It's Called Leap of Faith - [Daniel Ricciardo]

13. Maybe I Never Knew

Tuesday passed quickly for Daniel and Elza. They had gone for another run in the morning and after the lunch Daniel had persuaded her to try out a fat bike. It was interesting experience to say the least but Elza survived alive and they had lots of fun. Daniel's ex team mate Max had invited them over for a dinner later that day and even though they would have been perfectly fine spending the evening just the two of them alone, Daniel wanted Elza to meet his friend properly. 

"So Max, how have you managed without Daniel this year? It must have been quite a change for both of you?" Elza was aware that there was more to the story that media had written when Daniel had left Red Bull to join Renault. She had seen some episodes of the Netflix series that showed the events leading to Daniel's decision. 

"It's different for sure, I mean now that we are not driving in the same team anymore I feel like our relationship has gotten better so at some level I'm happy he wanted to leave but sure I miss our chats sometimes. We are still neighbors so we see each other a lot." Max had turned out to be a lot nicer than Elza had expected. He talked a lot and made jokes just as much as Daniel.

"Yeah, I think at some level things were starting to go south with us. It wasn't anything too serious or bad but I guess you could tell we didn't talk to each other that much anymore and we didn't text to each other like hey what are you doing, wanna grab a lunch or whatever. We used to do that all the time like few years back," Daniel said and took a sip of his beer. 

"Yes I agree, that's true. I'm just happy we're back on track again, I mean with our friendship."

"Maybe there was a small part of you that wanted to save your friendship." Elza looked at Daniel and smiled him. She knew Formula 1 was all about the business and relationships didn't matter when it came down to money and contracts but in her head it was a nice thought. 

"So Elza, what have you done to claim our very own Australian superstar?" Max winked at Elza and turned to look at her. This was only a second time they met but he liked her. She had a calming effect that followed her and made people around her relax. 

"Hmm.. I wish I knew. I must admit this all is still very weird for me. Even now meeting you it feels funny. I never mentioned this to Daniel but my parents love the sport so I'm no stranger to this whole F1 world. When I told Daniel I knew him I almost hoped it would drive him away." Elza let out a little laugh. Daniel laughed too and Max smiled at the couple. 

"Well it's good to be honest. You have no idea how many times I've met someone and then they are trying to pretend they don't know who I am. It's just not very nice because usually I can tell." 

"Daniel said the same thing, that he guessed me and my friends knew who he was even if we didn't say anything. But I don't think I did anything special. I was horrified when he asked me to stay here for few days after my friends went back to Germany," Elza finished her wine Max had poured her earlier. She really enjoyed drinking good wine. 

"Hey Daniel I was supposed to ask you what happened to you going back to Australia for the summer break? Weren't you supposed to go?" Max turned his head to look at his friend. Daniel tried to give him a sign to shut his mouth but it was too late. Elza had also turned her head to Daniel and was now looking at him curiously.

"You didn't say anything about going home? Only about London. Wait, hold on. What's going on?" Elza wasn't a stupid woman, she could easily pick up what was going on around her.

"Good job Max," Daniel gave a glare to the Dutchman. 

"Sorry," Max held his hands up apologizing. 

"Please don't tell me you cancelled your trip back to home because of me?" Elza was shocked, once again. 

"It sounds so dramatic when you say it like that," Daniel tried to avoid the question. He knew Elza was going to freak out. She did that a lot.