Just Him ❤

106. Sochi sucks.

Feeling too nervous to stay in the garage, Chloe had opted to sit in hospitality to watch the race and catch up on some emails. The high of Seb's Singapore victory already felt like a distant memory, although his public proposal was still fresh in her mind courtesy of the diamond ring that sat proudly on her finger and numerous phone calls from both of their excited families throughout the week. She hadn't expected the interest in their engagement to be quite so huge, especially as it was the second time they'd been engaged but she'd been floored by all the messages of congratulations and good wishes that had been coming in all week from fans all over the world. Images of Seb proposing in Parc Fermè had hit the headlines sparking a raft of requests for interviews and photo shoots from celebrity magazines in England, Germany, Italy and even Switzerland. All of them had been politely declined as had requests from any other type of media, Seb's public proposal had given people a glimpse of the man he was outside of formula one and he'd left people wanting more. Not wanting to sit down just yet, she stood with her arms folded across her chest staring at the tv screen as the red lights lit up one by one, staying on for a few seconds until they went out and the cars all flew away from the grid. Chloe held her breath, the start was always the bit that made her the most nervous and her eyes widened as Seb got a good start, getting ahead of Lewis and getting a good tow from Charles who'd started from pole. In fact, the tow Seb got from his teammate was so good that he passed him.
"Yes Seb!! Get in there!! Come on!!" She yelled, forgetting where she was and feeling her nerves dissipating. This was a dream start and she quickly changed her mind about staying in hospitality and picked up her phone and iPad to take it into the garage with her.

"Though I might see you in here." Antti grinned and handed her a headset as Romain Grosjean ended up in the barriers, immediately the safety car was dispatched. "I don't know what it is you've done to Seb but whatever it is, keep doing it."

"That was a flyer of a start wasn't it?" She watched as a train of cars formed what could be the most expensive que in the world behind the safety car. Fortunately it wasn't on track for long and Seb was soon racing again. Things were looking good, until she heard him being told to let Charles back in front on the next lap. "What? You're fucking joking?!" She suddenly exclaimed loudly, ignoring the dozen or so pairs of eyes that were now looking at her. Had she just heard right? Was he was going to have to give the position back to Charles?

"I would have passed him anyway. Let's break away for another two laps. Let me know." Came Seb's reply in the headsets they had on. She looked to Antti for some kind of answer, maybe she'd heard it wrong. He just looked back at her and shrugged.

"Sounds to me like they agreed to swap in the driver's briefing this morning." He replied cautiously.

"That's just ridiculous." She muttered, now wishing that she'd stayed in hospitality. "I mean look at him, he's clearly faster."

"The team always comes before the drivers, you know that." He added, sensing her growing frustration.

"Let Charles by." The instruction to Seb they just heard was plain as day.

"Well this time I think it's wrong, it's bullshit." She shook her head, starting to feel annoyed.

"He'll have to close up." Was the reply Seb gave the pit wall.

"You tell them Seb, why should you let him pass." She called out, aiming her words towards the pit wall outside.

"Hey, come on, don't get wound up." Antti put his hand on her shoulder, aware of her getting a few disapproving looks.

"He's right though, you saw how good a start he got off the grid, he was past Charles by turn two, he should be left to get on with it. He's pulling away now." She pointed to the screen as the German was setting purple sector times, setting the fastest lap soon after. For the next ten minutes she remained quiet but couldn't stop the self-righteous smile from forming on her face as he continued to set fastest laps and purple sectors one after another, he was proving his point and it was as though he was doing it for the fun of it, and she actually found it quite a turn on. As they hit lap twenty-one he was just over four seconds ahead but then Charles was brought in for his stop on the next lap and her smile faded as she folded her arms across her chest, she knew exactly what was going to happen here. "They're going to leave him out there purposely now, his tyres will be dropping off and they'll leave him so that when he does come in, Charles will get in front."