AN ENDLESS SMILE// DANIEL RICCIARDO

SIXTEEN

SIXTEEN

"What are you doing here?"

Pierre Gasly questioned with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, his mouth slightly ajar, his hands moving around in front of his body, his eyes wide and startled.

"What are you doing here?"

Daniel Ricciardo yelped as he rounded a corner as he became face to face with the French man, his body jumping upwards, his hands shooting up to cover his mouth.

"Josie and I planned to go to the movies last week." Pierre answered, his body still full of confusion. "Your turn."

"Josie asked me to be with her today because her parents are coming over, and she wanted somebody with her to be the mediator." Daniel spoke to his friend, having only arrived to Josie's apartment a few seconds before the Gasly man.

The two men both jumped as the apartment door was opened suddenly, with Josephine jumping herself as she spotted more than just one person.

"Movies?" Pierre furrowed his eyebrows together as he watched her wince.

"Parents. They didn't give me much notice that they were coming, I'm sorry." Josephine apologised to her nephew, pulling him in to a hug, pressing a small kiss to his temple.

"That's okay, they can't be mean to you if there's two more people here, can they?" Pierre's face lit up in to a bright smile, deciding to stay and keep her and Daniel company since he figured that her parents were not going to be nice.

She had never mentioned her parents before, so he had a pretty good idea as to what to expect.

"When are they supposed to arrive?"

Daniel questioned as the three of them entered the apartment, with both Formula One drivers noticing how nervous Josie seemed to be at the thought of seeing her parents again.

"About now."

Knock Knock

The sound of the door knocking made them turn back towards the door, barely a minute after they had both arrived, with Daniel moving to answer the door, his smile bright and welcoming.

"Hello Mr and Mrs Rankin, my name is Daniel, please come in."

The duo that was Jonathan and Janet Rankin walked in without saying a word, their faces unamused at the man who had held the door open for them, rolling their eyes at the man.

"Josephine, shouldn't it just be the three of us? Shouldn't they be out buying us coffee?" Jonathan Rankin questioned his daughter with a stern gaze, his jaw clenched, his brows stitched in to a frown.

"No, it shouldn't." Josephine spoke up, chewing on her bottom lip. "You're lucky that you were allowed in my home in the first place."

Pierre and Daniel gulped nervously, the atmosphere awkward.

"Excuse me?"

"I am not as successful now as I once was, I have struggled with grief, depression and loss, but you didn't once reach out and ask how I was, or if I was coping, you left me and abandoned me to rot away all because I wasn't giving you as much money as you wanted. I was never a daughter to you! I was an income for you, and that's it!" Josephine barely raised her voice, holding back the tears as her hands began to shake.

"Blake was the only one to care! My brother, who was in the middle of a deployment, cared more and spoke to me more than my own parents who lived twenty minutes away! You have the audacity to turn up here and boss around the people that I care about when you can't even acknowledge that I exist!