"Sorry for ditching you last night" Quinn said as we scanned our passes and walked in the paddock.
"That's fine" I looked at her. "I hope you had fun though"
"Oh I sure did" she chuckled a little.
At least one of us had fun.
"Did you prepare a good strategy?" She asked, probably knew I had a lot of pressure on my shoulders.
Way too much sometimes.
Felt as if I was doing the wrong thing the entire time, which I wasn't but they were making me feel like that.
"I did" I nodded. Had to be confident about myself.
Romeo and Ryle were sitting together in front of the hospitality. Gave a quick wave to Romeo, ignored Ryle.
He was the last person I wanted to talk to right now. I would rather talk to Lando, than talk to him.
Which said a lot.
"Hey!" Ryle said, got up and ran after me in the hospitality. "What's the matter?"
"What's the matter?" I mimicked him sarcastically. "You"
"Me? What did I do wrong?"
This guy was even dumber than I thought.
"You told everyone about what happened that night, do you think it's funny?" I looked him straight in the eyes. He just shrugged a little.
"Funny? No-I don't know, I just thou-" the little smirk on his face got bigger with every word.
"Whatever Ryle, just stay away from me"
Imagine if I had sex with him. Imagine what stories he would tell everyone.
But I also hadn't have sex for a long time and I was only human. I needed someone or something.
Thought Ryle could be my friend with benefits for a while - but guess that wasn't the best idea anymore.
So, I needed something else.
Quinn was already working, or she was sitting at her laptop at least, but there wasn't anything to do yet so she was probably just shopping online.
I walked up to her from behind, put my hands on her chair. "I desperately need a vibrator" I said.
"I-uh" Quinn turned her head at me, a slight smile on her face. "I am in a meeting"
She nodded at her laptop, I looked at it too and saw Toto's face on it. Not only Toto, but also Lewis and George, and a couple of other people from marketing.
I waved at the screen, maybe they didn't hear me.
But George's smile said enough. They heard me and I embarrassed myself again.
Walked out of there as fast as I could, away from the Mercedes hospitality.
Sat down on a bench and let out a big sigh.
Maybe it was my own fault that they didn't have confidence in me, because I said stupid shit like that.
"You look like you've had a bad day" someone chuckled from beside me.
Great, now I sat down to a random stranger without even realizing.
I quickly turned my head. Yeah great-even better.
"The best day ever - always have to embarrass myself" I said as I looked at Max Verstappen.
He must think I am an absolute idiot too.
"The race didn't even start yet, how could you possibly have embarrassed yourself already?"
I chuckled. "Oh don't test me"
He put his arm on the back of the bench, tilting his head a little. "Tell me"
"Nah, you don't wanna know"
"Oh c'mon, I'm having a bad day as well - so cheer me up" he said while his, which I guess, was his PR assistant walked up to us.
He quickly put his hand in the air, telling him to wait.
"I told my friend I desperately needed a vibrator"
He raised his eyebrow, looking disappointed. "That's not embarrassing-"
"While she was in a meeting with Toto, Lewis and George"
He started laughing, pretty loud even. "Well-that's embarrassing"
"Yeah, thanks mate" I started laughing with him.
"Why do you need one though? Isn't your boyfriend doing a good job?" He asked. Pretty bold question to ask someone you don't know.
"I am single - that's why I need one" I pointed out, not that it was any of his business but for some reason, I had a good feeling about him.
"Right - thought you were dating someone" he shrugged and got up. "Anyways, I would wish you good luck, but you know..." he chuckled.
He didn't want Mercedes to have luck.
"Yeah same, I hope you have to retire your car" I said, which made him laugh. "I hope it will rain" he said in response.
Kinda the worst thing you could say to a strategist because it was so stressful.
But at least he made me feel better, made me feel as if it wasn't a big deal.
And maybe it wasn't. Maybe I shouldn't be embarrassed about that.
Even though I had the feeling I just didn't belong with Mercedes anymore.
