Race Engineer - Daniel Ricciardo

Chapter 11

The most annoying sound wakes me up in the morning. I groan and slowly open my eyes, being met with Daniel's brown eyes. He gives me a wide smile, leaning forward to kiss my lips.

"Good morning" his deep morning voice says. I smile widely, waking up next to him makes me quite happy. It's the second morning that I wake up next to him. Yesterday was Friday and it was quite a boring day. Today is Saturday, which means qualifying.

"Ready for today?" I softly ask Daniel, moving my hand through his hair. I've learnt that he loves that, which automatically makes me do it.

"I am, you too?" I nod, giving him another smile. Daniel sighs, looking at the time.

"I'm afraid we need to get out of bed" he mumbles. I nod and press a kiss to his lips, before throwing the covers off of me. I feel Daniel's eyes on me, as I walk around in his shirt.

I grab a Red Bull polo and a pair of jeans. I throw a Red Bull shirt at Daniel, who chuckles. He finally gets out of bed too, walking straight towards me. He pulls me close by my lower back, pressing his lips against mine. He gives me a smile before he starts dressing himself as well.

I quickly put my hair in a pony tail, leaving out some pieces as well. I apply some light make-up, while Daniel tries to make his hair look decent. I giggle at him, making him raise an eyebrow at me.

"What?" he asks, getting a small smile on his face now. I just smile at him, stepping closer. I put my hands in his hair, sorting it out for him. I ruffle it a bit, making it look less weird. When I'm done, I stand on my tip toes to give him a kiss.

Daniel smiles at me, looking in the mirror to see if I did okay. I grab my bag in the meantime, filling it with everything that I'll need.

"Are you ready?" Daniel asks me. I nod and take his hand, while we make our way out of Daniel's apartment and towards the track. The walk is short, the weather is warm. I'm glad I'm wearing a polo instead of a long sleeved shirt. I wouldn't survive today if I would've worn that.

Daniel and I let go of each other as we're in front of the garages, Daniel moving into his and me moving into Max's side. I'm greeted by several team members and I give them all a smile. I put my bag down and look around the garage. I smile, happy with the place I work in.

"Good morning" Max says, grinning at me. He did the same yesterday and I have a feeling he and Daniel talked. I don't really mind, so I just grin back at him.

"Good morning, how are you?" I ask him. While I listen to his answer, I turn to the monitors, quickly setting up everything that I'll need. Max keeps talking about feeling ready to push to the limit and I'm glad about that.

-

Before I know it, we're getting ready for Q1. I'm making my way to the pitwall, sitting down next to Simon.

"Here we are again" he says and smiles at me. I nod and grin.

"You know what I'm wondering?" Simon asks me, as he slowly puts on his headset, connecting it to the pitwall. I do the same and press the radio button to talk to him.

"Well?"

"How Daniel got a hickey in his neck when he's supposed to be resting" he says with the widest grin on his face. I feel my cheeks heating up, as I turn away from him.

"No idea how he got that" I mumble, making Simon laugh at me. He places his hand on my shoulder, giving me a quick smile. I focus on the monitors, seeing the timer starting. I quickly give the signal for Max to go out. He does so and does his instal lap.