Racing Heart [Formula 1 DR3]

Chapter 20

Daniel woke up early, after such a successful qualifying yesterday he felt the pressure on his shoulders. He needed to get out, to get out of his own head. He got dressed into a grey hoodie with his shorts and t-shirt. He messaged Lou to see if she was awake to join him.

The pair met outside the hotel, luckily it was still early and so no one noticed them; and made the short walk to the beach, it was peaceful and hardly anyone else was around. They found a spot in the sand and Daniel sat down, pulling Lou to sit between his legs, with her back resting against him. He wrapped his arms around her, and they sat in silence. Lou sat taking it all in, the beach was beautiful and as the sun started to rise it was flooded with golden sun. Her arms felt cold, so Daniel took off his hoodie and wrapped it around her before laying back, propped up on his elbows. He watched as her golden hair blew in the morning breeze, it was a moment he wanted to remember forever so grabbed his phone out his pocket and snapped a picture of her, Lou was oblivious which made it even more beautiful to him. "What's on your mind?" Lou brought him out of his own thoughts, she lay back to rest her head on his chest and was looking up at him. "What if I fuck it up now? The race. It's so much pressure." Lou chuckled and rubbed his chest gently, "Daniel Ricciardo, you are an amazing driver and if you can do what you did yesterday, you'll be fine. Regardless of what happens I'm proud of you."

"If I win, do I get a prize?" He smirked, as they'd been lay on the sand, he'd become increasingly aware of her proximity to his groin and it was driving him crazy, "yeah, a trophy dumbass." She replied far too sarcastically, as she got to her knees beside him to stand up. He pulled her back onto his lap and held her in a bear hug. "I meant a prize from you; you pain in the ass." She giggled against him as he placed a kiss on her lips. "You're the pain the ass right now," she whispered, "but yeah maybe I'll get you a sticker or something." He realised from her response he was more aroused than he'd realised but he didn't want to break his promise. He knew his feelings, but he didn't want to rush her into deciding hers. "C'mon let's get you back before Lewis realises that he's been left to his own devices." After a few minutes to allow him to hide his excitement, Daniel helped Lou up and they went back to the hotel together. Before they went their separate ways, Lou pulled him close and they shared a passionate kiss, "good luck Dan, you'll smash it."

The rest of the day went by in a blur, it felt like everything moved at a million miles an hour. There were a few meetings that morning before the drivers went to prepare for the race, Lou was sat with Toto in the garage as she saw Daniel skip down the track to his car. She'd spotted him earlier with his parents, so she didn't want to go over and interrupt them, she sent him another text wishing him good luck before putting on her headphones just in time for lights out. Carlos spun out in the first lap, taking the Ferrari out of the race so early, Lou felt awful for him but was glad he was okay. Mercedes were doing brilliantly, matching the Red Bulls and remaining Ferrari. Daniel was now behind Max, dropping down to P2 but he stayed hopeful. After 30 laps, it seemed like the result was set, Max had reached 10 seconds ahead of Daniel despite the safety car brought out for Seb, but at least a podium was still on the cards for the Aussie. Then fate intervened. "Stop the car!" The car was pulled over to the side as smoke started to flow out of the back of it, "fuck!" Max Verstappen looked set to win but now was out of the race. Daniel Ricciardo was leading his home race again. Lou could've cried at that moment but kept it together. George was up to P3 with only 4 laps to go, he looked to be getting his first podium of the season. Right at the last moment Checo had DRS and overtook him on the last lap.

Lou was frustrated for her team, they only just missed out on the podium. George was 2 tenths of a second behind Checo, and Lewis was only a tenth of a second behind George. She couldn't help but feel happy for Daniel though, winning in his home race was amazing for him, and she could see how happy he was. She went back with the team to their motorhome to de-brief.

Daniel was buzzing from his win, his parents were there to see it too which made it so much sweeter, but he found from the podium there was only one pair of eyes he was looking for, but he couldn't find them in the crowd. He was still thinking about it when his mum appeared next to him, wrapping her arms around her son. It snapped him out of his daze, and he quickly hugged her and showed her the trophy. His dad gave him a hug too and they sat down together to talk before he went off to celebrate with the team. As they got up to leave, Daniel's mum, Grace, pulled him into another hug and whispered to her son, "whoever she is, I hope you stay this happy." He looked back at his mum in confusion, she smiled back at him and laughed, "a mother always knows, Dan, I've always told you that." He gave her another hug and said goodbye to her and his dad. He sat and looked at the photo on his phone from that morning, he knew what he needed to do.

Daniel walked over to Mercedes' motorhome; Lewis was stood outside chatting to an engineer. "Hey congratulations on the win mate. You were great out there." Daniel gave him a smile and thanked him. He tried to think of a way to ask about Lou without being too obvious, "are you guys heading back to the hotel soon?" Lewis nodded, "yeah I'm heading back in a bit, George and Lou have already gone back." As the engineer went back inside Lewis said he'd see Daniel later for the party. McLaren had arranged a celebration for Daniel and so Lando had, naturally, invited everyone to the afterparty.

He stood staring at the wooden door for a couple of minutes, building up the courage to knock. When she answered the door all the worries and stress stopped, but the butterflies in his stomach went crazy. "Can I come in?" Lou smiled and opened the door to let him into the room. He looked at her and thought how beautiful she looked; she was in the middle of getting ready for the party, her blonde hair had been curled and was sitting just above her waist. Her make-up was strewn across the dressing table and her dress was hanging off the bathroom door. "You did great today, I bet your parents were so proud to be here for your win." Lou was worried, Daniel looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders, when he's just won his home race so should be ecstatic. "Dan, you're worrying me. Are you okay?"

"I..." He started, not sure how to word what he was trying to say, "I couldn't find you. When I was on the podium. I won my home race, I felt on top of the world but the only thing I could think about was you. You were the only person I wanted to see. I know we said we needed to figure out our feelings, and I don't want to rush you into anything, but I want you, fuck Lou, I need you." They stood in silence for a couple of seconds, to Daniel it felt like hours. He was so worried he'd ruined this before it even had chance to begin, but then she smiled at him and took a step closer. "I thought you already knew how I felt, idiot. I don't get up at 5am to go to the beach with anyone y'know. I can't lie to you, I'm fucking terrified of getting myself into something and getting hurt again. But if I'm going to risk it, I'll risk it with you."

He took her in his arms and held onto her like his life depended on it. "I'll never hurt you. I promise." He brushed her hair out of her face and brought it up to his, kissing her deeply. He could feel her smile against his lips. "Don't you have a team to be celebrating with?" She laughed. Daniel checked his watch and realised he was already 20 minutes late to his own celebration. "Fine, I'll go if you want to get rid of me." She pushed him playfully, but he pulled her back into a hug. "Oh yeah, one more thing. Is my girlfriend coming to the afterparty?" He hoped she knew what he was trying to hint at, and felt his breath catch in his chest as he waited for an answer. She leant up and placed a kiss on his cheek, "yeah I think she should be able to make it." They pair stood for a minute, Daniel with a goofy smile and Lou with bright red cheeks. He gave her a final hug before running off to his celebration meal, he turned as he left to let her know the silver beaded dress hanging on her door was beautiful.