A World Alone - D.R.

three

Jade felt a bit out of place at the back of Daniel's side of the garage. She had met Nico Hulkenberg, and he was certainly as good looking in person as he was in the photos she'd seen of him. They had a quick chat before he and Daniel were rushed off for the drivers' parade. Daniel gave her bum a parting squeeze and kissed her on the cheek, instructing Joe to look after her.

Jade watched the footage of the drivers' parade while sat on Daniel's seat at the back of the garage, lost in her thoughts and not really paying attention to the interviews being conducted. She was constantly being surprised by Daniel's actions. He had invited her to the race, kept his hand on her back everywhere they walked together and had even kissed her on the cheek when he left.

She started racking her brain for what she had said to him the night before. Usually, when she was drunk, she droned on and on about her job and the work she was doing at the university but Daniel couldn't possibly think she was that great for being an entomologist, could he? Unless she was just that amazing in bed. She chuckled out loud at that thought and Joe looked at her from where he was sorting out some of Daniel's stuff on the table next to her.

"Something funny?" he asked her, tipping his head to one side.

Jade chuckled again. "Nah, I was just laughing at my own jokes," she replied.

"That's fair," he replied. "You're British?" he asked, noticing her accent.

"Yeah," she replied.

"What are you doing all the way out here in Germany?" he asked, curious at why a 20-something was in a foreign country.

"I'm doing some research for my Doctorate," she replied.

"Oh, that's cool. What in?" he asked, half-surprised that she wasn't on a journey to try and discover herself.

"It's in medical crisis response and management," she explained.

His confusion turned to an understanding. "So what does that mean? Telling Doctors to go there and nurses to go there?" he asked, gesturing left and right with his arms as he spoke. 

"Um... Not quite," she replied and added: "It's more about the best ways of treating patients who have really bad injuries caused by crisis incidents."

She went into a little more detail and Joe was actually genuinely interested in her research. They were discussing her work in Germany when Daniel arrived back with Ellie. The driver and his PR officer wore matching confused expressions as Jade drew diagrams on a piece of paper while Joe was asking questions about them.

"What are you two talking about?" Daniel asked as she stood behind her and  placed a hand on her waist and kissed her cheek.

"Oh, I was just explaining my Thesis to Joe," Jade replied, her cheeks warming up, both from being caught geeking out about flies and from being kissed on the cheek by the driver.

"As interesting as this is, Dan, we need to prep you," Joe said, handing Daniel his water bottle.

Jade followed the two men to the Renault motorhome and took in the experience of walking down the F1 paddock, an experience she never thought she'd have. Safely tucked up on the couch in Daniel's room, she scrolled through Twitter and replied to her friends' messages they had sent her after she notified them of what happened in the car on the way to the circuit.

She kept looking up as Daniel was doing his weird stretches. She was enjoying his facial expressions. He disappeared for a little while before he changed into his race suit for a meeting with his engineers. While he was off doing that, Jade finished off a few emails for work and against her better judgement, typed Daniels name into Twitter, wanting to see what people were saying.