Connections (F1 story)

Chapter Fifteen: Bahrain Heat

A few very busy days later I was sitting in the Red Bull motorhome in a stifling (compared to England) Bahrain, arranging small media conferences for Daniel.

It was the Friday and so far everything was going smoothly, up until the practice sessions that was. Time in the UK as always had flown by and it was a question of remembering to pack everything in such a short window. I had held up the management mini bus for I had forgotten my FIA pass. Clever Saskia.

I was going through my schedule and on the telephone to a German broadcasting company when Lizzie walked in and without asking made us both a brew.

"Seems like I haven't seen you in ages." She laughed. I'd spoken to her a week ago, but between then and now I'd travelled another ten-thousand miles.

"I know!" I beamed.

"To be honest it's nice to have five minutes without a guy in sight." She laughed again. "Do you take sugar?"

I shook my head whilst she stirred the hot liquid in the logo'd mugs. She had a fair point with what she said; the industry was so male dominant that you'd rarely have a typical 'woman' heart to heart with anyone. And in all honesty, after a month of continuous stress I felt like I needed one.

"Tell me about it..." I replied.

"How's everything going with Daniel?"

"Yeah, really well, thank you. How about with Christian?"

"Could be worse." She raised an eyebrow. "No, Daniel seems to really like you, which is good."

"Well, he's kinda stuck with me!"

There was a pause as we simultaneously took a sip of our hot drinks.

"And Sam, the mechanic? I've seen you two together. What's going on there?" Her eyes glittered at the chance of hearing some gossip.

"Pff...who knows." I shrugged not wanting to reveal too much when I didn't have a clue myself.

"Oh come on!" She urged me.

"Okay, we spend a fair bit of free time together-"

"And..." she urged.

"And he's attractive and kind...and a bloody good kisser."

"There! I knew it!" she squealed. "Jones is great, it's hard not to like him."

I nodded in agreement to what she said. He was great, is great.

"We've got a free night tonight, we could head out?"

I racked my brain trying to remember whether Sam had anything on that evening.

"Yeah, that'd be good. I should finish around seven." I looked down at the masses of paperwork, my phone was beginning to ring again.

I gestured to Lizzie that I had to take the call and she took her coffee outside catching my eye as she exited, swishing her blonde hair as she went. Why couldn't I be her?

---

"We're going out tonight." I told Sam after we'd finished our shifts, a mere twelve hours after we had started them.

"Are we?" He smiled.

"We are, with Lizzie." I replied, grabbing his hand as we walked into the hotel- the same one that I'd stayed at just over a month ago.

"Is food involved?"

I turned to face him, "yes."

"Yeah, that's cool."