Starting from the Pit lane - Lewis Hamilton

Cold ice cream

Melissa had followed Lewis around the world for another week even though her internship had ended with the last GP, the one won by Lewis himself. Melissa could afford it financially on her own but her boyfriend decided to offer her a holiday, she had worked so hard and, according to him, she deserved it.
The girl certainly wouldn't have thrown away a paid holiday in Holland. During the week she hadn't been able to spend much time with Lewis, between his study of strategies and training he didn't have any real availability, but they shared the same hotel room and he had made a point of making up for all the nights they hadn't spent together because she "was too busy being a little princess".
Melissa had never said no to him, not even when she got her period and he hadn't held back. In his mind he had months to make up for, so why stop when simply putting a towel on the bed would have been enough? Then promptly it moved and the sheets, strictly white because hotels apparently hate colour, got stained making the room look like a crime scene.
The other pilots had now become accustomed to the presence of that girl, who they often left alone with their respective girlfriends and wives.

That week Melissa hadn't wanted to think about her future, about her job, about what she would say to her parents. She only had a week and wanted to make the most of it. She had seen new cities with new "friends" and had taken some time to dedicate herself to Lewis, it wasn't true quality time but it was still time spent in a more than... productive way. Her cousin already knew, Amelie had developed syncope, and Chiara just didn't understand how she hadn't understood it before.
-Maybe because you spent three-quarters of the internship in that redhead's college dorm, Stewart!-
-You're not entirely wrong!- she laughed like crazy.
However, they were both very happy for her.

Melissa's parents would never have approved of a Formula One driver, especially since she had passed up a "deal" like Marco. She took a moment to think about what to do. She wasn't sure she wanted to talk about it with Lewis, she felt like a little girl and it was in those moments that she remembered that he would be forty in two years. For a laugh he told her that his tattoos were older than her but as the days passed and the realization that she would have to overturn her entire existence destabilized her.

[...]

At the airport, at the end of that holiday, Melissa decided to open a not exactly simple dialogue.

The two were hugging each other, wearing warm clothes, it was spring but it was freezing in Holland.
-What if you came to live in Italy? With me?- she said looking at him from below while they were wrapped up. In their heavy coats they looked like a ball of cloth.
-I would more than willingly get a house in Italy, maybe in some beautiful town in Tuscany, but I'm not sure I want to live there- he said sincerely, looking into her eyes trying to understand where she was going with this -why?- he smiled at her perplexed as he looked her nostrils red from the cold and her wavy light brown hair escaping from her cap.
-Well I'm Italian-
-I know well, I called you "pizza" for two months straight- he chuckled, stroking her cheek with his thumb, he had taken off his glove on purpose to be able to directly touch her skin.
-Your job allows you to live wherever you prefer, we would still be in Europe. You could go home to visit your family whenever you wanted, not to mention the fact that you have two homes in New York, one in Switzerland and... I've lost count of the others. Why not come and live in Italy for me?- she begged.
-Why is it so important for you to stay in Italy? Do you want to be a journalist, you speak 5 languages, you can travel the world with me-
-I don't want to be involved in motorsports all my life, it's not my field-
-I will find you a job at some international publishing house and you can publish all the articles you want. You won't have any problems, no one will say no to you because no one will say no to me. You know, the one who won the world champion title for seven years, I don't know if you've ever heard of him-
-But what if you had to leave me? I would be Lewis Hamilton's "ex" and they would kick me in the ass without any ifs or buts just as you could send me away or ask to do so- she shouted, breaking away from his embrace, putting her hands on her head and looking at the ground from the shame and fear.
-Do you really think I would do something like that to you?- he said, getting angry.
"No" she said sincerely, looking at him with wet eyes. She physically approached him again and sought the physical contact they had just broken.
He stepped aside and pushed her wrists away -Then why do you accuse me of wanting to do this?-
-I'm not accusing you, I'm just scared. I didn't think it was a problem for you...-
-Me neither!- he suddenly shouted and Melissa froze in front of him, she stared at him with a veil of terror covering her eyes and she half closed her mouth thinking she wanted to say something but she stopped.
Melissa swallowed hard and the two remained like that looking at each other for a very long minute. Then the announcement of her plane. She spun around and headed for the gate. She cried until takeoff and didn't take her eyes off the window for a second, hoping that he too was looking at her through the glass.