Driver (Sebastian Vettel) - ON HOLD

18.0 - Smiles

Megan Moore

"You did really well today," Sebastian praised me as we sat together in a nearby restaurant. 

We'd walked there deciding it would be easier than driving, it only took ten minutes to get there on foot anyway. He mentioned on the walk that he'd been here before and it was beautiful. When we arrived, I realised he wasn't wrong. On the outside, it had a lovely seating area, all the tables were mahogany with matching chairs, all under a slatted wooden cover with little fairy lights that were on bringing extra shine to the place. The divider between the restaurant and the path was flower boxes which were full of brightly coloured plants, none of which I knew the names of. 

I smiled up at him, my fingers were stroking the edge on the menu. "Thanks," I nodded slightly before I glanced down at the menu. "You didn't need to invite me out, you know?"

He chuckled, which made me look up at him, I couldn't help but look at him a little longer when he was happy. "I think having you on the team isn't going to be all that bad." He looked away from me and down at his menu, he had a smile on his face as he told me this. 

Looking down at my own menu, I couldn't help but smile to myself. "I guess working with you won't be as crazy as I thought it might," I stole a quick peek at him. He might have been looking at the menu, but he had a little grin on his face after I said those words. "Although," I continued on as I looked back down. "I don't think every day will be like today."

"Of course not, I'll be on top form most days."

"Shut up," I laughed. "You can't use that excuse every time." 

He raised his eyebrows at me but before he could speak a waiter arrived at our table. "Are you ready to order?" He asked in broken English as he looked between myself and Sebastian. 

My eyes glanced to Sebastian, before looking down at my menu, then back to the young man in front of us. "I think so," I said as I looked back at Sebastian. 

Sebastian nodded his head slightly before he looked away from me, his gaze meeting the waiters. "Yes, we're ready."

The waiter looked at me, "What can I get for you?" He was very polite in his approach even if he was struggling with the language. 

"I'd like the poached salmon please," I pushed my menu towards the end of the table. "Can I get a large red wine with that too?"

The waiter nodded writing down my requests, "The house red?" He asked me as he looked up from his pad. I confirmed that it was okay before he noted something else down before his attention turned to Sebastian. I listened to him ordering a large pepperoni pizza, with an ale. I smiled to myself, I didn't know what I expected from him, but he didn't strike me as a pizza and beer kind of man. 

After the water left us, I looked back at Sebastian, who was looking at me. I didn't know if he wanted to say something or if he was waiting for me to speak, I decided to talk first to stop the silence. "Did you get up to much when you returned home?" I asked as I put my hands on my lap out of view, there I pushed my nails into my palms as I kept eye contact.

"Not really," he looked like he was thinking for a moment before he spoke again. "Just saw my family, caught up with a few friends. Nothing too special. What about you?" He reversed the attention to me, "Did you see your friend?"

I nodded in reply, "Yeah. He came to see me though," I had to admit that the visit between myself and Vincenzo wasn't long enough. I would have liked to have spent more time with him, but time just didn't allow it. "It was nice," I shrugged my shoulders. It might have been much better with more time and without his spot of bad news.

"Oh right," he said in reply to my statement. 

The awkwardness was interrupted by the waiter returning with our drinks, he poured the wine at the table to which I requested to keep the bottle. Once he was satisfied he had done his job, he left us myself and Sebastian alone. 

I reached for my wine and took a large mouthful, the velvety chocolate flavour hitting my tongue before swallowing and smiling to myself. I placed the glass down in front of me and looked up at Sebastian. "So, who did you have waiting for you back at home?"

"That's a bit personal, don't you think?" He looked a little put out by my question. 

Wrapping my right hand around the glass, I blew out slowly feeling a little uncomfortable. "Sorry," I mumbled. My left fingernails pressed harder into the palm of my hand as I bit my lip and looked down at my hand on the glass. 

He laughed, "I'm kidding." I looked up at him with a confused look when I saw his smile, I returned the smile, not feeling so awkward. "It's just Mama and Papa. I do have a sister, but she was busy, so I didn't see her." His expression didn't change, so I assumed he didn't feel bad about not seeing her. "I also saw a couple of friends, it was nice to catch up with people."

"Do you have to spend a lot of time in England?" I asked him as I thought about my new offer. Would his life be more comfortable if I was to move to Italy? 

"I spend a fair amount of time there," he told me as his smile left his face. His expression was neutral, not sad, not angry, just blank. "It takes its toll on my relationships with the people back home."

My mind was full of questions, I wanted to ask him if me moving would help him, but I didn't want to intrude. If I moved to Italy, how would it affect my relationship with my mother and sister? What would happen to the friendships I had formed with people? Would they simply fizzle away because I was no longer there? Would Natalie ever be okay with me not living in England?

Picking up my glass of wine, I drank half the glass before moving it away from me, "What's Germany like?" 

He looked at me curiously, he tilted his head to the right before straightening it and grinning. I couldn't help but smile when he did, there was something about him that was infectious. "Beautiful," he told me warmly. I watched as his eyes glowed as he spoke about his home country. "I think everyone should visit it at least once. Everything is so much more," his paused for a moment as he thought of a word. "Intense." He looked at me with a grin, "Life there is much more civilised than in England."

Flashing my eyes at him, I nodded, "To be fair, England is pretty uncivilised." I thought of the number of girls I saw on a night out, puking in the streets, taking their knickers off for any man, the men who preyed on women, the number of people claiming benefits, the way people generally were with each other. I'm not going to say I wasn't guilty of some of this, but I knew how it looked to the outside world. 

"When we go, I shall show you the real Germany," he told me with a glint in his eyes.