A couple of weeks had passed since Joey's first experience in Abu Dhabi and she had left her London house early in the morning to travel to France for her first official FIA party. Every year, at the end of the championship, the FIA would host an award ceremony in a different location. The choice of France meant Joey could avoid flying and instead use the Eurostar and reach Paris more comfortably than she would have on an economy class plane seat.
After a short day of sightseeing, Joey found herself getting ready for the party. She had curled her long ginger hair and fixed some of it in an updo; her freckles were covered by a thin layer of make-up with green eyeshadow to match her dark green maxi dress.
A black pair of platform heels and a black clutch completed her look.
Joey knew that Formula1 parties were all about the glamour, so she had tried to make more of an effort.
She turned the volume of her music up, just before throwing her lipstick and a pocket mirror in her bag.
'Just another hollow hotel room
Another plane on a rainy afternoon
That's not what got me going on
A lot of demons on my mind
An empty bottle and a big fat fucking line
Show me something to turn me on'
She hummed along to the song, filling up a glass of white wine from the bottle the FIA had made sure she'd get before the beginning of the night.
She heard a knock on the door and waddled over, curious as to whom it was.
Becky's smiley face could be seen in the peephole. Joey opened the door and let her in.
'Wow, you look nice!' Becky stated. 'So, just here to discuss a couple of things'
'Wine? I always need wine for PR talk' she offered.
Becky nodded, trying to look unimpressed with Joey.
'Thanks' she said, grabbing the glass Joey was giving her. 'So, how comfortable are you on stage?'
'My dad always said if my racing career failed I could become a stand-up comedian' she replied. 'Will I be allowed to make jokes?'
'Ehm... sure. Just not a whole gig, maybe' Becky said. 'Good. OK. Now... I know you've just finished getting ready. But are you OK having to wear this again?' Becky got the "Sarah" wig out of a bag.
'God's sakes. It took me ages to do my hair.' she huffed.
'We'll get someone to fix your hair afterwards'
'Sure, OK.I mean, can I really say no?' she asked.
'Not really' Becky shrugged, trying to contain her amusement.
'I hate how much you're loving this' Joey groaned, taking a large sip of wine out of her glass before fixing the wig onto her hair helping herself with a mirror.
Becky had explained to her she'd be explaining more about the programme to the guests and then Joey would take the stage for a brief introduction consisting of a montage of the videos they had taken with her the previous week that had been collated into a presentation.
When it was time for her to walk on stage, Joey took another large sip of her drink and slowly got up.
'So passing the stage onto our newest recruit for the "women for the FIA" project.' she heard Becky state. The light moved onto Joey as she slowly walked on stage. She thanked her lucky star she couldn't really see much through it or she knew she would have panicked.
'Hello everyone. You're probably all wishing I'm going to keep this brief so you can all go back to your certainly more interesting table conversations' she stopped as she heard someone chuckle, but she also noticed Lewis, Dan and Kimi all react at the same time, prompting a curious reaction from their table companions. 'Some of you have met me before, and I have found our encounter so... inspiring... that I had to join the FIA trackside team. I am sure you can all agree with me when I say that I did show some talent back in Abu Dhabi' she walked over to the laptop they had set up for her. She clicked on the first reel, of her in the car with Daniel.
'Do you think I can become a driver, if I train hard enough?' She heard herself asking Daniel after their lap. Daniel had seemed almost scared for most of their time together but had tried to keep his professionalism.
'Ehm, sure. Maybe not F1... please' he had added almost in a whisper. Joey tried to contain a giggle as she pressed the next reel to be played.
Next up was Lewis, he had been calmer than Dan, very professional and trying to make her feel at ease. They had even cracked a few jokes, as she "struggled" through the corners. To the same question from her at the end he had replied 'I guess you'd be slightly better as a comedian but never say never'
The light turned again on Joey. 'Now, you're probably wondering what in God's name has gone through people's minds, trusting me to sit next to Bern when I, obviously, have no idea what I am doing.' she continued. 'But I have to say that maybe Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Ricciardo will have to take "attention to details" off of their CVs' she clicked on the final reel to be played, the one of her lap with Kimi had just started, she heard herself asking him about turn 1 and Kimi's reply. She looked over to the Finn who raised his glass at her with a smirk. She replied to the smile with one of her own, as the room chuckled at Kimi telling her to speed up as he had a dinner date.
The video ended and the light was moved back to Joey. 'So yeah. Blame Becky here, she gets paid for these things.' Joey finally took off her wig and ruffled her bright ginger hair. 'My name is actually Josephine O'Shea. Nobody calls me that, so please call me Joey. And this is the real me' she clicked on the final compilation of videos that were replaying her highest moments in her racing career. 'I just wanted to thank the FIA for the opportunity and I hope I'll be one of many, from now on. Thank you' she concluded. The FIA guests and bosses saluted her off the stage with a round of applause, watching her walk down the steps holding her long green dress. Joey felt a huge weight had just been lifted off of her and walked over to the bar to grab herself another large helping of whiskey.
She sat back at her table, listening to Jean Todt discussing the plans for the following year. Bernd, who had been sitting next to her, had moved to another table to talk to Alan van der Merwe,the medical car driver. Joey felt rather alone, now she didn't have him with her, as she knew nobody else.
'I can't believe you managed to trick me so well. I was actually scared for my life' she heard the unmistakable accent of Daniel Ricciardo 'impressive stuff'
'It was all PR's fault, I didn't really agree...but it was funny to see your face in the reel, I was concentrating on not bottling it' she joked.
'You were a good bad driver. I should have known. Well, welcome to f1. It's gonna be a hell of a ride!'
'Especially if you've already managed to impress the Ice man, that's not easy. I've been around for years and he never said that many words to me' Lewis joined in, with a laugh. 'Did we not compete in the same categories ages ago, back home?' He added.
'Yeah, if I remember correctly I also beat you a few times. To be fair, I know I did. I tell the story to everyone who cares to listen' she replied, with a cheeky smile.
'You should have continued to F1, it would have been interesting' Lewis said, with a smile, as Kimi approached her table with a glass in his hands and a rather large smirk on his face.
'Well, I'll definitely be ahead of all of you this year' she joked. 'Do these things usually take this long?' She nodded to the stage.
'Oh dear, had enough already?' Dan chuckled.
'No, I just had...' she counted the empty glasses in front of her. 'Three whiskeys and I need a smoke when I drink'
'You can go, nobody will say anything' Kimi shrugged.
'To you, probably. Not to me. I'm new' she reminded him.
'Shut up. Come!' He grabbed her hand. 'I'll keep you company' he winked.
Joey watched him nod to his teammate and friend Sebastian Vettel before carrying her out to the smoking area.
The night was crisp and as soon as the cold air hit her, Joey felt a full body chill and damned herself for not stopping Kimi in time to get her jacket. The Finn had just lit a cigar, taking a long drag before taking his jacket off and placing it on her shoulders. Joey nodded a silent thank you before noticing Sebastian had decided to join them outside. Kimi passed him the cigar and Joey watched in shock as Seb took a drag too.
'What?' The German chuckled.
'Your brother always gave me this whole spiel about how smoking was bad for me whenever I had a cigarette at a race and I'm just picturing what Fabian would say if he saw you right now'
'You know Fab?' Sebastian asked, curious. 'Oh you must have raced against. That's why you looked familiar!' He exclaimed. 'Sorry, how rude of me. Sebastian, Sebastian Vettel'
'What a Bond-like introduction! O' Shea, Joey O'Shea' she said, jokingly, before biting her lip to stop herself from saying more. She had always felt at ease in a group of men, never having been a girly girl. However the two standing in front of her were no ordinary men, they were Ferrari's driver couple and world driver champions. She knew she needed to behave a lot more professionally if she wanted to avoid a complaint to the FIA.
Surprisingly, Sebastian let out a laugh. He liked her sense of humour and Kimi seemed to like her too, so Sebastian knew that anyone with the Iceman stamp of approval would get along with him just fine.
He watched her wrap herself in Kimi's jacket, shivering in the cold Parisian night and he couldn't help but think how pretty she looked under the moonlight.
Seb's thoughts were interrupted by her laughter, as she joked along with Kimi about something or other. He nodded along, trying to bring his mind back to the real world. He didn't have time for a relationship, he needed to focus on his dream: winning a world championship with his dream team.