No Regrets, Only Memories

One Thing

"Alright, first question for Daniel and Maeve," I saw her visibly stiffen as the MC went straight into press questions, awaiting the worst in this situation," We are at your home in the Red Bull Ring this weekend. How important is the weekend for you?" I chuckled uneasily, but took on answering first as I looked at the journo that asked.

"Massively of course. We always want to do our best when we're at Red Bull's home." My answer was simple and to the point. It left the door open for Maeve to follow up with her own input.

"It kinda sucks though, because I'd hate to beat him on his birthday." The whole room laughed as Maeve fired at me first. Turning to her, I scoffed.

"If you did, I'd return the favor for yours." A smaller round of laughter came through at my response, making us laugh together. She broke it off first to give her real answer.

"In all seriousness, of course it's a majorly important weekend for us. We're both doing very well in the standings at this point and the car is starting to really come together. It'll be a big showing for us as individuals and us as a team. Something I am very much looking forward to." She smiled at the crowd after giving her answer. I smiled because I was happy that she was giving very confident and professional answers after the last press conference didn't exactly go the way she had hoped.

"And Maeve, do you know what your plans for next year are yet?" She pursed her lips and looked at the back of the room. My eyes followed hers to where her team stood along the wall. My team was next to hers as well, waiting in case we said anything we shouldn't or needed help with anything. A single nod from Angela had me wondering what they had been speaking about. For her to have something to be okayed like that, it had to be previously discussed.

"Well, I am contracted with Red Bull as an Engineer and aerodynamicist until the 2020 season. I plan to uphold that contract." It was short, simple, and it was the first time she had brought up her work on her own ever in a press conference. Angela had felt the pressure on her shoulders and discussed her answer to the question with Maeve. They were trying to quiet and dispel any rumors of team Red Bull losing yet another star driver.

"Last one for Maeve," She shifted in her seat now, she was uncomfortable with all of the attention and I was hoping that it would only be positive. All I wanted to do was reach out for her hand though, something I couldn't dare do while we were in front of a camera," I read through some of your papers that you've published. You do have quite the brilliant mind when it comes to engineering, yet your full time title with Red Bull leads us to believe that you work more on the aerodynamics side. Is there a reason for that?"

Maeve smiled, it was genuine and something I hadn't seen her give if she was asked a direct question by the press ever. This was a small win for me, seeing her happy even in all the shit that was going on in our lives.

"Well first, thank you for reading those. They cost decent money and we appreciate every penny we can get in academia." The room laughed at that as she leaned on the table," It was actually chance. While I work more in engine development and getting cars working internally for my degree, there's a lot of interest on how certain things can inactively effect the way a car is able to move. I do, or rather did, work on many aspects of the car when it came to both sides. My full time position simply requires me to work on the aerodynamics side of things in the factory."

Things shifted then to the others in the press conference and I think we all felt the same relief when they moved on from Maeve. It meant no outbursts and certainly no drama for one weekend. I was dealing with other issues, like forcing myself not to stare at Maeve in awe as she now had a huge smile on her face. Clearly, she enjoyed being asked a nice question about her work and I could only imagine how in-depth she would go if given the chance.