The Limit (Sebastian Vettel)

32. Countdown To Summer Break

Seb tried again and again to reach out to Lily over the following days. He'd hoped she would be in the same hotel as him, but it turned out Haas were staying at another hotel, a good ten miles away.

His texts had been undelivered, his calls diverted straight to voicemail. He had a suspicion that she had blocked his number. He knew he'd rather talk to her in person anyway so he'd tried not to be too bothered about it.

He had to explain to her what had happened. He'd had no idea about the photograph that had been taken until Lily had unleashed her anger at him in her text message. He'd wondered out loud how she'd known he'd been sat with a blonde. Britta had overheard him and looked on Twitter, immediately seeing the incriminating photograph.

Except it really wasn't like it looked. The photograph was a selfie Tabitha had taken of herself and Daniel, and there in the background were him and Zoe. It had been taken the exact second she'd kissed him.

He had to get Lily to believe him. He couldn't lose her over a stupid misunderstanding.

When he'd arrived at the circuit first thing on the Thursday morning he'd walked up and down the paddock hoping to bump into her but to no avail. He did however see Daniel, who he spoke to about what had happened.

"Daniel mate, you know nothing happened. You've got to tell Lily that. She thinks I had it off with Zoe."

"Mate, I believe you, but I was so shitfaced I can't even remember fucking Tabi." Seb groaned. He was fucked.

He headed over to the Haas motorhome and lingered around. Finally, he spotted Lily's press officer, Ashleigh.

"Ashleigh!" he called. "Is Lily about? I need to speak to her."

"Oh I'm sorry Seb, she's not here. She's been given permission to skip media duties today. She's not been well the last few days. Hopefully she'll be back tomorrow."

His heart sank. Lily was ill? Or was she just avoiding him?

He stomped back to the Ferrari motorhome and shut himself in his room. He had another fifteen minutes before he had to head out on his track walk. He took his phone out and tried to call Lily again. Voicemail.

He didn't blame her for jumping to the wrong conclusion over the photo. He admitted it looked pretty damning. He was getting mad that she wouldn't talk to him though. He deserved a chance to defend himself.

She's been hurt before, a little voice in his head said. Remember Liam? That hadn't been that long ago, and she'd been left vulnerable.

He sat down and ran his fingers through his hair, feeling extremely agitated. What a fucking mess they'd ended up in.

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," he called out. The door opened and Antti came in.

"You ready boss?" Had fifteen minutes gone already? He looked at his watch. They had.

He sighed and stood up, ready to begin his track walk.

***

Lily looked up at the bedroom ceiling and sighed. She hadn't wanted to miss Media Day, but Kieron, the team doctor, had insisted.

She'd begun to feel ill the day after leaving Germany. She'd had a sore throat and a fever, and she'd begin to feel worse throughout that day.

She'd had to abandon her session in the sim, and her flight to Budapest had been delayed from Wednesday morning until Thursday morning on the advice of the doctor.