Out Of The Blue (Sebastian Vettel)

5. Friends Reunited

There was a brief moment of silence. The three people who had just entered the office stood there totally gobsmacked, lost for words. They couldn't quite believe what, or rather who,  they were seeing. 

"Well, aren't you going to say something?" said the woman. "It's not like you to be so quiet. Especially you Joel Barnes." Suddenly the floodgates opened.

"Oh. My. Bloody. God! Melissa Afton!! What on earth? You never told us you were coming here! How are you here? Why didn't you tell us? You're back! Oh my God!  It's so bloody good to see you girl.  You look amazing!" Melissa started laughing as her overexcited friend engulfed her in a giant bear hug.  She hugged him back, as happy to see him as he was to see her. 

"Melissa, this is fantastic! You're our new girl?" exclaimed Sophie.

"It's so good to see you Lissa,"added Matt. "We've missed you so much!"

Sophie and Matt joined in the group hug, all of them shedding happy tears.  It had been three long years since they had all been together in the same room.  Finally they broke apart.  A mock angry look appeared on Joel's face.

"Why didn't you tell us?" he said accusingly.

"I wanted to surprise you! I asked Penny and Otmar to keep it quiet. You should have seen the looks on your faces," she laughed. "And you'll never believe how difficult it was to sneak in here last Tuesday for my interview!  I nearly bumped into you in the corridor Matt. Luckily I had my pink bobble hat on!"

"That was you? I remember! You walked around the corner by Otmar's office. Then you sped up like you had a rocket up your bum. I know why now. You sneaky little..."

"But..." spluttered Joel. "How? And why? Don't get me wrong, I'm absolutely thrilled to have you back, but you gave no sign of wanting to come back.  This is just so out of the blue."

Melissa sat down on the chair nearest to her and looked up at her friends.

"Ok so the last few months I've been feeling...homesick I guess.  I really missed you all and I missed home.  Manchester has been fun but I began to have the urge to work in motorsport again. I began to keep an eye out to see if there was anything suitable, even in Formula 2 or 3. When I saw the advert for this job it felt like fate. I needed that time away, but I'm so ready to come home. I'm done with running away. Adam isn't taking any more of my life away from me. I missed you all so much.  I called Penny, she remembered me and offered me an interview straight away.  So here I am! Surprise!"

"This is perfect," sighed Sophie. "The whole gang is back together."

"And in Formula 1, where we were always meant to be," added Matt. 

Melissa wiped away a tear. A happy tear. She was so pleased to be back with her friends, and about to start on her Formula 1 career.

***

Seb took a swig out of his bottle of water as Antti told him about their workout plans for the next day.

They were sat at a table on the far side of the staff canteen. He was only half listening to Antti, truth be told. He was tired, extremely tired. He hadn't slept well the previous night. No particular reason, he just couldn't settle. It had been a regular occurrence lately. Maybe once the season got underway and he was in a set routine and spending more time at home he'd begin to sleep a little bit better.  At the moment he was living in a hotel whilst getting settled into the team.   It was easier to stay here instead of flying backwards and forwards all the time.  He'd had a seat fit, plenty of sim work and he still had the launch and a shakedown to get through before they headed to Barcelona for testing.