Apex [h.s]

chapter thirty five

Song: Sunflower Vol. 6, Harry Styles

Kiss in the kitchen like it's a dance floor

Harry Styles

December

The sun was setting across the race track. There were only a few people from mine and Frankie's team left milling around after the successful weekend we had had.

We had just finished our third round of the Touring Championship and there was only one race left before the four week Christmas break.

So far this season, Frankie had taken out every race.

A part of me thought I would feel a bit gutted coming second place all the time, but Frankie was driving with a determination and desire that I had never seen in any other driver before.

She carried a lot of weight on her shoulders, not just to take out the championship, but to prove that it didn't matter who you were, if you had the skills, you had the ability to win.

It was honestly an honour to be beaten by her. If it was anyone else, I would've been a bit more pissed, but she had other ways for making up for that.

Not saying that I let her win though. Absolutely-fucking-not. I put everything into my racing, but Frankie is just overall a better driver than me, as much as I hate to admit it.

She has the background knowledge of a race engineer, which means she has the ability to analyse a track in real-time as she's driving. Along with the years of experience on the track to back up the theory knowledge and on top all of that, she's so passionate about it.

She was becoming a household name around the track. After each race, the crowd that would gather around her pit grew and grew. 

I could tell as she would look over to me, that she was completely overwhelmed by the attention, but she'd never let her supporters know that. I couldn't help but be so proud of her as I watched her interact with everyone. From little kids, to old grumpy men, she had each and every one of them wrapped around her little finger with a single smile. 

She honestly amazed me. She had every quality that I could ever think was attractive. She was incredibly smart, loyal, motivated, loving, kind and funny as fuck. She wasn't afraid to be an absolute weirdo in front on me. Whether it be dancing like an idiot in the kitchen as we cooked together or singing her lungs out in the car to old hippie music that she pretended not to know around other people. It was captivating and impossible not to join in. Plus, she laughed at my shitty jokes.

I loved that she let me show her the real me. People were always so fast to make judgements about me, especially on the race track. I was the guy with the tattoos who loved to win and didn't race to make friends.

Admittedly, she didn't like me that much when we first me, but then again, I didn't really like me all that much then either. She brought me back to another version of me that I hadn't known for quite some time. 

When I was around her though, I could be vulnerable. I didn't feel like I had to stop myself from feeling real and raw emotions around her. She had seen me in every state, both good and bad, and I had seen her at her worst and best as well.

I finished loading everything into my trailer, before walking across the lot to Frankie's pit. 

She was deep in conversation with her race engineer, Mitch. I hadn't spent too much time with him, but he seemed like a pretty cool guy. Frankie got on with him well and it seemed like my own race engineer, Sarah had taking a liking to him too...