Racing dream

Chapter 8 - Bonding

Lewis. Lewis Hamilton. Sir Lewis Hamilton. I can't believe he's actually in my house, staying 5 days with us. The worst part is that I couldn't prepare myself, thanks to my dad, who thought it would be an amazing idea not to tell me who Lewis was. This is gonna be wild. 

I've been following F1 since 2021, so I know who Lewis Hamilton is. At least what he shows people and his driver side, but I don't know Lewis as his private self. I could only dream to get to meet him in a race or something like that, so to find out he's my dad's friend is completely nuts. 

"Hey, I'm ready for that shopping."- I woke up from my thoughts when I heard his voice.

"Great. Don't get too excited, though, we're just getting food. Anything else is probably closed at this time."- I tell him chuckling, he looked excited, but it was just a trip to the market. 

"Doesn't matter, I'm really happy to be here."

We got our food for the rest of the days, fortunately we didn't get second looks, I didn't want to end in a gossip portal. It would get a lot of attention, which I don't feel like necessary. Lewis didn't talk much in our little walk, he just admired the neighborhood, probably feeling how shy I got around him. But being honest, I was a bit glad we didn't talk in the streets. Talking in another language around the neighborhood would have attracted unwanted attention. 

I prepared some pasta with vegetables and some sauce for the two of us and separated some for my mom later. While I was cooking, Lewis went to have a better look around the house. He spent a while in front of the wall where we had lots of photos from us, typical photos from trips and cool memories together. 

"I can't believe your dad didn't tell you exactly who was his friend."- Lewis chuckled. 

"You tell me. He was Lewis this, Lewis that. Never letting me know it was actually you."

"I thought that maybe you didn't know the sport or me, that's why he didn't mention anything to me or to you."

"No, I started following it a few years ago. And, of course, my dad knew about that."- I saw him smile after I told him that. "I, well, it was a weird first impression of me. Sorry."

"Don't worry about that, I think it was a funny first encounter.  Definitely a story to tell in the future. Besides that, I should've expected something like that from your dad, he's always been a menace."- We both laughed at the last thing he said.

"I'm gonna apologize in advance because I'm probably gonna get all shy and awkard. I mean, it's like that when I meet people."- I told him. I think he could feel that I was curious about him, but wouldn't ask him without permission.

"Don't worry. I really want us to get to know each other. You can ask me anything, you know?"

"Um ..., how's Roscoe?"- He started laughing, I bet it was not the question he's waiting for.

"Well, that's the last thing I thought you were gonna ask me. But he's doing great, back in England with my family. You should meet him."

After a while, my mom got back from work, so she joined our lunch. I excused myself to go to my room, I had to get ready for my training session. Today, it's swimming. My favorite thing in the world. As soon as I was ready, I left my home saying goodbye to Lewis and my mom. I spent the 25-minute walk to the club thinking how strange everything felt, someone who I looked up in and outside the sports world was a family friend from years ago. It was just unbelievable, my dad's best friend is a 7 time world champion and, I haven't forgotten it, also my godfather. This was a huge surprise, a welcomed one, I can't wait to see how it's going to turn out.

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Lewis' POV

This first day here is going well so far, I hope it stays like that. Sarah's really funny, even though she's not an extrovert person. I can feel how curious she is, but doesn't want to bother with questions, she's more a listener. After lunch, she left for some training she had. I spent some more time catching up with Silvia about her job and the relationship with my friend.

Later on the afternoon, I was alone at the house, so I decided to go for a run and then hit the gym they had in the garage. It was small but had the essential things for a good workout. While I was getting dressed after a shower, I heard the door downstairs open and Sarah letting know that she was home. I went to the kitchen where she was preparing something to eat.

"What's that?"- I asked, curious to know what she had in her hands.

"It's called mate. Very common around here, and the easiest way to identify an argentinian in another country."- She started explaining smiling. "You need the mate itself, where you put these kind of herbs in. Shake it for a bit, so you get rid of the dust the herbs got, and then you pour hot water."

I listened to her while she explained to me all the process, watching her prepare it. After she had poured a bit of water, she got a straw and started placing the herbs (which were called yerba) just in half of the mate.

"Last instruction, you pour the water slowly. You don't want to burn the yerba, it'll not taste good."- She said while drinking a bit of it. "Want to try? Be careful, it's hot."

"Yeah, sure. After all that fantastic explanation, the least I could do is to give it a try."- I saw she blushed a bit and chuckled, it was really cute. I got the mate from her and drank a bit. "It's something different. I don't know how to explain it, but I really like it. I better start to practice preparing it myself."

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching a movie together, Top Gun. She knew that I know Tom, so she asked me about that. We finished with the movie, and David and Silvia got back home again. They prepared dinner for all of us, it was a pretty chill night. I realized that I felt at ease here, I was happy we get to spend time together now, because during the year there'll not be a lot of moments like these. 

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Hey!

A bit more of introduction for Sarah and Lewis. I think we have 2 more chapters of these few days to get the dynamic between the characters before we focus a bit more on Sarah. 

Hope you enjoy it ♡

Lots of love cuties 🤠

Cande :)