Message In A Bottle // Alex Albon

0.1

16th June, 2018. Brighton, United Kingdom.

The British heatwave was in full swing when George decided to head to the British coast, Alex , Lando & Jack all crammed in his Mercedes for the journey. It was the only thing they could think to do to pass their time on the off days, before training for the France F2 round began. 

Traffic was a nightmare, everyone supposedly having the same ideas as them, but eventually they managed to park the car, despite it being almost a mile from the coast. Walking to the beach was picturesque, all the laines vibrantly coloured with the street vendors enthusiastically trying to sell them items. The quartet just brushed it all off, eventually reaching the famous beach in the shadows of the pier.

"Right lads, time to get the beers out!" Jack cheered, breaking open the cool box to fetch the glass bottles, handing one to everyone before opening the top of his, taking the first sip of the cool liquid. 

"Here's to France!" George called, all 4 clinking their bottles together and repeating the words afterwards. Even in such competitive times, they knew off track friendship was valuable too.

They basked in the sunlight for a while, drinking the beer bottles whilst the busy traffic and rolling waves set the soundtrack. They were amongst many other groups of people, and were glad to go relatively unnoticed, unlike on the race weekends. A glowing reflection in the sand caught the group slight off guard though, the green glass catching the light.

"I'll take a look, guys." Alex notified them, moving to grab the item. Pulling it out the sand, he found it to be a glass bottle like the ones they held, except instead of housing beer, it housed a paper note inside, supposedly a message in a bottle.

"Should I open it?" he continued, unsure whether to break the seal on the top. After a resounding yes, he opened the top, pulling out the slightly creased paper note inside, eyes scanning over the few words written on the paper.

"You should message her back!" Lando told him once he'd finished reading over the contents, also quite curious about who the sender was. 

"Get your email up, send her a message. Worst case scenario, she doesn't reply or can't remember sending this message. Best case scenario, you're about to message your future wife." Jack added, Alex reluctantly opening his phone in response, loading the small gmail app. 

"Well, here goes nothing." he sighed out, starting to type his message to the girl.

---

From: aaansusinha46@gmail.com

To: daniberton@gmail.com

Subject: message in a bottle

Hey Danièle,

I don't know if you remember, but you left a message in a bottle a couple of years back. I found the message today in Brighton and decided to say hello.

I'm Alex, and I'm from Milton Keynes, but right now I don't really have a permanent home. I work for this racing team, and I have to be in the garage on race weekends, so I get to travel Europe with them. Funnily enough, we're coming to France next weekend, maybe I'll see you there? 

My team, they're actually French, so there's something interesting for you. There's a bit more expectation on us, being our home race, but I hope Nicholas & Alex can deliver. I'm on Alex's side of the garage, I work tech support for him and the mechanics. It's often confusing when someone says "Alex" in the garage, we both look but usually they're asking for the driver, not me.

There's not much to know about me, unless you want boring useless facts. I turned 22 in March, so that makes me an Aries. I somehow thought it would be a good idea to own 5 cats with my family, bad idea, I'm always covered in cat hairs when I go home! Add 3 dogs, that's a nightmare, but we love them dearly.

I still live with my mum when I'm back home, but most of the time I see her when I'm visiting family with her on holiday, as it's easier if we visit family abroad together. I also live with my 3 younger sisters and younger brother, we're quite a close family I guess. 

Ideally, my dream was to be a f1 driver, but I'll have to settle for somehow making it in f1 as part of a team instead. Maybe one day I'll make it, who knows, I wasn't supposed to be here this year if I'm totally honest! But I'm happy in my team right now, they're like a second family, and it keeps me satisfied and well paid!

Anyways, I hope you'll message me back :)

-Alex

---

He hit send before he could really think too much about it. He thought she'd have forgotten about it, moved on with her life to not have time for it anymore. He tossed his phone away before turning his attention back to his friends, moving off the sand to walk towards the pier.

Over in Paris, a quiet notification snapped Danièle out of her trance. She slowly read the banner at the top of her phone screen, a small gasp escaping her lips as she processed the words.

New email from: aaansusinha46@gmail.com

Subject: message in a bottle

Someone had finally found the bottle she sent out years ago.

~~~

HEY GUYS!!

So, here's the first proper chapter of the fic, where Alex finally reaches out to Danièle! I'm really excited to continue this and make magic happen between them. I already know what the plot's gonna be, and I can't wait to share this vision with you :)

Just a disclaimer: Alex's career does take the same path as real life, but he doesn't want her to know he's some famous guy so decides to keep details vague, often telling white lies. It's only for the basis of plot though, and the truth will eventually be told at some point, don't worry.

Special shoutout to Soph _thaimilktea for being my absolute rock through all this, venting all our ideas and ultimately being there to help bring this fic into existence. Ily Soph!