Battle Scars // Esteban Ocon

6

Abi had showered and changed into a pair of jeans, a white top and a little pink cardigan. She grabbed all her stuff and headed back out to the common area where her parents and brother were sat talking to Esteban.

"Hey guys." Abi spoke with a smile as approached them.

"Hey sweetie." Her mother said. "You ready for dinner?"

"Yeh. You guys ready?" The driver asked in reply looking at her family.

"Yep. And we invited Esteban too." Her mother explained as she stood up.

"You did?" Abi spoke in surprise.

"Is that okay with you?" Esteban wondered, not wanting to intruded on Abi's family dinner on the weekend of her home Grand Prix.

"Of course. Let's go. Did you drive here?" The Brit asked as they all left. Esteban and Abi saying goodbye to any members of the Alpine team they met on their way out.

"No I came with Dan." Esteban explained as he held the door open for Abi and her family.

Abi held back and waited on her teammate as he held the door open for two hospitality members who were walking inside the motorhome.

"Here I'll take that." He told her as he reached for the two bags in her hand. She didn't get time to argue before he had taken them from her.

"Okay then." Abi laughed as she realised there was no reason to argue with him.

Her family waited outside for the pair to catch up. They both swiped their passes over the reader letting themselves outs.

Abigail could see her mother smiling at the pair walking out with Esteban carrying her daughter's bags.

"Esteban can come with me cause he didn't drive and then you guys take dad's car." Abi spoke as they came to a stop by her family.

"Okay. I'll send you the address." Her mother explained as they split up heading to their respective cars.

Esteban put his stuff and Abi's into the boot of her car before jumping into the passenger seat while Abi started the car.

Milton Keynes was just under half an hour away from Silverstone. The teammates spend the time talking about the race and Abi filling him in on her different family members that would be at dinner

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The conversation was flowing through the function room of the restaurant that Abi's parents has rented out as there was 16 of them and they thought it would be better than trying to get beside each other in the main restaurant.

There was Abi and her parents, her brother and then Esteban. Then there was both sets of her grandparents, her mother's brother, his wife and daughter. Then her father's sister, her husband and theirs two sons.

There was different conversations around the table as Abi's two little cousins sat in aw of Esteban who was sitting beside his teammate. The boys were 10 and 12 and were both massive Formula One fans.

"So Esteban? What's Abi like as a teammate?" Her uncle, Paul, wondered with a smile on his face.

"Hey what's that supposed to mean? I'm great." Abi replied causing everyone to laugh including Esteban.

"Don't put words in the boy's mouth." Paul told his niece.

"Yeh Abi's great. We're both really competitive okntrack so we push each to be our best." Esteban explained. "We've definitely gotten close since becoming teammates. It's nice to have a teammate your own age as you share a lot of interests that way."

Abi smiled as she listened to what Esteban was saying about her. She even blushed slightly as she remembered he was saying all these nice things about her in front of her whole family.

Her mother, Claire, was smiling at the pair as Abi smiled at Esteban. She definitely thought there was something between them. They seemed very close for just friends even after the short period of time.

The food arrived shortly after cutting the conversation short as everyone started eating and having small conversations with the people next to them.

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That night Abi's family was staying in a hotel in Milton Keynes. Since she hadn't been expecting Esteban to be there, Abi offered him her bed and she said she'd sleep on the coach.

Being a gentleman, Esteban was quick to decline saying it was her bed and he'd sleep on the coach. Not happy with that, Abi decided they could both sleep in the bed once he was okay with that.

Abi went into the bathroom and got changed into her pyjamas before washing her face and brushing her teeth. She threw her hair into a messy bun before walking back out in the room where Esteban was already in bed on his phone.

"Hey, thanks for inviting me today. You're family is really great and it was nice not going home to be alone after the race." Esteban spoke as Abi plugged her phone into the charger next to the bed.

"No problem. It was nice to do something together away from work, even if my whole family was there." Abi replied causing the Frenchman to laugh.

After a long day of racing, it didn't take long for the pair to fall asleep in the large comfortable hotel bed.

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