The Porsche, The Beetle And How I Got Here

Chapter 17

“Ahh back on British soil.” Jeremy announced, as we walked towards the exit of the luggage area.

“Oh joy, I can’t wait for the gloomy weather and even gloomier people.” I joked, as I tried to turn on my phone, which apparently had been killed as it flew all the way back to London. Its kind typical right? It survives three weeks in eastern Asia, but can’t make it through a couple of hours in a flying machine..

“Well it could be worse.” Richard breathed, as we went through the last bit of security, and entered freedom, in the form of the pick up area/lounge/what-ever-you-call-the-place-where-family-and-friends-waits-for-you-at-the-air-port.

Even through it was only seven in the morning, the room suddenly filled up with people calling out for each other, and all around us, the crew were finding their way back to their families.

“Karen Marie Smith!” I heard someone yell, and I looked around to see my dad, along Rachel and David, making their way towards us.

“Marie?” James asked

“Please don’t call me that. Ever.” I sighed, before I was tackled by Rachel, and nearly lost my balance, luckily Richard managed to reach out and stop us before the fall.

“I trust you’ve taken good care of my daughter.” I heard dad tell the guys.

“Of course, as you can see she’s still in one piece.” James said, as the other two got joined by their own families.

Rachel finally let go of me, just so I could get crushed by David.

“Who’s that girl?” a light voice asked somewhere near me, and I looked past David’s shoulder, to see Richard with his two daughters and Amanda, who by the way was giving me the dirtiest look one woman can give another, not that I blamed her tho. Richard looked at me, and our eyes locked for a nanosecond, before I closed my eyes and laughed at something David said.

“That’s Karen, she’s a new presenter on the show.”

David let go, and looked at the small family. “Seems like you’ve got an admirer.” He joked and I noticed that the Hammond girls (Amanda excluded) were looking at me.

“Hi there.” I said, trying to look friendly, “how are you guys?”

“Great, thank you.” The oldest one, Izzy I think, responded.

“Is it fun to work on Top Gear?” the younger girl, if the first one is Izzy this must be Willow, asked.

“Yes, it’s very fun.” I responded, sounding like a spaz.

“What do you like the most?” Izzy asked.

“Ehm.. the cars, or James’ cooking.. Nope the cars.”

“Can James cook?” Izzy said, sounding somewhere between being in awe and highly doubting it.

“Better than your dad at least.” I chuckled.

“Oi, I’m a good cook!” Richard defended.

“You probably are, however, it wasn’t James who sat fire to the food truck.”

“Did you set the foot truck on fire?” Willow asked her dad, who had started laughing.

“It was an accident, but yes, I did set our food on fire.”

“How?” Amanda asked, speaking for the first time.

“Well, that’s a long story that I won’t bore you with.” Richard said, trying to get away from the subject.

“Don’t worry about it, he even burn the toast.” Izzy told me, before getting shushed by her dad, who then received a well-deserved slap on the arm by the girl.

“I can’t believe it.” Dad said behind us, pulling me away from the Hammonds.

“You hug your friends, talk to your co-workers and doesn’t even stop to say hi to your old dad?” he said jokingly, before I pulled him in for a hug, as he started to laugh.

When the time had come for us to leave, we discovered that Rachel and James had disappeared into a nearby café, talking about stamps or something, honestly, I don’t know, she pulled the “private”-card, so whatever happened, it’s either something unimportant, or the best thing that have ever happened to her the last couples of months.

“C’mon Rach, tell us!” I begged later that night, as the three of us was sitting on the floor of her living room, celebrating the economic growth of the café and my safe return.

“No. Now, will you please tell me what’s going on between you and Mrs. Hammond?” you see what I mean about the dirty look? I wasn’t imagine things.

“I’m shagging her husband behind her back.” I answered dryly as I reached out for a crisp.

Rachel: “WHAT?”

David: “You do what behind her back?”

Rachel: “How can you do something like that? It’s wrong.”

David: “Yes! How come you haven’t invited Mrs. Hammond to join you?”

Rachel: “David!”

David: “What? She looks hot, so just imagine her naked with Hammond and Karen.”

Rachel: “Eww no, you’re grossing me out.”

“Guys, guys, guys, guysssss.. I was joking. Of course I’m not fucking Hammond, actually I haven’t had a proper shag since college. You happy now?” oh the lies.

“Yeah I guess so.. Too much information tho.” Rachel said and stuffed her mouth with crisps.

“But what’s going on between you and Mrs. H then?” David asked.

“I don’t know, she just doesn’t like me.”

“Aww, that’s too bad, then there’s just more Karen to the rest of us.” David chuckled.

“Eww that sounds kinda gross.” I mumbled.

“Indeed it does, cheers to that!” Rachel giggled, as the three of us bumped our glasses lightly together.