Haunting - Daniel Ricciardo

Chapter 8

I am standing in the garage of Max, waiting for him to be done with FP2. He is doing amazingly, the team is very excited. They are happy with the way he is doing everything. They thought he'd be way more to the back, as that was the case with Kvyat.

After Max is out of the car, I'm taking him to the hospitality area, as Ziggo Sport is already there, waiting for Max.

I see the chequered flag come out, signalling the practice session to be over. I sigh, happy it did. The cars all do their outlaps, cooling the car down.

Max car is pulled into the garage. Max jumps out of the car, smiling at me as he takes his helmet off. He walks over to me and I hand him a towel. After he's done with it, I hand him his cap. He walks with me out of the garage.

"Great session, by the way" I tell him. Max smiles at me.

"Thank you, everything felt good, so I'm very happy" Max answers.

We talk a bit about the session, before we finally arrive at the hospitality area, where Ziggo is waiting. I walk behind Max to the table.

Max shakes the hand of the friendly looking man, as he also looks at me.

"Hi, I am Olav Mol, nice to meet you" Olaf says. I smile at him, shaking his hand.

"I'm Sienna Hudson, Max's PR" I tell Olaf. He nods and hands Max a microphone. Olav then nods at his camera man, as that would be his cue to start filming. I sit down at the other table closest to theirs, so I can hear record the questions, but won't be in the shot.

Olav and Max both start to talk in Dutch, so I just zoom out, making sure the recorder is staying in place. I notice Daniel walking into the room, talking with Joelle. Talking about Daniel, Maya did get her stuff out of his room. She has been MIA ever since, but Daniel acts like he doesn't really care about it.

And maybe he doesn't, but it seemed like they've been together for a while, so he should care. I am just really curious about the reason behind him even starting anything with her. She isn't even close to his type.

Max suddenly stands up and looks at me with a smile.

"We're done" he says. I nod and stop the recorder. I stand up as well as we walk towards Daniel and Joelle. They are just sitting at a table, talking to each other and eating.

"Can we join you?" Max asks his new teammate. They both nod with a smile. I sit down between Max and Daniel. I haven't really asked Daniel about Maya and I don't know if I should. Joelle had told me about the fact that her stuff were gone, I didn't ask myself.

"So, we've seen Maya" he suddenly says, looking at his plate, that is filled with food. I don't really know how to react, but luckily for me, Max does.

"Oh really ? Where?" he asks Daniel. I just look at Joelle, who is frowning.

"Yeah, at the Ferrari garage. She was talking to the dude she cheated with. I heard his name is Sergio, or something" Daniel mumbles, not really showing any kind of emotion. I decide to just do what I'm good at, listening and supporting. So I grab Daniel's hand, making him look up to me.

"You're better off without her" I say, my voice very small. It usually isn't like this, but I feel like Daniel really can use all the support he can get. Daniel smiles sadly at me.

"Sadly, I think you're right" Daniel answers, giving my hand a squeeze.

"What do you mean with sadly?" Joelle asks Daniel, frowning once again. I do too.

"Because that means I kind of wasted a 2 years of my life by dating her" Daniel says. 2 years?! That is quiet long, especially for Daniel. When we were younger, Daniel used to have lots of girlfriends, but usually for about a month. He got bored, very easiliy.

"You didn't waste it" Joelle says softly. Daniel just sighs.

"Okay, new rule. Daniel, you are going to forget about 'what's her name' and you're going to live! You need to get back those two years and there is no more wasting allowed!" I say, suddenly remembering how Daniel used to like my 'peptalks'.

Daniel starts smiling, putting the rest of his food in his mouth, which is a lot, so it looks very weird. Joelle and Max just laugh at him, but I'm kind of used to it. He did that a lot.

"I remember how you always cheered me up with your little rules. They always helped, though" Daniel tells me, smiling at me. I smile back, glad that he looks a bit more cheered up than a couple of minutes ago.

"Do you also have a quote for me to live by?" Daniel asks with a grin, remembering how I used to come up with those as well. I smile, thinking about my favorite song.

I nod, smiling at Daniel without saying what that quote is. Daniel frowns, but sighs. I just smile and grab a piece of paper.

"I'm going to write it down, so you have a reminder of it. Take it with you, everywhere you go. When you feel sad about Maya or anything else, look at that quote, so it will remind you of what to do, okay?" I ask, looking at Daniel. He nods slowly, so I start writing down my little quote. I hand it to Daniel. He reads it and starts smiling.

"It's not just for other girls. But also for wins, for podiums, for happiness. It's also for good moments, good memories and good stories. It's to not waste anymore time" I explain the quote. Daniel's eyes are glued to it, re-reading it a couple of times.

I can see the curiousness in Max's and Joelle's eyes. I smile at Daniel, knowing this is our thing. And even after all of those years, I know Daniel will live by it, because he knows he has to do it. He can't waste anymore time and I am sure that's something he is not going to do. I know he will keep the small quote in mind, everywhere he goes.

I'm begging you to keep Haunting

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I have not prove read this, so I'm sorry for any mistakes! xxx