Off the Tracks

Chapter 58- Monza

Riley arrived to Monza extremely late after a delayed flight, way too late to make it to grid dinner or to swing by Liam's hotel room because it was past midnight. Riley booked a different hotel for the weekend, with wanting to take their relationship slower, they both thought it was best if they didn't share a room, and Riley didn't have the funds to stay in a hotel that fancy. So she was staying a few blocks down, lucky to get a room for that weekend with such late notice.

She woke up early the next morning, still completely exhausted from a full day of travel. So she chugged a red bull amidst getting ready for the day. Rushing around her hotel room so she wasn't late to the tracks for practice, hoping to make it there early so she could see Liam before FP1 started.

She hurriedly fixed her now somewhat short curls, and clipped half of it up, letting the other half fall perfectly above her shoulders. She put on a little bit of lip gloss and mascara before tossing on her shoes and grabbing her tote bag that had her phone, wallet and digital camera in it for pictures. Riley made her way to the street outside of the hotel, grabbing a taxi and making her way over to the tracks with her paddocks pass around her neck, growing both excited and nervous at the same time the closer she got to the circuit.

"Grazi mille" Riley said, thanking the driver when they dropped her off at the tracks entrance. Thankfully, no one took any pictures or noticed her when she was walking into the tracks; because there wasn't a single driver by her, she wasn't their top fascination anymore. It could also be because she was late, the traffic was so heavy on the way there that there was no shot she was going to make it to see Liam before FP1.

Riley walked through the paddocks searching for the Alpha Tauri garage with no interruptions. Once she found it, she walked in, looking around at her surroundings that she hoped she was going to be in frequently. Seeing Liam still in the garage with his helmet on and seated in his car.

"Riley Stowan" She heard a familiar aussie voice say from behind her.

"Daniel Ricciardo" She said while giving him a big hug, trying to avoid his wrist in the process.
"How's your hand" Riley asked as they broke apart.

"It's better than last week, but I'm a little bummed about not racing so" he shrugged, walking further into the garage with her, handing her a headset when they stood in front of a small screen. "But I'm glad you're here, that means I succeeded in my master plan" he said earning a eye roll and laugh from Riley. "I think I deserve a thank you" he said putting his hand to his ear, waiting for her to say it.

"Thank you" She said quietly, sliding on the headset on and looking towards Liam who was getting ready to drive out of the garage. "I can't believe that I was late" Riley said, disappointed in how she calculated her morning.

"He was rushing around all morning, you're fine" Daniel said, easing Riley's nerves that he knew was filling her.

"I didn't account for traffic this morning" She stressed while her eyes started to get stuck on the screen in-front of her.

"You'll see him after" Daniel said, slinging his right arm over her, but Riley pushed it off her gently out of habit from when she was with Max.

Boundaries

"There he goes" Riley said quietly, watching as Liam pulled out of the garage and took off.

Her eyes didn't stray from the screen until about halfway through practice. When Liam was pitted and being rolled into the garage, because what she wanted to watch was no longer on the screen, now it was right in front of her. She watched as people rushed around his car, wishing he could get out for just a moment to talk to her but she knew that was impossible. She saw as Liam pulled back out of the garage nearly 10 minutes later, and appeared on the screen in-front of her.