Amber & Honey ~ [DR3]

35. France

Daniel fits in almost too well with my family.

I forgot that fact when I invited him to dinner.

Despite my Dad's cautious approach to Daniel, after what he saw outside the day before, Daniel (of course) managed to talk him round. They spent time discussing all types of driving and racing with Dan excitedly sharing pictures of his garage full of bikes, quads and cars back in Perth. It made dads eyes widen with jealousy. Flo still fawned over Daniel, offering him favours not extended to the rest of us and complimenting him subtly at every chance. Mum just smiled at him softly.

Lando laughed at and with Daniel as he always seems to, and Mila was just enthralled by the curls of his hair, bright smile and dusting of stubble on his cheek. She giggled and grinned each time daniel so much as smiled at her, desperate to be in his hands. The sight was enough to make anybodys heart explode, yet alone mine. Meanwhile amongst it all Lilly was fighting a teasing smirk the whole time, her humoured eyes fixed on me - or rather, us. It feels weird to say that there is such a solid 'us' now.

"So you're telling me, you actually got Amber..." Lilly questioned Dan, her eyes entertained and staying on the two of us. "As in Amber Norris...Amber right here..." she repeated my name as if in disbelief, nodding with the words. "To drive a car around a race track? At like...high speeds?" Daniel laughed at the question, but he later told me it was at her complete disbelief, not my actual driving.

Daniel kept the whole table of ten people entertained as he shared the story of our birthday trip (omitting all details of affection). Even Mila clung onto his words, reaching over from where I had her balanced on my knees to Daniel.

I'm just glad he didn't mention that I stalled (twice) before even moving the car an inch; Lando would've only made fun of me for it. The difference between having a clutch at my feet to controlling the gears with my hands caught me off guard. I didn't miss the way Daniel had cringed beside me at some of the faster speeds where I forgot about some of the additional gears on the car.

I completed two laps, Daniel coaching me through each, laughing with me and at me as I worked out the car, gaining more confidence in the second time round. Despite my increased confidence it still would've been clear to anyone (even without a stopwatch) who completed the faster lap times; the man sat beside me. I was no where near as skilled as him (not that I expected to be), but I had fun and that was the most important thing (at least that's what Daniel told me). Honestly, maybe I could even get behind the whole driving fast thing now.

Throughout the story Lando and Oliver repeated the phrases such as 'that just can't have been good' and 'I don't believe it' and each time Daniel shot them down, laughing slightly at my naive mistakes or complimenting my supposed 'driving style'.

"She was great actually." Daniel encouraged (or defends depending on how you look at it), shifting beside me so his leg brushed against mine beneath the dinner table. "I mean not as good as me, but who is, right?" He joked with a shrug, and just like that an echo of laughter rose at our table and I was reminded of how incredibly easy Daniel fit in with the most important people to me.

I was too wired from the experience to drive back, my hands had a slight shake to them, my chest an extra gasp of air in it. I don't know how they do that every other week in a car that's much faster and less safe. I felt exhausted by it, but still so excited and happy. So instead, Daniel drove us back, an acceptable occurance since he no longer had to supposedly 'assess my driving skills'.

However, instead of heading back to London to his flat (as I was told we would), I was taken to this old fancy hotel -in the middle of nowhere - where he had rented out a whole suite. We spent the remainder of the day in the gardens under the sun, munching on chocolate covered strawberries and sipping on mimosa's (they offered champagne and Daniel carefully explained to them the alternative since I didn't like the drink). At night we watched movies in bed, ordered room service and fed each other pieces from our plates between laughs and kisses. That is until one kiss turned into another and another and we rolled onto the floor tearing the clothes of one and other.