Collision Course (A Daniel Ricciardo fanfic)

5. Here We Go Again!

"Ok JD our pace is consistent but we need to push now. Push. Now."

The calming voice of Ollie, my brother's new race engineer was broadcast across the Malaysian garage. Cool, unflappable, he knew his job inside out. Unfortunately he didn't know J.

Like the others my eyes were glued to the timing screens as the Ferrari closed in on the Red Bull. Each lap was almost identical, he couldn't be accused of being erratic at any rate. Unfortunately everybody else seemed to be getting quicker and with a pit stop approaching every hundredth was going to count.

"Target plus two, target plus two, we are racing Kimi for position, push now"

I could have told Ollie it wasn't going to work. If Jimmy had lapsed back into autopilot like he used to when running in the midfield, then it was going to take more than a gentle nudge to wake him up. What he needed was a kick up the backside. But how to do it? Unable to watch any longer I dropped my gaze from the monitors, my knuckles white as my fingers dug into my knees.

I wasn't the only one feeling the tension. On our side of the garage you could hear a pin drop but across the divide there was a team working desperately to figure out why the number 3 car had suddenly lost power and couldn't be reset. At least they were a distraction - while I was watching them I wasn't thinking about what my brother was doing, plus one or two of them were fairly easy on the eye...

With a jolt I realised I'd been staring. Not at anybody in particular, but unfortunately in the direction of one of Daniel's mechanics who had suddenly sat up straight into my eyeline. He was facing my way too - to look away now would have been an obvious admission of guilt. The blush spreading across my cheeks I raised my hand slowly in greeting, my casual nod receiving a cool wink from sparkling blue eyes in return.

"Checkin' out Alex's arse there Dawson?"

Oh shit.

There was nothing subtle about either the choice of words or the volume. The owner of the blue eyes smirked and disappeared back into the depths of the stripped-down car as Daniel entered the garage.

"I was not!" I protested angrily, all the more flustered by the fact that he'd got me again.

"Made you blush though"

There was no point telling him that I was already a beautiful lobster shade without his help, instead I glared up at him and slowly raised my middle finger but he was still smiling. Despite his race ending in a slow crawl back to the pits Dan was clearly better at masking his frustrations than I was.

"How's he doin?" he nodded towards the screens.

"OK I guess" I responded warily. Teammates they might be, but even at such an early stage that made each one the other's biggest competitor, biggest threat.

"Is that why you're anxious?"

"Oh so you can read my mind now can you?" I challenged him . "Remind me how that went for you at the driver test".

Infuriatingly the grin only got broader.

"If I'm wrong then how come you're about to draw blood?"

I looked down at my leg, noticing for the first time just how deeply my nails had marked the skin.

"Ok fair point" I conceded.

"So?" he prompted.

"Sooo the boy needs a wakeup call and knowing my brother a few polite words of encouragement aren't going to cut it"

"Think you could do better?"

"I know my brother" I replied simply.

"OK"