Book 2: Beginning Again -Carlos Sainz

Chapter 5

Carlos stood in the paddock with his team, just after his free practice session later that day. He was fairly happy with his times and had just finished chatting with his engineer before he spotted her at the back of the garage with her dad. He exhaled as he stared them down. He had prepared for this.

"Hey! Gavin and Marie! How's it going over here?" Carlos said as he approached them, ignoring the way Marie immediately pulled out her phone and looked down to it.

"Carlos, what a drive today. You're going to do well this weekend, I can feel it in my bones," Gavin replied with a smile. Carlos smiled back at him, but was desperate for his daughter's attention.

"Marie, how did you like being in the paddock? I noticed you weren't here for the last race."

"Thanks for keeping tabs on me, Carlos. Yeah, I decided to join my dad today and try out the whole 'F1 experience' thing. It was pretty cool," she said nonchalantly, looking back at her phone. Carlos blushed at her comment about keeping tabs on her, but it was true. He did. He had convinced himself it was out of guilt from the past and wanting to make things right with her, but he genuinely enjoyed it when she was around. After a few minutes, Gavin excused himself to attend to other business, which finally gave Carlos an opportunity to talk to Marie alone.

"Okay, I didn't want to talk about it in front of your dad but you have to let me apologize for the first time we met," Carlos said as Gavin walked out of earshot.

"You can apologize all you want but it's not going to change the fact that you, like all drivers, are just cocky and arrogant," she replied back, meeting his soft gaze with a sharp one.

"So you've just drawn this conclusion about all racing drivers, everywhere, across the globe based on one interaction you had, with me, six years ago. That seems logical."

He was pushing her buttons now and he knew it. Part of him was actually trying to stand up for himself, but the other half just liked seeing her all riled up.

"No, I draw that assumption based on all professional athletes everywhere. Men and their egos can't stand making multi-million dollars every year without turning into huge douchebags," she quipped back at him, gritting her teeth.

"You must really hate being around all these douchebags then. I'm sure your ex boyfriends are some prize gentlemen."

"I actually have a boyfriend, Carlos. When was the last time you had sex with a girl you actually liked?"

"Have you been reading gossip blogs about me? Why do you care who I have sex with, Marie? Do I live in your mind?"

"It's my job, Carlos. I have to know what the media thinks of you even though they have no idea what a self-righteous prick you really are."

She let her words come off with such a bite that it almost scared her. It was as if she wanted Carlos to apologize for every wrongdoing that every man on earth had done since the start of time. She had no idea why this guy made her so irrationally angry.

"Alright, I give up," he said, holding up his hands in defeat. "I tried to apologize to you and I tried to convince you that I'm not a total douche, but think what you want of me. But I'll have you know that now I don't like you. You're rude and judgemental, and so cold. Let's just do each other a favor and try to interact as little as possible."

"That would be incredibly ideal," she said as she turned to walk away, letting her hair flip behind her. He caught a whiff of her shampoo, the gentle floral scent surprising him. Carlos stormed off deeper into the Ferrari compound, running into Charles a few moments later while he was still stewing with anger.