Overtake

Testing

As soon as my alarm sounded the next morning, I had switched it off and was out of bed within seconds. Maybe three seconds tops which wasn't a personal record by any means- I had plenty to do.

Folding back the sheets on the hotel mattress, I pulled my hair out of its loose ponytail and pressed play on my Voicemail. Even though I had been working until late, in a short space of time I had learnt rather quickly that the team would ring at any time of the night. Especially James, who would leave a message whenever an idea or thought came to his head. It could be at three in the afternoon or three in the morning. Three a.m. was the more common occurring one.

I drew my clothes out from the wardrobe whilst James' latest ponderings filled the early morning air. Taking my polo off its hanger, I inspected the 'Ferrari Red' trousers that I was to wear at all times at the track. They had been steamed before I had taken off in Italy, but they were in need of doing again after they'd been in my case for several hours whilst travelling. I'd have to get Aldo to give them a going over before the uniform inspection that one the guys was to conduct.

"Oh and I've cancelled the meeting with Kimi, you were saying yesterday about focusing on Seb's testing...or testing Sebastian, I'm not quite certain..." That caught my attention- I inwardly rolled my eyes at the remark James had made. I suppose postponing the meeting did make sense; today I was turning my attention to Sebastian. "So yeah, that's all I wanted to say right now. Hope you're enjoying your beauty sleep...shit, I'm going to get a slap for that tomorrow...it is tomorrow. Right, well...I'll leave another message if anything else springs to mind. Ciao!"

James' message finished and I saved it. It was company policy to make a note of all the messages you made to eradicate the chances of a slip-up. Even a minor fuck up would result in job loss. Yazzi, part of the pit-stop team, had already been fired for missing a team meeting. It was a foolish mistake to make on his behalf.

I grabbed a pen from the bedside table and scribbled down what was said, and at what time, trying my utmost to make my writing decipherable at half past five in the morning.

"Ciao, Tia. It's Fabio, Seb wanted me to ring you to ask about meeting for the morning, just a quickie..." The line went quiet as Fabio could clearly be heard sniggering. "Yeah, so...give me a call back when you get up so I can pass the message on. Hopefully he'll give you his number so I don't have to keep waking up and calling you. Anyway, I'll catch you in a bit for breakfast. It's on me!"

To my surprise, I chuckled at his message and jotted it down. As I lifted my pen in case of another one, the line cut out to signify that I was up to date with everything. Not bad for five hours off the job.

Before I jumped (or crawled) into the shower, I keyed five on my iPhone and Fabio's number got dialled. After two rings he picked up, sounding as cheery as ever.

"Tia!" he spoke before I could get a word in. "Good sleep?"

"Good sleep." I said, venturing into the bathroom so I could switch the shower on to warm up. The bathroom was more than adequate for one person and was complete with a roll top bath and a double walk-in shower. Really, there was nothing to complain about. "What time can Sebastian do?"

"For the quickie?" Even for the second time round Fabio was snickering.

"A time would be nice, please."

"Right, sorry. He said about seven, at the motorhome, at the track."

"That's fine." I said, mentally picturing my schedule. On the hour to half past seven was left free, and it was to be treated as my down time before the constant rush of the next four days.

"Want me to give you his number so you can text him?" Unless my imagination was tricking me, Fabio sounded vaguely hopeful for a brief moment. Make that very hopeful.