Broken Soul ☆ Daniel Ricciardo

9 | Memory lane

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Trippie Redd - The Nether:
'If you happen to be 'round my way, you won't ever have to be, be afraid. If you happen to be 'round my way 'cause I really like to - Now, I've tried, can't get you off my mind. No matter how I try, can't get you off my mind'

Telling Daniel about her past, was extremely scary but also very liberating. Emilia knew she could trust him, he had treated her with nothing but respect and patience this entire time and it felt right to tell him everything. Even though it was only their first official date yesterday, it was not like they didn't know each other already. After having dinner on the boat and watching the sunset together, Daniel had dropped her off at her apartment before he headed back to his hotel room. Waking up today was a little hard, Emilia's eyes were still red and puffy from all the crying she did last night, but she felt so much better knowing he was aware of everything that had happened to her. She wanted to take control of their second day together, so Emila told Daniel she would pick him up at his hotel around noon. After breakfast, she took a hot shower, washed her hair and body and after drying herself off, she applied some depuffing eye masks while blow-drying her hair. Emilia finished getting ready by changing into a pair of beige linnen shorts, a white crop top and applying some mascara, brow gel and lipgloss. Daniel's hotel was only a five-minute drive away, so she texted him saying she was almost there before driving off.

Nerves and excitement were flowing through her bloodstream and Emilia had to take a deep breath before turning into the hotel parking lot. She saw him walking up to her car and he smiled widely at her when he sat down in the passenger seat. "Well hello there, pretty". Daniel said when he leaned over to give her a soft kiss. "So what are we doing today?" This time he was the one getting surprised and Emilia liked being in charge for once. "I thought it would be nice to show you around my home town for a bit. I grew up here so everything I ever experienced happened in this area". Emilia said while starting the car again. She didn't have a set plan, but just driving around, showing him all her favourite places from her childhood wouldn't be hard as it was just a small town. She turned onto the main road and drove to the house she grew up in first. "My parents don't live here anymore, they moved to Milan a few years back, but this was my home for the first 20 years of my life". Emilia told Daniel some stories about the neighbours, the big tree in the garden and their dog escaping through the fence and it felt amazing to let him in on her childhood memories.

Their next stop was her elementary school and even though she saw it almost every day, sitting here in the parking lot, looking at the building and telling Daniel about her favourite teachers and moments from that time, made her smile. Her high school wasn't far away from here and when they arrived, Emilia pointed out the classroom she met Gia and Isabel in. "It was my first class of freshman year and I walked into the room, very shy and with a huge book bag and the girls invited me to sit with them. They met about ten minutes before that and we became best friends right away. We were inseparable in school and we kind of still are". Emilia laughed and Daniel looked over at her with nothing but admiration on his face. "You girls are the perfect example of true soulmates. You support each other in everything but you all have your own lives separately as well. I really admire that about you three". Daniel said and Emilia leaned over to hug him, he was so sweet. "Let's get to the next place, shall we?" She quickly said, not wanting to get too emotional just yet, even though she didn't really know where they would end up next.

"Uhh, I wasn't really planning on showing you this, but we're close by anyway now.." There was a slight shift in Emilia's voice. It became softer and she had a hard time keeping her breathing pattern steady. She parked the car across the street from an apartment complex and let out a big sigh. "This..." She started and Daniel looked at her, waiting patiently for her to continue. "This is the apartment Marcus and I lived in for about two years.." His hand immediately found its way onto her leg and he softly squeezed it to let her know he was there. It seemed he did it without even thinking about it, his need to protect her from everything so apparent. "Everything I told you last night, happened in there". Emilia pointed at the top window on the right side of the building. "Thank you so much for showing me all of this. It really means a lot to me that you trust me enough to let me into your life like that". Daniel said after Emilia turned her head to look over at him. He gently rubbed circles on her leg, just listening to her talking about her past.