Doctor on the grid

20. C'mon girl

"Hi," she greeted me with a smile. "I made you one as well," she pointed to a pink smoothie waiting for me at the table. I thanked before taking a sip and realised it was really good.

"So, I have to rush out for something," she said. "But I'm sure you'll get by."

"Sure," I nodded. "Maybe I could use a run as well. Where should I go?" I asked. The Verstappens weren't much keen on running, and Max was even advised not to push it because of his asthma. Victoria was more into aerobic-like workouts but I guessed she knew the neighbourhood enough to give me some tips.

She had a sip from his coffee and smirked.

"Perfect choice. I think it's really great to head uphills, because there are fewer people," she explained, opening the map on her phone. "Just hit promenade du Larvotto and head south, then straight upwards," she pointed out the route.

In half an hour I was on my way. She was right, the view was amazing, and I've met only half a dozen of other runners while running up.

I breathed hard at the top, 5 miles done already. The view was breathtaking from above the city. So I stopped for taking a look around and but my eyes were soon caught upon a familiar figure instead of the panorama.

A certain Australian was stretching by a bench, listening to some loud music on his headphones.

I smirked then I decided to lurk closer to see for sure if it was really him. Yep. I still haven't seen his face, but I saw one of his tattoos on his toned arm. The same one with the scar I stitched. I thought it'd be best to run to him and poke my fingers to both of his sides.

"Heeeeeey," I shrieked as I did so, made sure he hears me through the loud music.

"WOOO," he shouted as I scared him. I laughed loudly, even my sides were hurt. His face was priceless as he was blinking at me. I scared the shit out of him.

"God, Clara!" He already recognised it was me and finally, a wide smile appeared on his face. "Girl, you got me dead," he whined and I let out a chuckle.

"That was kind of my goal."

He exhaled as he tried to calm down. Soon as he regained his old self he giggled at me.

"See, I said we'd run into each other," he said. "And here we are."

"I know, what are the odds, right?" I smiled back at him.

"Well actually, here in Monaco you can't really hide. It's a small town, and I run here every morning if I stay here," he explained. That made my smile a bit fade. Good thing to know. Now I felt even more lucky I haven't met anyone in the previous days.

"And what are you doing here? Alone?" He frowned, I just shrugged.

"Max has training, and Vic just had something came up," I explained. "So I decided to have a run."

"Awesome," he nodded proudly, looking at me. "So would you like to join me?"

I blinked.

"You mean running?" I scoffed. "No, there's no way I could keep up," I shook my head and to show my determination, I sat on the bench next to us.

"Oh come on Clara," Daniel didn't accept my answer as a no, and grabbed my hand to pull me up from my seat. "I'm not even in such a good shape," he objected.

Bullshit. I've seen those abs, mate.

That made me roll my eyes, but he was determined.

"And just remember the last time when I had to drag you along, you had so much fun," he grinned. "Last week, fence hopping, trespassing late night, does that ring a bell?"