Maeve
The first two days we were back in MK were dreadful. Daniel and I were switching off sim time and making rounds to apologize to everyone. My first official driver paycheck went right back into the fines from crashing per the team and taking care of the team as they fixed the issues we caused. That left me broke and groaning as I drove in the simulator Wednesday afternoon.
"Come on, let's do ten more laps and then we can move on to analysis." GP was sitting in the room with the computers just allowing me to do my laps.
"I'm really trying not to complain, I owe you all the very least of that. However, I'm pulling really good times. I don't know what else I need to do." GP chuckled. He had been at this with me for a few days now.
"I know, but we want to make sure we are prepared." He assured me as I blew through the virtual start/finish line again.
"We are prepared. We have two good cars, two not fighting at all drivers and the best team in the world. What else do we need?" He didn't say anything as I gave him the last ten laps that he asked for.
"Great work Maeve." GP walked over to the cockpit as I stepped out of it.
"I hope so. I feel terrible as is about the crash, but this is intense. I haven't even touched the car this week." He patted me on the back.
"Well you're more of a driver right now. We need you and Daniel performing to guarantee us the best performance possible on track. You're doing a phenomenal job as well. " I smiled at him, knowing he was being honest.
"Thanks, I really am trying."
Daniel threw open the double doors to the sim room and walked in with a smile.
"Ah, there you are! You're going to be late for your class. Or did you forget that I said I would drive you?" I raised an eyebrow at Daniel as he strode into the room.
"You want to drive me?" He nodded vigorously and smiled at GP.
"Yep, Christian cleared you for today and tomorrow. We need to get going though, traffic to Cambridge is pretty nuts right now." Daniel's gaze met mine and I tried to read the motivation in his words.
See the thing is, I didn't have class today. Tomorrow I had an all day school meeting about my current research and my progress. Daniel also hadn't driven me to the factory. I didn't even drive myself. Running to the factory had been my morning workout since we made it back.
He was planning a breakout. I may have ruined it by my cluelessness.
"My god, it really is Wednesday isn't it? I feel like I've been on autopilot since we made it back from Baku. Gimme a few and I'll meet you in the parking lot?" He smiled widely, knowing that I had caught on.
"Perf. See you in a bit. G'day GP."
GP and I watched him leave before GP turned to me.
"Christian didn't say shit. Did he?" I shrugged.
"He knows I have classes and I have been a good little driver and made it to every appointment I have been given since returning. I've even helped film some stuff for marketing." I shrugged with a smile as I started towards the door.
"Don't do anything stupid! You're still on thin ice." I merely laughed as I waved goodbye to GP.
He was right, we were on thin ice. We had done everything asked of us plus some though. a third of a day plus the actual day off we were supposed to have wouldn't hurt anyone. In fact, we were owed the time off. So, I made my way to the locker rooms by the gym to grab my bag before practically running out to the parking lot. Daniel was already in the Vantage that he was loaned out when in London. I couldn't help bounding over and literally jumping through the window.
"Go! Before they catch us!" Daniel was cackling as I tried to right myself in the seat. That didn't stop him from stepping on the gas and hightailing it out of the parking lot.
"I can't believe we're doing this! I feel like I'm skipping school at 16 again." I laughed as I was finally seated properly with a seatbelt on a few minutes later.
"We're just a bunch of big kids, D." Daniel reached over and patted my thigh. I stopped his hand from moving by placing my own over his.
"Well where are you taking me, kid?" Daniel looked at me with a blank face for a second before clearing his throat and turning back to the road.
"Well. It was 4 PM when we made our great escape. It's two hours to our destination, but we don't have anything planned until 9:30. We can stop by mine and order some food before continuing to our destination or we can find food around our destination?" he laid out part of the plan and asked what I wanted to do for food.
"What about a wine and cheese night? Think that's by the 'destination' as you're calling it." Daniel pursed his lips.
"I'm actually not sure, but I have an idea." He hit me with one of those grand Daniel Ricciardo smiles and I knew that he had a mischievous plan for the night ahead.
His first part of his plan was to take my dinner suggestion in stride. He stopped at a grocery store in the south country before parking in an overnight lot in the city and walking with me into a park by the sea in Southampton. The sun was just starting to set as we made it and I was happy to sit in the grass with the wine glass Daniel had purchased in my hand.
"Wine and cheese nights might be my new favorite." I told Daniel as I swirled my wine around in my glass.
"Does that mean there's no more drunk movie nights? Because that would be incredible." I scoffed as I turned to look at him. He was stretched out in the grass, with his elbow resting in the grass to hold his head up. His right hand was holding the top of his glass as it stood in the grass in front of his body.
"Of course not. Just not as frequent." He nodded a few times before bringing the glass to his lips to sip from.
"I can definitely deal with that." I rolled my eyes at him before just staring back at the sun dipping below the horizon.
"Reminds me of home..." I told him as I stared at the deep orange sky.
"Yeah... me too. LA, Monaco, Perth...." I chuckled.
"You should go home for summer break." I told him as I looked his way, placing my head down to rest on my knees as they were pulled up to my chest.
"Like Perth home?" I hummed in agreement as he looked at me.
"Well, I thought about it," He sat up, bringing his knees up as well to rest his forearms on," I think I'm gonna stay in Monaco."
"Why not LA?" My tone was offended if anything, but it was very sarcastic as well. He just shrugged though, taking it as a legitimate question.
"I think I just need to be away from all that for a while. I love LA, but you know how people can be."
Fake. They can be fake. He was tired of being lied to.
"I did grow up there." I chuckled, taking another sip of my wine and reaching for a piece of the fruit and cheese platter between us.
"Well Monaco is the same, but people do just leave you alone. I need that." I nodded.
"You could always come with." He sipped his glass as I stared at him.
"Come with? To Monaco?" My voice was higher than I meant for it to be, but Daniel merely shrugged.
"Yeah. I have an extra bedroom. You've never been either. It would be nice to explore and you'd have the best tour guide around." He winked at me as he smiled, making me laugh.
"You know I can't Daniel. I have to be at the school. They expect me to use that time to catch up on everything." He nodded, looking at the glass hung loosely in his fingers.
"Well you can always come down for a little bit. A weekend or a few days wouldn't hurt. Max would like to see you." He swirled the dark liquid in the glass and I sighed.
"How about we see how the first week goes and then maybe I can make plans to come later in the summer?" He nodded at that.
"I'd really like that..." I smiled at him as he just stared at the ground, an obvious smile also on his face.
"So tell me, Mr.Monaco, what are we doing tonight?" he flicked his left wrist over to look at his watch.
"Well, we have another hour and then I'm taking you to see someone. We're going to drink the night away. I booked a hotel so no one is drunk driving home. We will wake up around 10, get some breakfast and then swing by your place to grab you some clothes to be dropped off at school." I nodded.
"Wow, really quite the planner out here." He chuckled, taking another sip of the wine glass, effectively finishing it.
"Yep. So drink up. We're getting wine wasted tonight."
Daniel's 'someone' was Frank Turner. An artist I loved and one that Daniel and I both had drank and sang to far too many times in our friendship. He had a lot of really great fire pit songs. He had a lot of fun songs to just grab a friend and Dance to, like Daniel and I ironically did to 'Recovery' just a few songs in on the side of the stage. I didn't know that Daniel knew Frank, but he was close enough to the man to get us all access and a view from side stage. It wasn't because we wanted to be. In fact I prefer to be at the sound board when it comes to it being for the show. Daniel knew that us being in the crowd could cause problems though. One being that I was supposed to be in Cambridge tonight and two being photos of us together and drunk weren't a great thing for our Press Officers to deal with tomorrow.
Daniel wanted us to have a fun night without some kind of press thing or someone wanting something from us. It was cute and admirable that he would go so far out of his way to make that happen. The only downside was having to leave the show before it was over to not catch the crowd. He had planned our whole escape, right down to getting into the hotel without being seen and checking in under a false name. It all had me smiling as we made it up into the room.
"My god, I haven't had this much just not work fun in years. I miss when we did this!" I was drunk. Between the two bottles at the park, we had been drinking the entire show. I was thoroughly pissed and now laying down on the bed because the world was spinning for a moment.
"We'd do it more often if you didn't have to stay at work all the time!" Daniel laughed and made to take off his jean jacket he had thrown on in the chilly night air before we made it to the venue.
"I have to because of school Daniel. I'd be out with you every night if I could," I rolled over onto my stomach to look at him," Remind me why you don't just live in London? You pay for a flat that you spent two months in at the beginning of the year and you're not gonna stay there during summer break?" Daniel sighed as he walked towards the bed before dramatically throwing himself down on his back next to me.
"I need time to myself D. Just like you do, which is why you should come to Monaco with meeeeeee." He was drunk too, his words slurring together.
"So you want me to quit school, something I've been working towards finishing my entire life, to come and see Max?" I asked with disbelief as I merely stared at him, my cheek resting against the mattress.
He bit his lip, eyes to the ceiling as thought about something. He had been contemplating more things before he spoke to me the last few weeks, but it was something my hazy mind couldn't think too much on even if I wanted. Instead, my focus shifted to the feeling of Daniel intertwining his fingers with mine on the bed.
"I never want you to give up on your dreams Maeve, I just want to be there when you reach them. Just like I want you to be there when I reach mine," He turned to me then," You're my best friend, D. Yes, I want you to see Max. he was actually asking about you a few days ago. Someone isn't great at checking their phone." I chuckled as he leaned over with his other hand and poked my cheek at his words.
"Well, again I've been busy. Busy being an idiot honestly... I just want what's best for you. You're the better driver and you've been working way harder and longer than I have at a WDC. You should be driver one...." He smiled as he shook his head.
"No work talk, D." He let my hand go, but I didn't let go of his, making him look back at me.
"We only talk about work these days, Danny. That's all we've talked about for over a month." I frowned. It was true. Today was the first time in a while that Daniel and I were able to actually get away from work and spend time together. It wasn't fun when it was for work, even if it was us.
"Well, that's because we've been at work. What do you want to talk about?" I hummed in though, sitting up to rest my elbow on the bed and my head in my hand.
"I want to talk about..."
What did I want to talk about? Right now, I wanted to spill my fucking guts to this man. He was being sweet, and I was drunk. Reasonable me was fighting the intoxication. I was only so strong though and I knew he would break me down eventually. It was time for me to accept it and avoid the fight for once.
"What there is to do in Monaco." He smiled, clearly happy with my answer.
We spent the rest of the night laying separated on the bed. He told me about all of the glamorous restaurants and clubs there are to visit in Monaco. There were a few 'special' places as he put it that he wanted to take me to though. Places like his hiking spot that overlooked the entire principality or his favorite beach. I listened intently, knowing that he wanted me there and fully intending on visiting every single place he wanted to take me.
I didn't know how I would swing even a single day off at school with how packed my schedule already is. Luckily, I was in good standing. Every second I was off track, I was working on my thesis and my presentation for it. My research into decreasing friction in the rotational components of an engine for increased performance was all there was left to do. They had been waiting for my hypothesis draft and for me to actually be back on campus to start the research. Now that I was finally home every other week for the foreseeable future with no issues to work on with the car, I could finally start. That was a non-negotiable piece of my education. I had to do my research to complete and publish my work.
Taking more days than required away from the school could severely reduce the amount of work I get done. Taking a few more days away from my best friend could hurt me even more emotionally and mentally though. I really did want to spend more time with him considering we are constantly with each other, but can never actually spend time together. There had to be a way that I could spend even just a weekend with him in Monaco. To see Max in recovery too? That would be incredible.
The next morning, as was normal after a night of drinking between the two of us, I woke up laying on top of Daniel. We both still had our shoes on and we hadn't even bothered to get under the covers to go to sleep or even move up to the pillows. Our legs were tangled together, his arms were around my waist, and my hands were resting on his chest. I didn't dare lift my head from the crook of his neck once I realized where I was. If anything, because we both needed sleep and the sun wasn't even up yet.
Daniel was already awake though. He turned his head to look down at me, clearly he had been awake for a while.
"Good morning..." His gravelly voice came out. We had been bad yesterday by not drinking enough water.
"You too." I tried to roll off of him, expecting him to want the weight of a full human on top of him. Instead he merely gripped my waist tighter.
"This cannot be comfortable Danny." He didn't say anything, instead just turning us to the side and pulling me into his chest more.
"That's better..." His words were still slurring a bit and I realized that he was still a little drunk as well.
"Why do we always do this?" I chuckled, but I wanted to slap myself in the face after doing it. I had made an agreement with myself to not ask why this happens and to just enjoy it.
"Just the universe bringing us together. Even more of a reason for you to come to Monaco." he smiled at me, making me laugh.
"You're still drunk! What time is it even?" My phone was still in my pocket, but the second I pulled it out, Daniel knocked it straight out of my hand to the floor in front of the bed.
"What was that for?" I asked with a dropped jaw and wide eyes. That was an aggressive move for Daniel. He didn't seem to care though as he pulled me as close as physically possible.
The movement brought our faces just centimeters from each other, making my breath hitch in my throat. He just smiled at me and leaned up, kissing my forehead.
"I want to stay in this bubble for as long as possible. Just you and me. No work, no school, and no contact. Just the two of us."
There was a faint blush coming up to my cheeks, but he was still drunk. There was no way it was past 5 am as the sun was still down as well. All I could do was try and go back to sleep then, as Daniel had already laid his head back down and closed his eyes. There was no way I could get any sleep with those words ringing around in my head. Daniel had never said anything like that to me. Talking about a bubble, like it was a block from the world and already fragile as can be. Even the most delicate touch could and would burst the moment that we were having. It was how all of the moments like this went between the two of us I realized. They were...moments... Moments ended and bubbles burst.
I didn't want the bubble to burst either, but I had to go to school. After a few hours of dwelling on drunk words that would only stress me out more than needed, the sun finally rose and Daniel woke up again to me trying to get out of his arms.
"Nooo, it's cold now." He whined as I stood up next to the bed.
"Sorry Danny boy, someone has to go to school." I pointed to myself before excusing myself to go to the bathroom.
When I was done, Daniel was already up and looking at his phone next to the door.
"Sorry you got a room and we didn't even use a blanket." We both laughed as we looked at the room that didn't even look like it had been used.
"Worth it honestly. We have to go though. I can stop at yours so you can change real quick." I nodded as he opened the door.
"You can just drop me off. I can drive to campus too ya know." He chuckled, the door closing behind us as we walked down to the elevator.
"No, because then you have an excuse to go home instead of coming back out tonight." I wanted to groan because going out after spending the entire day on campus was the last thing I wanted for my day. Daniel's revelation last night though had me pushing the reaction down.
"Back out where? Who said I would make an excuse to go home?" he gave me a knowing look as we entered the elevator.
"I've known you for long enough, D. You're gonna be tired after a day on Campus, but it's our only official day off and we don't have to be at the factory until almost noon tomorrow. Just come back to mine." He pulled out his phone then, I saw him open up the texting app to send a message, but I looked away not wanting to see something he didn't want me to.
"It sounds like I'm not being given a choice...." He laughed, sliding the sunglasses he had in his hand down on his nose.
"Not in the slightest, D."