Between Love and Hate (Year 2)

Here we go again

Laura leans on the wall looking at the assembled car for the upcoming season. It looks good, the morning briefing they had with the team showed everything looked really promising – all that was needed was testing to confirm the numbers. She watches as Daniel excitedly talked the engineers, wearing his usual bright watted smile.

He was so damn happy and chatty. Last year when she did this with Seb, the only thing they said to each other was a greeting and a goodbye. Daniel wouldn't shut-up whether it was talking to her or someone else in the team. And it's nice to have a teammate that liked her, but he's not Sebastian. She immediately winces at the thought because she wasn't going to miss him – getting rid of him was meant to be the highlight of her life.

"Cheer up princess." Rocky is next to her with a clipboard.

"I am incredibly cheery," she protests. "Everyone looks depressed when compared to Dan."

Rocky looks over at him and then back at Laura. "So, you're not wishing your favourite was here?"

"Rocky, please don't start. It's like day 1."

"I'll start after lunch then," he winks at her. "Ready for sim work?"

"Yes." This she was looking forward to. It would be another confirmation that the car could fight for wins and even the championship, at least using the testing numbers – nothing of course was certain. But still, an hour later she's wearing a smile that would challenge Daniel's. The car wasn't just beautiful, it was good. Really fucking good. She itches to hit the track, she wants testing to be here. She wants to drive and race.

Briefings check. Sim work check. Her day felt like it was flying. She's eating lunch, well picking at it because lately nothing appealed to her. But if she starved herself, Phil would only give her a lecture when they trained.

"So, when are you heading to Oz?"

Laura looks up from staring at a piece of cucumber at Daniel who had sat down opposite her. She shrugs. "When I have to."

"Do you catch up with family? You were born there right?"

"Yep and no family there. No need to hang about." She eats the cucumber determined to not get sick – it's bloody cucumber.

"If you wanted, we could do something. I was going to do some surfing in Perth before going to Melbourne. You're welcome to join," he offers.

"I've never surfed," Laura comments. "I'll see how my schedule pans out." It was her polite way of saying no. She wasn't stepping a foot into the country unless required. "You done sim work yet?"

"It's up next. But the car seems like it's going to be on it."

"Definitely," Laura agrees sniffing at a piece of chicken. That wasn't going to stay down.

"The chicken is great," Dan says with his mouthful. "Eat it." When she offers him her plate he happily slides it over to him. "Don't get ill before testing," he warns. "I'll have the incredibly unpleasant task of doing all the driving."

She grins because she thinks he'd probably enjoy that. She reaches for her phone that was buzzing, before excusing herself to answer it. Her face falls as she chats to a very friendly Kate. Kate might be friendly, but her appointment confirmation now clashes with testing.

She bangs her head on the wall behind her. "God Lau, such a fuck up," she mutters to herself after the call is done. And getting a text to confirm their conversations doesn't help. Did everything that goes wrong have to be a punishment? She chews her lip, head running through things so quickly it made her feel off balance. Lost.