Unchained Melody (Daniel Ricciardo)

The power of love

"Ok so this is the throttle and this is the clutch. If you want to go forward, slowly release the clutch and turn this handle to give a little gas. It's in neutral now so if you release the clutch nothing will happen. With your foot you push the gear level one click down for the bike to go in first gear. Next time you want to switch gears you squeeze the clutch and push the gear lever up. But just take it easy and have a feel in the first gear for now." Daniel explains Ayla who is in one of his dirt bike suits and a helmet.

Isaac has already explained it a bit, but he is now showing what he can do on Daniel's own track, so Daniel is giving her a short lesson on how to ride a bike with a clutch.

Ayla felt a bit stupid for changing into the dress, because when Isaac asked if they could go to ride the dirt bikes she had to change back into the jeans and top she first thought weren't good enough.

After talking to Michelle for a while she realized it didn't matter what she wears.
The two women hit it off as soon as they sat down and started talking, which was of course a massive relief for Daniel.

His sister was very opinionated about the few girls he ever took home to introduce to his family and this is the first time he can see her genuinely smiling and being open with. For him that says enough, Ayla has been approved by his family. If Michelle wouldn't have liked her he would be pretty surprised and it would be a bummer, but Ayla is the one for him, so it wouldn't have changed anything.

Now she is even trying one of his biggest hobbies and he can see her eyes sparkle, she's eager to go and somehow he falls in love with her even more. Just the fact that she is willing to try something new, something that he loves to do, is more than he ever dreamed about.

"You ready?" He asks her and she nods vigorously.
"Fuck yeah let's do this." She shouts, eager to go.
"Ok take it easy as first. Just a little bit of gas to start with."

He's a bit nervous to let her do this, afraid she might fall and hurt herself. But she doesn't seem scared at all, which he could have expected. She loves speed and racing. Why did he think this would be anything different?

"Just be careful." He says, knowing she might ignore that warning.
She turns her head to him, all he can see are her eyes and nose as her visor is open.
"It's going to be fine babe. Don't worry. I got this."
She smacks him on top of his own helmet before slowly letting the clutch go.

Ayla feels how quick the bike responds when she releases the clutch and squeezes it back in. Now she knows when to give a bit of gas to make her move and she tries to do that at the exact right moment.

The bike starts to roll and she opens the gas a bit more. As soon as she is moving she puts her foot on the pedal and speeds up a little more.
She can hear Daniel ride next to her and he shouts some tips to her which she tries right away.

It feels a bit wobbly at first and she's trying to have a feel for when she should shift to the second gear, but it's a great feeling to be riding a dirt bike for the first time.

It doesn't take long before the couple is riding over his track, slowly taking the bumps that Daniel usually uses to make high jumps on.
Isaac overtakes them every now and then and Ayla can see Daniel look at his nephew, seemingly eager to follow him and get some more action in.

When they come to the end of the track she stops and waits for Daniel to stop next to her.
"What's up? Do you want to stop?" He asks her, his voice betraying his hope that she wants to keep going.

"Nope, but can I just ride by myself for a bit?Maybe you can go help out Isaac, or just have some fun yourself. I want to practice on my own and I don't think it's a lot of fun for you to have to go so slow." She says, not mentioning her seeing Daniel wanting to follow Isaac.