Never Again

Chapter 58: Birthday

Hey guys, I have been writing again. If you thought there was enough drama already, you were wrong ;)

They both hadn't brought up their encounter yesterday evening at the track and Keira could almost convince herself that it had never happened. She was actually in good spirits, although she didn't want to admit to herself that was because of her thoughts constantly going back to the moment that she was safely held by Seb in his arms. She told herself it was because they were looking good for the second practice session. The first one hadn't been that spectacular as Seb had been forced to stay in the garage the first half of FP1 because he thought there was something wrong with the car. In the end he had finished the session in fifth and they were sure they could improve on that this afternoon. Therefore everyone sitting in the Red Bull motor home eating their lunch appeared cheerful and positive.

'Hi, can I sit down?' Minttu suddenly made an appearance and pointed at the chair next to Keira.

Keira looked up in surprise and smiled when she spotted her friend. 'What are you doing in the Red Bull garage? Has Kimi switched teams without me knowing?' she joked and she cleared away the papers she had been reading so that there would be space for Minttu.

'I wish, then he would at least win something again,' Minttu sighed and she sat down in the empty chair. She looked as elegant as ever and she put the sunglasses she had been wearing in her hair.

'I hope they'll build him a fast car next season,' Keira said compassionately and she shot her friend an encouraging smile. 'But why are you here? Has Kimi kicked you out again?' she asked while grinning.

Minttu poured herself a glass of water and seemed to debate what she was going to say. She had her eyes focused on the water and tapped her nails nervously on the table.

Keira rolled her eyes and grinned. 'Just spill it,' she instructed Minttu.

Minttu still seemed uncomfortable and she was dodging Keira's eyes when she spoke. 'Kimi's birthday is next week and we wanted to go out for dinner tonight to sort of celebrate in advance. I wanted to invite you, so that's why I'm here,' Minttu said, although a bit more rapidly than she normally would speak.

Keira didn't understand why Minttu would have been nervous to invite her. 'And?' she asked when it didn't look like if Minttu was going to explain any further.

'Oh well...,' Minttu started and she finally looked directly into Keira's eyes. 'I invited Macy as well, but Kimi of course also invited Seb,' she finished her sentence and she looked definitely relieved to finally get out those words.

Ah, that was the problem. Seb was coming too and that meant spending an entire evening in close company of him. Minttu and Macy knew what had happened and were also not Seb's biggest fans at the moment. She could understand Minttu's hesitation for asking her, as she indeed wasn't sure if she wanted to come if Seb was going. Although she wouldn't be going for Seb of course, she would be going for Kimi and especially for Minttu. Why did Seb have to make everything so complicated? She just wanted to have a care free night and have fun with her friends and she wasn't sure if that was on the cards now. On the other hand she had been getting along with Seb today just fine and he had made no attempt anymore to talk about anything different than what was required for their jobs.

'So? Do you want to come?' Minttu checked when Keira had only stared into the distance and had not reacted at all.

She had almost forgotten where she was and when Keira looked up she had made up her mind. 'Only if we're not going to bring up the subject at all. Kimi doesn't know anything and I would like to keep it that way. Also I don't want to ruin everything with my problems. Seb and I have been civil with each other, so I think it'll just be fine,' she said and she made sure she sounded determined and confident. The truth was that she wasn't any of that, but she wanted to come across strong and not show how everything was still affecting her. No one knew about her encounter with Seb last night and she knew it was best if it stayed like that.