SEVEN
"Hey."
Daniel Ricciardo smiled gently at the brunette girl standing in front of him, with two coffee cups in her hands.
"Hi, I wasn't expecting to see you today, so this is a nice surprise." Daniel spoke as the woman handed him one of the coffee cups, surprised to see her since he had thought that she was back in Perth.
"I know. I just saw you and thought I'd come and say hi, and to thank you for sending that gift to me via Lewis." Josephine Rankin gave the Ricciardo man a sheepish smile, watching as he took a sip from the coffee cup.
"This is my favorite. How did you know?" Daniel raised an eyebrow as the warm caffeinated drink was ingested by him.
"I took a guess." Josephine gave him the smallest of smirks, not mentioning that she had known exactly how he liked his coffee due to it being the exact same as Jules'.
He had obviously picked up the same likes and habits as his best friend without even realising.
"I'll have to take some notes on what things you like, as I only remember a couple of things." Daniel chuckled, noticing the raised eyebrow that he was recieving from the Rankin woman.
"What do you remember?"
Daniel lifted his head up towards the sky as he grinned, memories flooding him from the few times that he had met her and the things that he had learnt about her from Jules.
"I remember that you used to have a pet Rabbit that you called Rupert." Daniel watched as the girls face lit up as she remembered her pet Rabbit.
"I think you mean Rupert Walter Rankin III." Josephine let small giggles leave her lips before she took another sip of her warm coffee.
"Ah yes, I forgot that your Rabbit was the grandson of Rupert Walter Rankin I." Daniel rolled his eyes teasingly at the woman, her giggles and laughter making his chest swell with happiness.
"How could you forget him?" Josephine smirked, teasing him since she knew that both Jules and himself had laughed when they had learnt that she had called her Rabbit a human name, including a middle name too.
She just liked seeing people's reactions when she mentioned that she had three rabbits with the exact same name.
"I also remember that you're a Rihanna super fan." Daniel wiggled his eyebrows up and down a couple of times to tease her, laughing loudly as she lifted one of her hands to push his shoulder backwards.
"I actually managed to meet her, you know?" The Ricciardo man noticed how her face lit up as she was solely concentrating on him.
"You did? When? Where? Why? Can I meet her too?" Daniel wrapped his arm around her shoulder as the two of them walked together, making their way through a busy street filled with people.
"I was at a fashion event, getting ready to model some new designs that Sandra had lined me up for, and then just before I was due to go out on to the runway, I see Rihanna watching me and I almost fainted." Josephine laughed, her body subconsciously leaning in towards the Ricciardo man.
"Did she almost faint when she saw you? Little miss famous model." Daniel shot the woman a playful wink, hearing her angelic laughter once more.
"Ugh, I wish." The Australian girl released a groan, remembering the smile that the famous singer had given her when they had met.
"Are you two besties now? Is she going to write a song about you?" Daniel nudged her with his elbow, before his eyes caught sight of a small café which was much quieter than the busy streets.
Josephine hadn't even realised that the Ricciardo man had moved his arm away from her shoulders so that he could gently clasp her hand, intertwining their fingers together to make sure that they didn't get lost or separated in the crowds before they made it to the cafe.
In fact, her mind had only caught up to it when he gently squeezed her hand just before he released it and sat down at the cute and quiet cafe.
"Unless I change my name to Umbrella or something, then I doubt it."
The two of them slowly sat down at one of the tables of the cafe, sitting opposite each other with small smiles on their faces whilst they were looking at each other, keeping eye contact.
The pair began to pull funny faces at one another whilst they waited to be served, bright grins on their faces as they challenged each other to make the silliest face possible.
"Hey, what can I get you?"
Daniel and Josephine both jolted in surprise, since they had been too busy pulling faces at each other to notice that a server had made their way over to the two of them, immediately bursting in to laughter.
"Can I get a chocolate brownie and a milkshake please?" Josephine tilted her head up to smile at the young server, who looked to be in their mid teens.
"Of course. What about you, sir?"
Daniel glanced out of the corner of his eye to admire the Rankin woman, who was busy pulling her wallet out from her bag, before he turned back to the server, giving them a friendly smile.
"Can I just get the same, please?" Daniel spoke, since he wasn't too bothered about what he wanted to eat.
"Of course. What milkshake would you both like?"
"Chocolate."
They spoke in unison, their answer exactly the same making the two of then shift their gazes to one another, the smallest of smiles aimed at the other, their eyes sparkling in the sunlight.
Since the two of them had become acquainted with one another again, and had spent time together in their home city of Perth, Australia, the two of them seemed to become very close friends.
If he travelled to a different country, he would sometimes bring Josie along with him so that she wasn't alone, or worrying about him every time that he raced.
They would always stay in hotel rooms that were next to each other, since he had been made aware that she suffered quite often with nightmares, with him having discovered it due to the fact that she had stayed at his house once in Perth and had woken him up in the middle of the night with a scream.
He hadn't even realised that she had memorised what he liked to drink, or eat. He hadn't even realised that she had memorised what things he liked to do, like photography, cooking and drawing.
But what he had realised, now more than ever was that he really did enjoy her company, not only because it was almost as if he still had his best friend around, but also because she made him laugh and smile, but that she also made him feel a little less lonely.
A little bit less alone.
____________________________________________________
"I got your message."
Charles Leclerc glanced up from his phone upon hearing the voice of his auntie, seeing her walking towards him and one of his friends who had been waiting with him.
"Hi auntie Josie." Charles smiled as he wrapped his arms around the Australian woman, hugging her as tightly as he could without crushing her.
"Hey kiddo. Who's your friend?" Josephine smiled at the Monégasque, before turning to face the new face, a tall boy with light brown hair who was waving at her.
"Oh, this is George." Charles introduced the two of them, watching as his friend grinned at the woman, waving at her.
"Hi, I'm George." George Russell squeezed his eyes shut after a moment, before reopening them. "He just told you that, I don't know why I just said it."
"Hello George, I'm Josie." Josephine smiled softly at the boy, who seemed to be a similar age to that of her nephew, and also a driver since he was wearing a sweater with a W on it.
"Oh, I know. Charles talks about you all of the time." George didn't notice the look of surprise that filled her face, nor did he notice the look of embarrassment on the face of the Leclerc boy.
"Does he now? And what does my nephew say about me?" Josephine raised an eyebrow as she stared at the Monégasque, seeing his cheeks flushing pink.
"He talks about all of your modelling gigs and magazine shoots. We all think you look beautiful every single time." George glanced out of the corner of his eye to see his friend, noticing how the boys ears were turning pink.
"Who's we?"
"Oh, I meant, Charles, Max, Carlos, Lando, Alex and I." George smiled, noticing how the woman frowned, obviously not recognising some of the names.
"Don't forget Pierre." Charles murmered quietly, not sure how his auntie would react to the knowledge that he would proudly show off her photoshoots and brag that she was his auntie.
Which was why he was so surprised when he found her laughing lightly.
"I don't do as many shoots as I used to, but at least I know that I have a little club of supporters whenever I do." Josephine smiled in happiness, using one of her hands to ruffle the dark hair of her nephew.
"Why is that?" George questioned. "You're one of the best models in the world."
Both Formula One drivers noticed how the woman seemed to freeze in her spot at the question from the Russell boy, her eyes widening for a fraction of a second.
"I uh, try to work a little bit less. It's quite stressful." The Rankin woman smiled sheepishly, giving them a slight lie of an answer.
"Oh." George furrowed his eyebrows together, watching as she subconsciously began to rotate a ring that was on her finger, making his heart stop momentarily.
Charles noticed where his friends gaze was, and used his elbow to nudge him slightly, shaking his head from side to side to make sure that he didn't mention anything about it.
"How's Daniel?"
Charles spoke up in order to change the subject, seeing a gentle smile fill her face at the mere mention of the name of the Ricciardo man.
"Yeah, he's good. The last time that I spoke to him, he told me that he was spending time with Lewis and Sebastian." Josephine removed her gaze from her ring finger, to meet the eyes of the Leclerc boy, who was staring at her in concern.
"Anyway, boys, how would you like to get some lunch with me?" The Australian woman shot the two of them a smile, one that seemed genuine but was far from it, due to the memories that had begun to plague her mind once again.
"Sounds good." Charles smiled, offering the woman his arm so that she could squeeze his arm in comfort.
"Yeah I like that idea. I'll pay." George offered his hand out to her, shooting her a soft smile as she accepted his hand.
Josephine took a deep of in of oxygen as she was walking with the two of them, both of her arms looped through theirs, as well as having her hand bag being carried by that of the Monégasque.
"No you won't, kid. It's Auntie Josie's treat."
____________________________________________________
A/N
Here we go
What do you think?
Please check out all of my other books because I feel like they deserve some love and some comments
And, please check out my meet my ocs books, one is my current ocs, the other is my future ocs, so that you can meet them, and see what books I have planned
At the moment, the fandoms that I have books planned for, are F1, F2, F3, and ex drivers, The Walking Dead, TEEN WOLF, The Maze runner, Stranger things, Criminal Minds, the originals, the vampire diaries, S.W.A.T, and a lot of books of the Marvel Cinematic Universe . I am also going to be planning some books of Wednesday.
Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter, and I'll see you all soon for the next one
I'm so proud of all of you, my loves
Love you all,
-RUBY