Driving Miss Catherine

Competition

"Are you sure I'm not overdressed?" Cat turned in front of the mirror and eye'd Seb's outfit. "You're wearing like, a shirt, and pants. I feel like I'm going to a business meeting or something."

"In a way, you are. You are a sponsor, my sponsor," he corrected and looked slightly embarrassed. "So, it is technically business. I am wearing my Ferrari issued shirt that all Ferrari drivers wear. Except this one has my name on it," he smiled proudly and pointed to the stitched lettering on his collar, next to the little red crab.

"That's so cute," Cat ran her finger over the monogrammed image, and trailed her hand down his shirt over the names of sponsors until she came to her logo. "Oh wait, what's this?" She asked with mock surprise and chuckled. "Daddy will be so proud of me once he finds out I've made a business investment."

Seb smiled and cocked his head questioningly, the way he did when he was amused at some irony or sarcasm in Cat's voice. "I love the way you almost get a bit of a fake British accent when you call him 'daddy.' It's like you're mocking him or something."

"I am mocking him," Cat gave him her best 'really?' face before switching to a more 'matter of fact' tone. "And I am British, if you're forgetting. I have dual citizenship."

Instead of responding with something witty, Seb held out his hand and smiled. "Come on, we're going to be late."

By now, Cat was used to being driven by Seb, but tonight he wasn't her chauffeur, he was her date. Or maybe she was his date. Either way, it didn't feel like a date. It was a party, or a very casual meeting, for the Ferrari team and sponsors to kick off the 2015 season. Seb had been to this kind of thing before with Red Bull, so he knew what to expect. Cat put her hand on his arm as they were pulling into the building.

"Don't leave me, okay? I'm kind of scared," she said quietly. He shot her a concerned look and smiled.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine," he said as he parked. "But it might be better if we don't spend too much time together. I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea."

"Right," Cat agreed with a nervous laugh. 'The wrong idea?' She thought as he helped her out of the car (Seb's new Ferrari). 'Do they not know we're dating?' Seb obviously knew what he was doing, so Cat smiled and went with it. As they got closer to the building he pulled away, loosening his arm from her tight grasp, and kept a respectable distance between themselves, as if they were work associates and not at all romantically involved.

"Just talk to some of the engineers, or some other sponsors. It'll be fine," Seb smiled at her one last time before they walked into the party.

"Sebastian! There you are! Man of the hour," someone stepped between them and put his arm around Seb. "I've been looking for you."

"Marco, it's so good to see you again!" Seb smiled.

"Come on, I have to introduce you to your technical team," they continued talking as they walked away, leaving Cat alone near the door. She wondered if she could just leave now without anyone noticing.

Someone handed her a glass of wine, which she accepted graciously and began sipping it nervously. She scanned the room for someone to talk to and tried to find a quiet corner to hide in. She'd lost track of Seb, so she settled for trying to find anyone who looked somewhat familiar. There must be someone here that she'd met with when she signed on to be a sponsor....

"Hey," a voice to her left said quietly. She looked up to see who it was, or if he was even talking to her. It was the guy she'd seen last week at Seb's meeting.

"Hi," she smiled back. "I was looking for anyone I might know..."

"And then I appeared," he smiled. "Want to sit down?" He gestured to a pair of soft looking chairs with the Ferrari logo stitched to the seat, nestled in the corner near them.