Hollow River

14.

"Alright Max, warm up the tires and get ready to do a fast lap" GP told Max over the radio.

There wasn't really much I could come up with to make sure he would get pole. Monaco was pretty much up to the drivers.

The only thing Christian told me was to get them out of traffic.

Get them out of traffic, get them out of traffic.

It kept repeating in my head.

Max did an incredible fast lap, he wasn't the best in Monaco but he had a lot of confidence, which helped a lot.

Perez on the other hand didn't have too much confidence but he was amazing at street races. He just needed a little motivation, he needed to know that Red Bull was behind him, supporting him.

I made sure both of them didn't get a lot of traffic, even though sometimes it was not possible to give them a clear road.

They both got into Q3. Max on pole and Checo on P3. I didn't even know where Lando finished but it didn't matter, for once, he didn't out qualify our drivers.

That's all that mattered.

"I knew you could do it" Max laughed as we both walked out of the garage and into the hospitality "You did all the hard work though" I nudged him playfully.

"That's true" he laughed a little louder at his own joke. I pretended that I thought it was funny but it honestly wasn't.

"So another hint please"

He tapped his finger against his cheek, as if he was thinking long and hard about it. "Can I just tell you who it is though?"

"No, that defeats the whole purpose, you idiot"

He sighed and just as he was about to get up, he looked outside and quickly sat down again.

I frowned and wanted to look behind me, because I also wanted to see what he was looking at.

He quickly put his hand on my arm and brushed it, which immediately made me look at him again. Why was he touching me like that?

"Okay what do you know already?" He smiled as he took his hand back and leaned his head on it.

"Uh.." he caught me a little off guard by his touches.

"He has brown hair, he hates sushi, he loves golf and video games, he works here for a long time, he doesn't work for Red Bull" I summed up. I memorized the whole thing. "Oh and he's 23"

Max looked at me, one eyebrow raised. "And you still didn't figure out who he is?"

"Hey I don't know anyone here okay? I don't know who likes golf but hates sushi, it's not something you ask on the first day you know"

"You'll figure it out, just don't look too far" he chuckled as he saw his PR manager walk in. It was time for him to do his interviews.

Don't look too far. What a shitty hint. I knew it was someone from this paddock so obviously I wasn't looking too far.

I got up, walked outside, grabbed my notebook from the table and started walking through the paddock.
I wanted to take a little walk around Monaco.

I started to love this place, I obviously been here before, when I robbed Lando, but this time it was different. More alive.

"Hey watch out" I grumbled as someone walked into me. He only touched my shoulder but it still caused me to drop my notebook. "I am sorry"

Once again it was Lando. Why did we keep bumping into each other?

He was already bending down to grab my notebook off the ground, he grabbed it but kept looking at it.

"Yes thank you" I said as I snatched the notebook out of his hands. I didn't want him to look into it, I didn't want him to read my conversation.

I wasn't gonna give him ammunition to make fun of me.

He got up and looked at me. "River?" He looked as if he just saw a ghost.
Which for him, I probably was.

"Lando" I nodded and turned around. I wanted to get out of here, away from him. Fast.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

I scoffed. "None of your business Lando"

Why did he even care? I actually just wanted to find a quiet place to read my notebook and figure out who my mystery guy was.

Hi sunshine,

That's fine but I can promise you that I am not a murderer ;)
I will wait until you're ready though, don't worry.

My hospitality has the most beautiful color: orange/papaya.

So if you don't wanna meet, then maybe you wanna text? I can't keep showing up in front of your hospitality, everyone is looking at me weird.
I'll give you my number just in case :)

PS: I read your little story. It's amazing, you should definitely ditch your job here and become a writer.