Connected (F1 Story)

Chapter Thirteen: Night Out

"Oh my god, this is the best shower." A muffled voice came from the bathroom end of the room as I set about transferring some of my photos of the holiday onto my MacBook. In a short while we were heading out on our final safari tour after five jam packed days of animal spotting heaven. And eating. And other stuff.

"You've been spending enough time in it." I laughed to myself, muttering under my breath. What Dan had said was true though; the shower was damn good. And there was always plenty of hot water which was unlike my flat in Highgate where the shower head needed changing. Homebase was on the to-do list when we were back in the English capital.

My phone got plugged in and iTunes flashed up- the wifi here was good too. Although this was the first time I had used it. Daniel and I had been too busy doing other things (spending hours talking about food and other imperatives, for example).

Once my photos had been imported, I replied to Lizzie's 'Wedding Update!!!;)' email and attached some photos of what I'd been getting up to. So many elephants. So many attractive selfies of Daniel and I. Oh, and the occasional one of Joe trying to get in on the action.

I just had time to quickly check my work emails, tried not to wince when I saw how many had accumulated in my inbox, and then closed the laptop back up and pushed it as far away from me as possible. If I picked it up again then I'd end up responding to all three-thousand press requests.

"I've been thinking..." Daniel said, meandering into the bedroom with a towel sitting around his hips some fifteen minutes later. He hadn't dried his feet properly and so footprints had been left on the floor. He was a walking health and safety hazard.

"Go on..." I looked up at him from the bed and smiled, blushing a little at how handsome he looked. He hadn't shaved though; he was making the most of his stubble before it all went for the Best Man duties.

"Christmas." Dan continued, nearly losing his towel as he stood in front of me, one hand rummaging through the drawer for some clean undies. "Mum and Dad have asked us to go over there again, but it's up to you. I totally understand if you want to spend it at home and I don't mind doing that. At all."

"I like Christmas in the sun." I remarked. Daniel's towel slipped below his v-lines and I swallowed several times. "It's time you went back to your home anyway. The lads are missing you and you're missing them. I saw the 'ladsysforever' hashtag on your group chat."

"Mum was going to call your parents and invite them over again too, and Sarah, Tim and little Olivia..."

"I swear your Mum is insane."

"Runs in the family." Daniel shot me a look and winked. "Seriously though, she wants a big family get together. In Perth, obviously."

"I'm more than happy to do that." I said, nodding enthusiastically. "There's somewhere I'd really like to go for New Years though if we're in the country anyway."

"Lemme guess...Sydney?"

"Yup."

"That could work. Just us...the calm before the fucking crazy storm."

"If you're talking about the 2016 season then yes." I threw a t-shirt at Daniel and told him to put it on. "I can't have an intellectual conversation when you're standing there like that."

"I'm sitting down now." he retaliated and flopped back on the bed, pulling me down next to him. My laptop was missed by merely centimetres.

Well, that was December sorted. And it was only August. Who ever said that we weren't organised?

---

Now where had I put my phone...front pocket of jeans? Nope. Back pocket, surely? No, again.