"Do you have siblings Alex?" he asked out of nowhere.
"Yes, I do. Why are you asking?" I looked at him confused.
"Younger or older?" he ignored my question.
"Younger brothers and a half sister." I smiled as I thought about the crackheads, I wanted to surprise this weekend.
"I have an older sister." He told me. "But Ive always wanted to have a younger one." He explained.
"Are you trying to adopt me as your sister?" I asked a smile sneaking onto my face.
"I know its weird and I would accept if you dont want to I just youre cool and I- "he stuttered but I cut him off.
"Daniel Ricciardo I would love to be your unbiological sister under two conditions." I held up one finger, "Youre not too overprotective! Got it?"
"Promise and the second one?" he smiled slightly.
"Im weird and annoying most of the time so if you want to be my bro you have to live with it. No backing out."
"No backing out." He promised and gave me a brotherly hug.
"Now that weve settled that I have to tell you that I always wanted to have an older brother." We made our way back to the car and drove the remaining half hour to the hotel where we arrived at 9 pm.
We agreed we would start the next day bright and early so we could avoid as traffic as possible. Naps could be held in the car if need be.
My alarm rang at 4:30 am and after a few minutes of contemplating all my lifes decisions leading up to this moment I got up and took a cold shower to wake up properly. After the shower I put on some sweats and an oversized shirt before waking Dan in the room next to me.
"Dan! Wake up! Its me!" I whisper yelled to not disturb the other guests. I didnt want to have to use the spare room key he gave me yesterday in case he overslept.
But all the knocking and whispering was to no avail, and he showed no sign of life. So, I did the last thing I wanted to do and just barged into the room where I saw the Australian lying in bed fast asleep. I tried shaking his shoulder, talking directly into his ear (he just swatted me away like an annoying fly) until I saw no other chance than to get a glass of water.
Unfortunately, he woke up to the sound of the faucet running and as I came back from the bathroom he was just sitting up. "Get up sleeping beauty although now I think about it, youre more like the beast. Get ready I need coffee, well eat breakfast in Verona. You can sleep in the car just hurry. Meet me in front of this room in 5." I told him and left to finish packing my stuff.
4 minutes later I stood in front of the room and was met by a very tired and more like a zombie than like a human looking Daniel Ricciardo.
He followed me to the front desk silently where I checked us out and paid for the rooms before jumping into the car next to him. You have about 4 hours to sleep if you want to take a nap. "Ill wake you up when were in Verona. Do you want coffee? Im trying to find a coffeeshop –" Before I could even say another word his eyes closed again and a minute later, I heard light snores coming from his side.
I guess we werent talking on this part of the trip. I thought to myself as I pulled up to a coffee-shop wedged in between two clothing stores. After getting one hot and one cold caffein induced beverage we left Genova and drove on the highways and only stopped to get some gas and go to the toilet.
It was 9:40 am when we arrived at our destination and a few minutes later I found a cute bakery where we could buy some breakfast.
"Ricciardo. Were here. Get up! Im hungry!" I elbowed him in the side as I put on some sunglasses.
"Just five more minutes." he complained.
"Five more minutes and youll have no breakfast!" I insisted and Daniel got out of the car after groaning loudly.
"I was thinking we just take the breakfast and drive to this really pretty castle like 20 minutes from here and eat there?" I suggested and he nodded.
Half an hour later the two of us were sitting on a bench in the middle of the castle enjoying our food. After taking a short walk around the castle grounds we headed back to the car.
"Should I drive now?" Daniel asked.
"If you want to. I can drive to Venice and then you drive the rest of the way? Its only like an hour." I suggested.
"Sounds good.
"Can we just pop into that store over there? I ran out of snacks on the way here. "
"Lets go. When are you planning to arrive in Austria?"
"Depends on how long well stay in Venice. Well definitely have lunch there and well be in Austria for dinner. We can order something to my place." I suggested.
"Perfect!" he smiled.
We stocked up on snacks juice and water and left for Venice.
"Im excited for this! Ive always dreamed of going to Venice! Its going to be so pretty!" I squealed as I followed the signs to the city.
But Daniel seemed to feel off today.
"Whats wrong Dan?" I asked as I saw him looking out of the window. He looked zoned out.
"Daniel?" I asked louder this time.
"Daniel!" I shouted at him at a red light shaking his arm.
"What?" he asked confused.
"Whats wrong Dan?" I asked
"Its nothing." He shook his head and looked away.
"Its okay if you dont want to talk about it but Im here if you ever feel like it. Just promise me to talk to someone. When you feel like drowning it can seem like theres no one to help you but theres lots of people holding their hands out." I smiled softly.
"How do you know?" he whispered to which I just stayed quiet.
The silence lasted for a few minutes.
"Im taking too long." He murmured.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"theyre doubting me. Im taking too long to adjust to the car, and I think they dont trust my ability to drive the car. Im scared theyll replace me like they do at redbull." He looked down at his hands.
"Daniel. You are perfectly capable to drive that car. I mean you were close to winning championships! You are taking longer to adjust than usual and thats okay. McLaren have one of the hardest cars to drive and the two of you just havent found your way to each other yet. So what? Youll go out there in Austria and kill it. It might not be a win or even a podium, but youll improve bit by bit. And then? Youll be a race winner in a papaya car in no time at all." I reassured him.
He stayed silent looking out of the window for a while. "Thank you, Alex." Daniel murmured looking at me.
"Anytime." I smiled softly.