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"How is lover boy?" I roll my eyes at Lilly's question. I'd made the mistake of telling my best friend everything that happened back in Monza. Now she spends every phone call fishing for more information about Daniel, even if there isn't anything to tell.
"He's not..." The defence will only make me sound guilty so instead I just roll my eyes and nod. "He's okay." I concede. This makes Lill laugh on the other side of the FaceTime video. "He's actually coming here any minute." Lilly gives a teasing 'oooh' at my admission as I roll my eyes. It's not like that, and she knows it.
"Is Lando still ignoring you?" Lilly asks, and I snort.
"Oh course, he's so loved up it's sick." I say, him and Luísa are completely adorable together. Unfortunately for me, they still seem to be in the honeymoon phase and are all over eachother. Meaning that whenever Lando isn't training or in meetings they're snuggled up together somewhere. Hence why I'm completely discounting seeing him at all today, or the next few days even. I've been kept in good company though, so I can't fully complain.
"Leaves you a lot of time to spend with Daniel though." She states, her connection becoming a little jumpy so I can't see her face as clearly. I can picture her little smirk as she says the words though. She'll probably be trying to wobble her eyebrows around a little and failing too. My chest aches at the thought, I miss her.
"Yes, I have been spending a lot of time with my friend Daniel." I try and stress the word friend as much as possible. Since arriving in Saudi Arabia on Monday we've somehow spent at least an hour together each day. Sometimes in the additional company of Lando or Michael, but mostly alone and thankfully any awkward energy between us has quickly dissipated.
Last night, as the sun was going down myself and Dan went to the beach at the back of the hotel and ordered food to eat out there. After we ate we played a sort of ping pong/tennis hybrid in the water, each of us splashing the other when we lost a point. It was at this point that I discovered that Daniel is strangely good at all sports which don't even involve driving, resulting in me getting salt water in my eyes from how many times Daniel slapped water in my direction. I've had to wear my glasses all day because of the sting in my eyes. Then, when it was dark, we headed up to his room and watched Brooklyn nine-nine on Netflix until I was about to fall asleep. At which point I escaped Daniel's room and collapsed into my own bed.
There was nothing inappropriate about our interactions, and I frequently found myself forgetting about our activities together all those months ago. Thus, proving that this could be a successful friendship after all.
Today my friend Daniel, and Lando, had training, then meetings to prepare for the race practice tomorrow. Then, there was some press bits. I decided not to join them as I always find the press conferences pretty dry. Every now and again they were fun, but mostly just boring with questions which were obvious to answer.
Yesterday Daniel asked if we could hang out after he was finished working, and an hour ago said he would be by my room soon so we could grab dinner.
I'd spent the time until then around the pool tanning then chatting with Lills on FaceTime and editing some pictures for my Instagram.
The fact that there's even the chance for me to be making money from my social media is insane and I'm well aware of the fact. It's only because I'm willing to take a few pictures in the right places, have my account on public and - above all - be related to Lando, that I get anything. However, apparently anything can be a money making opportunity. It's a good buffer as I weigh up my career options.
Lilly and myself spend the next 5 minutes chatting about her work, she has a new manager who just sounds horrible. I'm only slightly getting flashbacks to my previous job (before I was fired, of course) where my boss would nitpick at everything I completed before telling me I 'didn't fit with their image and values' and then fired me. Of course they were unable to explain what they meant by those words.
I think Lilly is now experiencing a less depressing version of that situation. Hopefully, it won't have the same outcome.
There's a sharp knock at the door and I freeze a little in my place, it must be Daniel. I tell Lilly I'll have to go, she winks at me before hanging up, saying she has to go back to her work anyway as her lunch break is over.
"Hey!" I beam at Daniel, pulling the door open a little wider, motioning him inside with my hand.
"Wow." Daniel says with his eyes wide, his eyes taking my whole body in. If I were feeling less confident in my appearance, and our current status, I would feel uncomfortable by the action. Instead I've learned to let Daniel ogle when he wants, it's all harmless. I think.
"What?" I ask, turning my back to him to find the room service menu.
"You're staying dressed...like that?" Daniel asks and I look down at my appearance. I'm wearing some loungewear shorts and a matching vest, it's nothing fancy. They were my favourite thing to wear at the moment, especially when it was so humid in the evenings. My hair is damp and in it's naturally wavy/curled mess, frizzing out a little at the ends since I left my hair oil at the hotel in Bahrain and hadn't yet been able to find more.
Daniel wasn't dressed so different to me, a comfy oversized purple t shirt on his upper half, and short (short) jogger shorts on the bottom. He doesn't even have proper shoes on, only a pair of Mclaren branded slides and white striped sports socks. It's hardly our most fashionable moment.
"I thought we were just ordering room service?" I almost ask Daniel suddenly feeling self conscious. Have I made a fool out of myself and heard the plans wrong? I hate being unprepared for situations. I swear he said it would just be a chill night as he wanted to rest before practice tomorrow.
"I.." Daniel chokes his hand which is holding onto his phone pointing in my direction before he shakes his head. I raise my eyebrows at him wanting an explanation. "You look good." He eventually concedes.
I give him a slightly strange look, my eyes narrowing. "You don't look too bad yourself." I compliment him, the words making him grin.
"Oh I know I look good." Daniel says, making me laugh quietly with a head shake. "Vanity Fair wouldn't have someone less good looking on their pages." I say a quiet 'oh my god' to myself fighting a further laugh, I hope he knows some of the photos they used if the drivers in that issue were not their best. I know Lando was not overly impressed with them. Daniel snorts at my reaction before laughing to himself a little more. "I also know I'm not allowed to talk about them, but your boobs look great." Daniel says, his eyes seemingly darting everywhere.
"Oh," I say my cheeks immediately burning with heat. So that's why he was so awkward when I opened the door. If I wasn't so caught off guard by the comment I think I would've reacted differently. Told Daniel to shut up, gave him a playful shove or reminded him that he is, in fact, not allowed to talk about my boobs. I didn't even think, this is just what I pulled from my suitcase when I dried off from the shower. Surely I shouldn't have to adjust what I wear around him?
"Yeah." He says with a lick of his lips.
"I don't really know what to do with that, so I'm going to pretend you didn't say anything." Instead I push the menu his direction, throwing my phone on the seat. "Decide what you want so we can eat, please." I say with a small smile, so Daniel knows I'm not annoyed by his comments.
After five minutes we order room service, whilst we wait Daniel tells me about his day. From the sound of it the team is feeling a little more confident than last week but we'll of course just have to see how it goes. It's Daniel's turn to decide what we watch this evening, he picks Friends With Benefits on Netflix (a word I could listen to him say forever), a classic but I also can't ignore that he may have selected the movie on purpose. The food comes quickly, and Daniel is the one who collects it from the door.
"Let's watch the movie on your bed." Daniel suggests as he pulls in the trolley holding our food. I shake my head looking back to the movie paused on my laptop. "It'll be so much better on the bed c'mon!" Daniel urges, not taking no for an answer, and I squint at him a little.
"I don't think it's a good idea." I hum, not wanting to feed into the idea.
"Don't be stupid." Daniel says looking at me as if my doubt is the most unbelievable thing in the world and getting into bed together isn't wildly inappropriate. "I'm not talking about in bed, just on it." I'm not convinced by daniels logic. I think he can sense this by the look I'm currently giving him. "Look at the size of the TV there!" He enthuses, pointing to the big flat screen TV fixed to the wall at the bottom of my bed. Okay, so maybe he does have a point. "That's so much better than your laptop." With a sigh he grabs one of pillows from the bed and holds it in his hands. "I'll make a wall of pillows between us?" He suggests.
"Isn't that a bit much?" I ask looking at the big square decorative cushion in his hands.
"Hey, I'm just trying to watch the movie and not have my back snap in half." Daniel defends.
"I forgot you're an old man." The pillow is thrown at my face, but I'm able to bat it away before it's able to hit me, a laugh coming from me in disbelief. Maybe with reflexes like that I could get into racing? Not that I haven't tried some of the karts and cars out over the years, turns out im not too much of a fan of speed.
"I'm not old!" Daniel scolds, and I want to tell him that he maybe is, before I decide to just keep my mouth shut. "I'm not!" His voice is strangely defensive, I keep my face deadpan conceding defeat and lifting my laptop up from its spot. The longer I don't say anything the more he seems to fret over the fact I may think he's old. I glare at Daniel as I shuffle past him and into my bedroom. I connect my laptop so the movie shows on the screen and climb over the bed to the side on the left of it that I've been sleeping on.
This man has a way of getting his way and it's irritating and impressive at the same time. I grab some of the decorative pillows and slowly start making a small wall between us, Daniel's eyes roll at my action, despite him being the mind this idea came from, but I keep at it. The last thing I want is for him to get the wrong idea, we're friends and that means some boundaries have to be set here. He passes over my pasta dish and I balance it in my hand getting excited. We'd been so busy bickering that I didn't realise how good the food smelled. When he sets himself down on the right side of the bed he immediately picks up one of the cushions from the wall between us and placing it in front of him. "Really?" I ask him, not impressed that in under thirty seconds he's half undone my construction work.
"I'll burn myself!" He defends gesturing to the place of grilled chicken, rice and vegetables in front of him. The chicken looked good but everything else looked a little plain...I think I definitely have the better option. Not that Daniel had much of a choice in what he ate. He's following Michael's strict diet plan in preparation for the race tomorrow and I wasn't about to receive any blame for him breaking it. "It's a stupid idea anyway."
"It was your idea." I point out.
"And it was stupid." Daniel repeats, a grin on his face, hitting play on the movie. He plucks another of the cushions out from the wall between us, placing it behind his shoulders before settling back into his side of the bed. "Now be quiet, I'm trying to watch." I snort at his words, he's hardly been silent himself. I don't bother him with a response, not wanting to interrupt his viewing experience of the movie more than I clearly already have.
My pasta is amazing, I let Daniel steal some when I spot him longingly staring at my plate for a moment too long. I promise not to tell Michael as he scoops a couple of pieces drenched in the tomato sauce from my bowl. Reportedly, it's much better than his chicken, and I can't say I doubt him.
When we're finished Daniel collects our dishes and puts them out in the hall for the hotel staff to collect before settling back next to me. The pillow wall has disintegrated between us, when Dan was out in the hall I pulled one of the pillows to rest my head against meaning that there was nothing left between us.
The movie continues on, I can't say watching the sex scenes beside Daniel is my favourite thing in the world. I feel all fidgety and tense each time they show them and I almost gasp every time Daniel shifts in his spot. At one point his leg nudges mine and I hold my breath for a whole thirty seconds, so tense from the contact in such a private setting.
I shift away to the right a little after that, I can't take the tension of having him so close when I know what his body can do to me, especially with key reminders on the screen.
It's close to the end of the movie, when Dylan is with his dad in the airport, that I look over to my left and see that Daniel is asleep. By asleep I mean passed out, his head resting against the cushion he plucked from the wall earlier, lips slightly open. Small almost silent snores leaving his lips. "Daniel," I hum gently as the movie draws to a close. He doesn't even stir. "Dan," I try and keep my voice gentle as my hand reaches out to stroke his arm softly in an effort to wake him up. This time he stirs and groans a little, muttering something incoherently, but still doesn't wake up.
I want to be annoyed at him but I can't fully bring myself to. He looks so peaceful asleep, so innocent.
With a quiet sigh I pull myself off the bed going to stop the movie and disconnect my laptop from the TV. I knew it was a bad idea to go to my bed, I just didn't think this would be the consequence of it. It's only when I'm stood brushing my teeth, my bra in my free hand that I text Lilly to let her know of the insane situation currently occurring in my bedroom. 'You know that man that's friends with my brother, who I slept with, that half the world also wants to sleep with? He's now sleeping in my bed.' Her response is immediate and panicked. Instead of being nice and elaborating on my message any further, I send a shrugging emoji and lock my phone.
Wandering back into the room I can't help but smile slightly at the sight in front of me. Daniel did say that everything today kicked his ass, it had been a pretty intense day of prep from what I'd heard, hence why our plans changed from getting dinner to a chill movie night. At least he's resting now.
I pull the blanket I've packed for the trip from the couch and throw it over his large body so he doesn't get too cold in the air conditioned room. I've been using it myself when in the hotel room at times when the AC got a little too frosty for my liking. My heart sinks at how adorable he looks.
Then, I set an alarm for 7.30 on my phone, if he's sleeping here the last thing Daniel needs is to be late. I'm not taking the blame for that. I'm also not explaining it to anyone if it happens, I'd be talk of the paddock or at least McLaren. As I'm peeling back the covers on my side of the bed I try again "Daniel." My hand reaches out to nudge him awake with a little more conviction as I climb into the spot beside him. I even give a small tug on the cushion he has his head on.
I cringe when I look at the awkward angle of his head, the cushion he's currently using meant for decorative purposes only. His neck will go through enough in the car tomorrow, the last thing he needs is to sleep on an unsupportive pillow before 2 practice sessions. It'll feel like he's one of those bobble head toys. "Dan, you just need to move you head." I grunt, tugging on the pillow he's resting on little, he only mumbles something sleepily, shifting just enough to allow me to move the big square supporting his head. The action lets his head to fall to the actual pillow meant for sleeping.
It takes him exactly 30 seconds of shifting around and silent mumbles before he gets comfortable again, passing out on his side of the bed. The fluffy pink blanket I laid over here is clutched close to his chest with his left arm. I laugh quietly so myself at how easy it seems to be for him to find peace in a space which isn't his. I do my best not to let the covers shift or my body drift over to his half of the bed as I tuck myself in. Even with covers between us, I can only imagine how that would make things between us and when we're just starting to relax around one and other it's not something I want to risk.
"Goodnight Daniel." I mumble before flicking off the lights. In the darkness I feel more comfortable, Daniel can't be seen this way, I can almost forget about the situation. That is until I feel his right arm reach over and grasp onto my arm. His fingers run small circles on my exposed skin as I drift off into a peaceful sleep.
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They're so cute!! There is so much more like this (at a far more intense level) to come!
Keep the votes & comments coming for more chapters 🤪
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