Rise Up

Chapter 15: McDate

"Well, at first I thought I needed to keep a low profile about it until it was announced officially by the team but then I just opted to make you a surprise." 

"Well, you'll glad to know that you managed it!" He said smiling. 

"Your face was priceless!"

"No, it wasn't."

"Believe me: it was! I also made a screenshot of it. Wait, gimme a second. I'll show you." I loved taking joke of his silliness.

"You're such a bad liar! No cheat food for you tonight!"

"Hey! I'm not coming then."

"Too late. You're already at my car."

"Ass."

Our back and forth didn't let me realize how quickly we reached the parking just outside the paddock. 

We drove together to the hotel and got different ways when we reached the hotel hall, to get to our rooms, have a quick shower before meeting in the lobby again. He said he knew a cool and intimate restaurant not that far away from here.

After the shower, I sat on the bed, still in a towel, staring at my opened luggage spread on the floor in front of me. I had no idea of what I should have to wear.

It was a date, maybe I should have dressed up a bit.

Unfortunately I was not in the best of the mood. My knee was a bit sore and livid, this way no skirts or shorts would have hide it. However I tried to put the ice bag on it to try and at least release some of the pain. 

After a while I decided that it was time to get ready for real. I picked a pair of blue baggy jeans, perfect to hide the bandage around the bruise. With it I chose a simple but nice green satin shirt that I cautiously put in the high-waisted jeans, trying to not  wrinkle it too much. While I was tieing my loved AF1, I heard a ping from my phone. I got up quickly but still paying attention to the broken leg and reached the table side to grab it and have a look.

Lando :) : You won't believe it- I'm not late. I'm downstairs already in the garage waiting for you. Ps. Be quick.

I smiled reading it a few more times. Then I grabbed a small purse to put the essential in it, such as some tissues, the lip balm and of course the keys. When I headed to the elevator, the lift looked so slow, maybe because I was a bit too excited about this dinner.

"Here I am!" I said when the door opened and revealed him leaned on the cool black sporty car but definitely too loud as the echo was spreading everywhere in the garage. Fortunately he giggled at my goofiness.

"Let's go then." He said, opening the passenger seat as the good gentleman he was. 

His music was creating a perfect atmosphere in the car. His perfume was all over the place, making my rationality disappear the second after I sat in the seat next to him. Outside the sky was painted with bright orange and pink clouds and lights, it was too amazing to not take a photo, above all for a sunset lover like me. I saw him smiling at me when I put away my phone and blushed a little.

After a while, I felt his right hand on my thigh, caressing it gently. "You're beautiful tonight." 

"Thanks." I blushed even more.

"Oh, look at your cute face! You're so cute when you blush." He started to tease me again, making my cheeks turning even more redder. 

"I'm not blushing." I said trying to believe it myself. 

"Oh yes, you are. Trust me."

"No, it's just that it's too hot."

"You're hot."

"Can you stop it?!" I needed some air, thanks Lando, the opened window helped me chill down a bit.

"Ok, m'lady. Here we are." He said, after pulling the car in a parking.  

"No way. Are you joking?" I asked surprised. 

"Do I look like a joke to you?" He pulled a serious face on that made the whole situation even more hilarious. 

"Oh my, you're something else, Lan." I tried to say between the laughs. 

"What, why? Don't you like it?" 

"Thank goodness I didn't dress up that much."

I laughed so hard that some people in the parking slot started to turn around to look at us as my window was still down. 

"Well, I asked some tips to Max as he's the only Dutch I know but he started to laugh at me, really in my face, when I accidentally dared to say the word date."

"This gets even more funny after this."

"I wanted to take you to a fancy restaurant like normal people do but I didn't want you to feel uncomfortable around people so here we are at McDonald's. I hope you don't mind." For the first time this evening I saw him serious. 

"You're so sweet Lan, how can I mind a McDate?" I pulled away the seatbelt to be able to hug him properly.

"McDate, you said? I like it. Ok, we should move now. That creep is staring at us too much." He broke the hug but before pulling completely apart I caressed him on his hairless cheek. 

"So drive in, huh?"

"Yes, eating junk food in a car is so romantic." He replied. 

We ordered and moved a bit far away from there. Not too long after we found a small park with an empty parking area, perfect to enjoy our gourmet meal. 

"Oh my goodness. I love so much fries." He exclaimed out of nowhere, pulling his hand in my bucket. 

"Hey, hands off. You won't eat mine too." I pouted back, trying to defense my food pulling it away from him. 

"Why not?" 

"We're not at that stage yet." 

"Which stage?" He asked confused.

"The one where I let you share my food." I said with a calm tone, keeping a serious face, soon broke by his loud chuckles. 

"You're something else, baby."

He laughed again and again, grabbing other fries from the small box on my leg and offering me one of his chicken bites as an exchange and with some cute puppy eyes, that cute that I couldn't just deny them. 

We spent the night talking about the weekend and the upcoming races, I also had the chance to explain him all the story behind my new contract. Then we stayed a few hours there singing to some good songs we chose together from his playlist and shared a few sweet kisses and caresses before going back to the hotel as we were tired from the day.