Fields of Gold; Daniel Ricciardo

Papaya team

Daniel opens the car door for me and helps me out of the car. Damn why are these things so low. Oh well, just bite through it, as soon as I stand up straight the pain subsides and I look at the building in front of me. Daniel locks the car and suddenly he grabs my hand and takes me with him to go inside.
"You'll meet some people first and then we will get some lunch, after that I will show you around and tell you everything you want to know" Daniel explains as we go through the doors.
I look around and I'm just so amazed by everything I see that I didn't even notice some people who are standing almost right in front of me. Daniel introduces me and they tell me what they do at McLaren.
"I will apologize in advance, because I'm really bad with names. I want to remember all of your names and jobs, but I'm so sorry if I get them mixed up." I hope they are not offended, but they all smile and tell me that's understandable.
We talk for a while and I'm very interested in what they do, you can tell everybody is proud to be part of the McLaren family.

After a while Daniel taps me on my shoulder,
"are you hungry, because I am so maybe we should go have lunch."
"Oh, yeah sure I would like something" as soon as I say that my stomach starts to rumble so loudly that they probably heard that at the other side of the building. I start laughing and look at Daniel, "perfect timing as you can tell".
He smiles back at me and grabs my hand again. I don't know why he does that, but I'm definitely not going to complain.
As we make our way to the cafeteria, I suddenly see somebody that looks familiar.
"Oh hey it's Lando, this day just keeps getting better".
"Oi Lando, wait for us!" Daniel shouts.
Lando turns around and as he sees Daniel and me he smiles and stops to wait for us. As we walk up to him I can actually see him quickly look at my hand that is still in Daniels tight grip. He seems amused by it, but it might just be my imagination.
"Hey, are you Skylar? The one who won the contest?" He asks as we reach him.
"The one and only" I answer and I shake his hand. "It's super nice to meet you Lando, are you getting lunch as well?"
"Yeah I've been doing some media stuff and now I'm starving, you guys mind if I join you?" we start walking again and I immediately reply,
"I don't mind at all, do you?" And I look at Daniel.
"No, of course not, let's see what they have for us today."

As we reach the cafeteria, Daniel has to let go of my hand in order to grab a tray. I look at the options and it all looks really good, but I decide to go for an amazing looking pasta with pesto and chicken. Daniel chooses the same and Lando goes for some sort rice dish which also looks very tasty.
As we sit down at a nice table in a corner I ask Lando if he's looking forward to the race in Imola.
"Yeah Italy is always good, we'll see what we can do next week. Hopefully score some points again. We would love to end up in the top 4 of the constructors Championship this year."
"Yeah I would love that for you guys as well, you all deserve it." I take a bite from my food and it tastes so good. I close my eyes and just enjoy the flavors.
"Oh my god, this pasta is amazing, I wish I could cook like that," I say as I take another bite.
"They do know how to make good food here, that's for sure" Daniel also looks like he is enjoying his food.
During lunch we continue to talk, Lando is very nice and also really funny. It feels like talking to a younger brother, it's just easy and we get along really well.
"So can somebody tell me where the restrooms are?" I ask after I finish my meal.
"It's just down that hall, about halfway down you'll see the signs." Daniel points me in the right direction and I excuse myself and find my way to the toilets.

Daniels pov:
As she walks away I catch myself staring at her. I hear Lando chuckle and I quickly look at him.
"What's so funny?" I ask.
"Well you are, mate you're practically drooling man." Lando replies and he nods in the direction Skylar went in. "You're in to her aren't you?"
"Well I hardly know her, but she is really nice to be around. Easy to talk to as well, we had a lot of laughs in the car ride over here. And look at her, she is gorgeous." I try not to sound to impressed, but I don't think it's working.
"But you know, after today I'll probably never see her again. I have to admit I wouldn't mind if I did see her more, but I don't know how I would make that happen. I don't even know if she likes me, well she likes me as the driver, but she might not like me as just me." I look at Lando. "How did you know with your girlfriend?"
Lando thinks about his answer," I didn't know, but we just took the time getting to know each other and it just felt right you know, I guess with our work we always have to be aware that there will always be people who only want to be around us because of who we are. But if you can figure out who is genuinely interested in you as a person, that can make your life even better"
I raise my eyebrows,"mate, when did you get so wise?"
He laughs,"I'm not, I've just learned a lot and I talk to the other guys as well. But if you really like this girl and want to get to know her better, figure out a way to make that happen."
I nod and as I finish my meal I can see Skylar returning. She smiles at some people that walk by and she just looks like she belongs here. It hits me that I really don't want today to be the only time I spend time with her. I have to come up with something to see her again.

Skylar's pov:
When I get back to the table I can see a serious look on Daniels face. I frown,"everything ok here?"
Ah there's that smile again,"yeah all good, ready to continue the tour?" Daniel puts all the plates away and I quickly finish my drink. "Yeah let's go, what is next?"
"We are going to see the collection of McLarens." he replies.
"That sounds like a plan, I can't wait to see all those amazing cars, let's go." Lando gets up and gives me a hug. "It was great to meet you Skylar, who know we might see each other again."
"That would be great, but I don't think I'll be this lucky again and win another time. But still I loved talking to you and good luck next weekend at Imola." I hug him again and then follow Daniel to the collection of cars.

The rest of the day seems to fly by. I meet so many people and I learn a lot about everything. He shows me the simulator and he really takes his time for all my questions.
As we walk back to the entrance where we first got in, Daniel holds my hand again.
"So I hope you enjoyed your day here?" he asks.
"It was the best day I've had in a really long time, probably even the best day ever." I smile at him, "I really want to thank you for taking the time to spend the entire day with me. I can imagine you have way more important things to do then entertain me, so please know I really appreciate it. Also it was really nice to get to know you, the real you I mean. Or at least I think this was the real you."
He slightly squeezes my hand,"trust me, it was the real me, it's easy to be myself around you. I like that a lot, so thanks for making my day great as well."
As we get outside I kinda expect a taxi to be waiting for me, but there's only the car we arrived in this morning. Daniel unlocks it and opens the passenger side door for my. "Mylady, your carriage awaits"
"Well thank you kind sir and what a beautiful carriage it is." We both laugh and he helps me get in the car. I'm pretty tired and being able to sit down in the comfortable seat of the car feels like heaven.
He gets in on the other side and starts the car. It sends shivers down my spine with pleasure hearing the engine roar again. "Fuck, I love that sound." I close my eyes for a second to just enjoy the moment.
When I open them again I see Daniel look at me, his eyes seem darker, but it's already end of the day, so that's probably why.

"I was wondering." he starts.
"Hmm? About what?" I ask.
"Well, would you like to go get dinner on our way to your place?" he asks me and he actually looks a bit insecure.
"I would really like that, I don't like the idea of this day ending just yet." I answer him and suddenly he looks so relieved. "Did you think I would say no?" as I look at him raising my eyebrows.
"Well maybe you are tired or something." he drives down the long drive way back to the road.
"Trust me, I'm not too tired to spend some more time with you, I'm actually really happy you want to grab something to eat, because first I'm really hungry and second I'm not ready to say goodbye yet." I tell him and I feel my cheeks turning red.
I didn't really want to say that, because I don't want him to know how I feel about him. It would only be an embarrassment, I already liked him before today. It's just that after spending this time with him and getting to know Daniel personally has only made me like him even more.
But after today, that's it, he will go on with his busy life and I will go on with mine.
I can feel his eyes on me and when I look at him he has the sweetest smile on his face that make the butterflies in my stomach do somersaults.
"To be honest, I'm not ready to say goodbye either." he tells me as he puts his hand on my leg and softly squeezes it.
My heart skips a beat and I know I will have to spend some time with my two friends Ben&Jerry after today to try to smother the butterflies in my stomach.

Little note from me as the writer.
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