Connections (F1 story)

Chapter Forty Five: Messages

Writer's note: okay I have taken a massive risk with this (as has Saskia), I hope you guys like it but hey- please let me know what you think...

I sat and stared hard at the lit up mobile in front of me. I was staring so hard at it that my eyes were beginning to burn.

I can't wait to see you again, last time was great Dan x

That was how simple message read, and oh how that implied millions of meanings.

And I could only think of one that fitted.

What was with the 'x' at the end...definitely wasn't a guy. And it was a UK coded number...oh, hold up. Had he really been at the Factory late for the evenings before we departed for Belgium? Possibly not.

I told my brain to stop being so stupid. I had to stop dwelling on something that was only twelve words long. From what I could see at the time anyway. I trusted Daniel after all.

Besides, it could mean anything, not just...

The screen then faded and I pressed the 'home' button again. The device lit up and I read the message for the billionth time. With a bit of luck he'd return from the toilets so I could stop focusing on the bleeding thing.

Perhaps he was having two relationships. Perfectly plausible, ish.

Sam's words echoed in my head and then Sid's followed. Why did he still have her number? He knew just how much I despised her and yet-

My eyes were welling up from not blinking...and at the thought of him sleeping with my nemesis. In fact I would have preferred ever so slightly if it was with Lauren- he'd have more of an excuse then. I could maybe, possibly understand that. Even if she was engaged otherwise with Sid.

I sighed and threw myself back on the chair in the motorhome. I had five hundred emails to respond to, and this was not helping in the slightest.

I pushed the iPhone away from me and drew out a pen to begin scribbling and finalising the schedule for tomorrow- race day.

The weather at Spa was incredibly temperate and that was only making matters worse. With rain one minute and blazing sunshine the next, it really was going to have to make its mind up.

That was the weather of course and not Ricciardo. Although he was going to have to do that soon too.

I cursed and screwed up what felt like the thousandth piece of paper since reading that message. It was certainly messing with my brain to say the least...where the hell had he gone?

"And I'm back!" He closed the door softly behind him and sat down, not even noticing that his phone had been moved across the table from where he had left it prior his exit. "What have I missed?"

"Nothing important." I mumbled and tossed him the schedule. Things hadn't been fully right lately come to think of it. No matter how hard we had tried, things hadn't been like they were before the night in Perth, where absolutely everything went tits up.

"Ah, this looks fun." he remarked, grinning. He also clearly hadn't noticed the less than amused expression plastered across my face.

"Doesn't it just." I replied, determined to brush everything that was clouding my head aside. My tone although not sarcastic, hadn't come out as I had originally planned.

"Are you needing a coffee?" Finally he had sensed my mood lapse.

"I'll go and get them." I said and stood up. I couldn't exit the vehicle fast enough so I could clear my head. Why do these things only run smoothly in the movies?