Never Again

Chapter 47: Discovery

'This isn't your fault, you didn't know. If you had known you wouldn't have done this, so don't blame yourself,' Abby put her arm around Keira's shoulders and pulled her very close. 'You'll find another guy, don't worry,' she shushed Keira who had started to cry again.

'I don't want to go to the next race,' Keira said with a muffled voice as she had her face in Abby's shirt.

'Don't be stupid, you don't want to lose your job over him. Just act professional around him, be the adult he isn't and do the best job you can do. They way you talked about the last race could only be done by somehow who really loves what he's doing, don't throw that away for a stupid racing driver,' Abby was stroking Keira's hair, but sounded very determined.

'You're right, I'll have to pull myself together and do what's good for myself. I have done things to please others long enough, now it's time to live my life how I want it to,' Keira said with a watery smile on her face.

'That's my girl, you're so much more worth than you think you are. Anyone would be lucky to have you,' Abby was now also smiling and pulled Keira into another hug.

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Abby had left early the next day and Keira had spent the entire day in her pyjamas continuing what she had been doing the day before. Seb had contacted her many times and clearly didn't understand what was wrong. She only had replied that she was busy and that she didn't have time to see him. She hadn't want to ignore him like last time, because she still had to work with him. As long as they kept their distance, she didn't mind communicating, as long as it was about work. Clearly that was not what he had wanted, so she had kept her replies short and hadn't picked up any his calls.

She had felt rather lonely without Abby or Seb to spend time with and she was glad that she was flying to Japan today. There she would be in the company of the whole team and she had really started to like them, especially Macy and they were going along really well. She was looking forward to spend time with them all and let them distract her from this dismal situation. She looked around the room to check if she had packed everything and closed her suitcase when that was the case.

It didn't take long to get to the airport and she had some time left before her flight took off. She always wanted to be early, because you never knew what you would encounter on the way to the airport. Also missing a plane was a bit more serious than missing a bus, so she just liked to be on the safe side. When she had gone through security she decided to spend the spare time on drinking coffee, what else. She sat down at a little cafe and ordered a coffee, although not too large, because she hated peeing on the plane. If she could minimise the visits to the toilet then that would be nice.

'Hey, can I sit here?'

She almost spilled the coffee on her shirt and with a startled look tried to find the source of the voice. She didn't really need to look, because she would recognise that voice anywhere.

Seb didn't await her answer and sat down, looking a bit uneasy. 'How's it going? Also dreading the long flight?'

Oh damn, she had forgotten how cute he was. Especially when he looked all nervous like he did now. She could feel her stomach react and she couldn't look away from those perfect blue eyes. 'I'm fine, thank you,' she replied when she had found her voice again.

He was taken aback by her distant behaviour and sadness was visible in his eyes. 'What have you been up to? We haven't spoken much,' he tried again and he ran his fingers through his hair. This was something he always did when he was nervous.

She smiled politely as she couldn't handle his face looking this sad, it felt like kicking a puppy. 'I have been hanging out with Abby,' she replied and she sipped her coffee to have something to do.

'I've missed you,' he said hesitantly, but a small smile was visible on his lips. One of his leg was jiggling and he looked away when Keira didn't reply.

How was she supposed to reply to this? She thought she could just forget about how she felt and that she would go on with life. Clearly that wasn't as easy as it had seemed as her heart was pounding and she felt her eyes trailing back to his lips every few seconds. He was also looking very handsome today in his washed jeans and striped shirt. His stubble was exactly how she liked it most, not too long and not too short. She shivered when she remembered how it had felt on her skin and she felt her cheeks getting hot.

'Tell me what's wrong,' he said with a soft, but uncertain voice. He fiddled with the hem of his shirt and looked at Keira with a worried look on his face.

'There's nothing wrong,' she replied trying not to catch his eyes.

'You know you can always talk to me if there's something wrong, right?' he said while shifting in his chair.

Damn it, why did he have to be this thoughtful. He made it really hard for her to stop liking him. 'I'll keep that in mind,' she said while focussing on her coffee.

'I meant it when I said I've missed you,' he had moved his chair a little bit closer to Keira and made an attempt to grab one of her hands.

'Oh,' was the only thing that came up. She quickly put her hands around her coffee again and tried not to notice the disappointment on Seb's face. She hated to be this insensitive, but she couldn't get the image of Hanna out of her head.

'You're looking forward to the race?' he asked. He had changed the topic when Keira hadn't really replied.

'Yes,' she smiled. She had allowed herself to talk about work and this was work. 'I think we've got a good chance. I've heard this is your favourite circuit, is that right?'

He was confused by her change of mood, but the corners of his mouth had lifted slightly. 'That's true, it's one of those classic circuits,' he said. 'Maybe it sounds weird, but I had a dream that I would win this weekend,' he grinned when he remembered that dream.

She chuckled, that was typical Seb. 'Who else were on the podium in your dream?' she asked curiously.

'For some reason Kobayashi, maybe because of the fact he is Japanese, because it's not like he has been on the podium before. The other was Hamilton after he forced Alonso into an error at the last corner and he crashed,' he was counting on his fingers when he tried to remember his dream. His eyes had twinkled when he remembered Alonso not finishing the race.

'Sounds perfect,' Keira laughed, he clearly had a large imagination. 'I'll eat my hat if that turns out to be true this Sunday,' she smirked.

'I need to see that,' Seb grinned and his eyes had lit up when Keira had laughed. 'I don't think it'll taste very well, but maybe if you put some ketchup on it it'll be alright,' he chuckled.

It would be perfect If he could stop smiling like that, because her body was responding to it in all different kind of ways. 'You always know how to make things better, don't you?' she shook her head, but she couldn't hide the fact that she was amused.

At that moment their flight was announced and they both checked their watches. It was time to go to the gate or the plane would leave without them and that would not be very useful. She would also be able to get away from Seb and that would be a big relief. She was totally confused by how she felt and she expected herself to be angrier, but it was so hard to be angry with him when he looked like that. Maybe when she was alone she would be able to judge the situation a bit better.

'Britta has booked us seats next to each other, I hope you don't mind,' Seb held out his ticket and tilted his head while biting his lip.

Oh perfect, that would be twelve hours of having to sit next to him.