst Lina studied the menu intently and almost drove the waitress crazy with her order, Joanne was lost in thought.She watched the people on the street intently. Each of them had their own problems and they knew nothing of the others'.

The contrast between her life in New York and the life she led when she was with her grandparents was enormous. Here she didn't have to pretend to anyone, she could just be who she wanted to be. It didn't matter that she was sitting here on a Wednesday lunchtime, high as shit in a coffee shop, eating a bagel. 

The waiter who brought them their food drew them back to the here and now. "I haven't even ordered yet," she looked at him in irritation. "I ordered for you, I know what you always are. And was I right?" Lina interjected.

Joanne looked at the plate. "Yup, I would have ordered that too." "So tell me the rich people tea." Lina looked at Joanne with her big brown eyes, which were far too heavily made up. Her pupils were enormous.

"Well, I didn't get much out of my quiet weekend. It was full house. Some sponsorship dinner with lots of rich people." Joanne took a savoury bite of her bagel. "Sounds boring." Joanne just rolled her eyes in affirmation. "But all you can drink there is completely legitimate. I've taken that to heart too." 

Silence again. Joanne does not mind sitting in silence with people she likes, she rather enjoys it. Lina on the other hand cannot stand it. It makes her go feral. 

"Well", she started to break the silence, "Hannah is in the Maldives with her NBA sweetheart and is being pampered. The photos she sent almost make you envious. But only almost," she laughed heartily, "Daisy also got in touch the other day, she's coming back tomorrow to celebrate the new year with us. I quote 'if I have to spend another day with my siblings, I'll kill someone'. I'd rather say if I was in Idaho in the middle of nowhere, I'd kill myself."

Joanne sipped at her coffee, choked and broke out in a hysterical fit of coughing. "You don't have to take that literally, Kenny," Lina laughed as she patted her friend on the back.

After a few minutes Joanne calmed down. "I'm still alive. Thank you. If Daisy comes, New Year will be a real spectacle." "I hope I have time to drink myself into a stupor." Joanne hops up her coffee cup and the two of them clink glasses. "Dito."

Whether all of this is clever, I don't know. However, she set herself one goal: if she managed to get Toto Wolff out of her head by drowning it in alcohol, she would let the matter rest. She didn't have time for the older, far too good-looking man to occupy so much brain capacity. Besides, she had no way to communicate with him. And she certainly wouldn't go through Mr. Oscorp or anyone else to get his contact information.

"You think too much, Kenny. That's why you're so stressed," Lina looked at her again, somewhat concerned. "New Year's resolution, I've been thinking about that."