Rivalry of the Century ~ Ayrton Senna Love Story

All in the Rain

Portugal Grand Prix Weekend 1985

Isabelle's POV

After everything that happened in Brazil, I still hadn't talked to Senna, Viv, or pretty much anyone. Surprisingly the only person I was talking to at the moment was my brother, father, and of course my manager. My brother had been calling me as we talked about our issues, trying to pinpoint where everything went wrong. We started to realize it was our mother that had turned my family against me. Yet now, my brother was talking to me and we actually spent time together, going to get ice cream, teaching me about racing and cars, and me helping him with his appearance. 

It was by pure coincidence that I was in Portugal in time for the Grand Prix, I was finishing up a shoot and one of my interviews for a magazine landed overlapping the Grand Prix so I decided I would go. My brother had been asking me to come to more of his races anyway and I figure I should support him more. Plus I hadn't talked to Niki or Marlene for a while, so it would be good to be able to spend more time with them. I was currently in the middle of getting ready for an interview when my manager came to show me the chosen magazine photos from the photoshoot that happened last week. I stared at myself and I couldn't help but to critique every piece of me, which had become a habit after losing my Aunty. Normally she was the one that would make sure I was healthy, both physically and mentally and I was visibly struggling without her here.

"Isabella! We're ready for you in ten!" I hear one of the assistants call to my room.

I look at myself in the mirror one more time and taking a long deep breath before heading out to meet with the interviewer, it would be partially televised and partially written for the magazine that the photos were going into. I was nervous since this was my first time doing an actual interview that was going to be recorded. The tabloids were more interested me after I was seen back at the formula races. Getting up I start to head to the interview spot, sitting down and fiddling with the shirt I was wearing. Finally the interviewer also joins greeting me with a hug and a kiss on each cheek. Sitting back down, in awkwardness I might add, I wait for him to start the interview.

"Good morning Isabella, you look ravishing I must say," the male interviewer says, the way he watches me is making me uncomfortable.

"Merci! You look very fine yourself," I return the compliment, keeping a flirty smile for the cameras. This is what people wanted from me, it's what they expected from me no matter how much I didn't want this to be my image.

"So, how has this past year been for you? You're up and coming, on your own after your aunt passed, how do you deal with that?" A sharp pang hit my chest at the mention of Aunty, but instead of tears coming next I felt warmth and I knew she was here with me.

"Well it's been really difficult if I'm honest, losing my Aunty was what changed everything. She was the one that was helping me all of last year, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for her, she supported me through it all. It took me a while to come back to modelling after she died, I was thinking about quitting entirely and going back to waitressing."

"What made you continue?"

"Someone I used to work with actually. I had a conversation with a colleague during a photoshoot and they said something that stuck with me, 'We are made of emotions. We are all looking for emotions, basically. It's only a question of finding the way to experience them. There are many different ways of experiencing emotions'. They were originally talking about how they handle emotions and what their career makes them feel and they said it because they knew I was about to not go through with the photoshoot. That and my Aunty, she would never forgive me for giving up my dream because I was scared to do it without her."

"You're being very ambiguous by saying them, you haven't done many group photoshoots... is it safe for me to say that you're talking about one Toleman driver? Perhaps Ayrton Senna?"