George
George
-I'm really sorry about today. I hate that the consequences of our team's mistakes fell on you.
Ariella
It's alright. I overreacted slightly after the- race.
George
-It was understandable. Make up over dinner?
Ariella
I would but I'm having dinner with the team.-
George
-Dessert then?
Ariella
Okay. You're driving though.-
George
-Perfectly fine. I'll pick you up at 21:00??
Ariella
Sounds good-
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Ariella's pov
"What are you all giddy about?" Parker asks me, walking out of my bathroom after changing. She's in my room more than she is in her own.
"I'm not giddy!" I defend my self maybe a little too quickly.
"Ehhhhhh" I send her a glare.
"I've gotta go or else I'm gonna be late for dinner. Lock the door when you leave please." she nods in confirmation, which tells me I'm free to leave.
I see Max further down the hallway and catch up to him.
"Hey taxi."
"Oh not you too." He groans at the nickname, I just laugh at his response.
"Great result today." He got pole position.
"Yeah, you too. p4 is great, considering what happened."
I nod in agreement. "I would've kept going, but I couldn't steer after he hit me."
"Ah it's alright you'll show everyone tomorrow." He turns to me, a smile across his features.
"God, I hope so."
Max and I split when we reach the hotel parking lot, driving to the restaurant separately. Even so, we still got to the restaurant at about the same time.
I find my seat at the table, which is between Rocky and Max. Looking around the table I really only notice the more influential faces of the team. Like our principal and directors.
Christian and I make eye contact and he makes his way over to my seat, he was greeting everyone and had yet to sit down at his own seat.
He puts a hand on my shoulder and lowers the upper half of his body a little so I can better hear him in the loud atmosphere.
"Really proud of you today. I want to see similar, if not better, performance tomorrow."
"Yeah, 'course. Thank you."
He gives me a final smile before patting my shoulder twice and finding his seat, which just happens to be right in front of Max and I. Makes sense.
"I'm sorry." Rocky says from next to me.
"What for?" I turn to him, confusion over my face.
"I didn't warn you that George was coming out of the pits."
"No, do not blame yourself. It's not your fault. It was a collision no one would've seen coming."
"It seems you've cooled down some since after the race. You know, Gemma isn't very happy with the stunt you pulled after the race. She says she thinks you're trying to ruin your career."
"Whatever. It just made me so mad in the moment, you know?" Our food is placed in front of us, causing me to unintentionally change the conversation.
"Oh my god look at this food."
"You look like you're in love with it, like you're about to make out with it." Max says from beside me. Rocky laughs shortly, and I just glare at him.
"You two should get a room." Rocky is the one to say this. I whip my head in his direction so quickly, I'm shocked I didn't get whiplash.
"You two are actually the worst people ever." I shake my head at them and take a bite of the chicken Alfredo.
I can see Max and Rocky share a look from my peripheral vision. Then they break out into laughter.
"I hope you both get fired." I say, sitting back into my seat and crossing my arms over my chest like a child.
"You know if we get fired you would quit. We are your favorite people." Rocky confidentially shares, leading them both to laugh even more than they were before.
"No actually, Parker is my favorite person." They both stop laughing instantly. Now it's my turn to laugh.
"Seriously?" They both say at the same time.
I look to Rocky on my left, then turn to Max on my right.
"Yes."
They're silent. Completely speechless.
"I'm only joking. You're all even to me." Their faces brighten again and I laugh at the change.
We all finish eating our food and are about to leave when Christian stands up, tapping his fork against his glass.
"As you all know, tomorrow is the opening race of the season. Max is starting on pole and our amazing rookie Ariella is strating p4. Also as you know, this sport is a team effort so I need everyone to go home, rest up, and clear your heads for tomorrow. Good night and good luck to our drivers" Christian ends his speech with a wide smile. Cheers and applause can be heard in response.
Christian comes up to me and continues to walk with me out of the restaurant.
"That last part, about clearing your head goes especially for you. We all saw what you did after qualifying today and I completely understand why you did it, but it's not a good look and I need to ask you not to do it again. You'll get a new start tomorrow and I just need you to forget about that and push for a podium finish." We arrive at my car and he opens my door for me.
"I know I shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry. But yes I will push for a podium tomorrow." He nods and I get into my car.
Christian opened my eyes about one thing though. My outburst wasn't only reflective of me, but also my team. I feel terrible now knowing how many people I drug down with me when I did that. It was a selfish move on my part. I wasn't even thinking of all the other people I may harm when I did that. I put a burden on Gemma too. She's probably trying to find a way to uphold my image and make me not seem like a total asshole.
The hotel wasn't far from the restaurant so the drive back was short. George said he would pick me up at 21:00. It's currently 20:10 so I sit on my bed scrolling through my socials.
Bad idea.
Everyone was upset with how I reacted, understandably. Multiple comments were made about how I was 'probably on my period'. The joke being reused over multiple social platforms. Many also said I was spoiled and taking advantage of my seat.
Not everything was negative, though. A multitude of people called me a 'girl boss ' and told me 'I ate'. Those got a laugh out of me and made me feel a bit better about the backlash.
The knock on the door echoes through the room. The hollow sound alerting me of a suspected visitor.
"Ready to go?" George asks me when I open the door.
"Uh yeah just give me a second." I glance down at my shoeless feet before walking back into the room.
Taking a brief look at the door I just walked away from, I notice George awkwardly standing in the doorway.
"You can come in, you know." I laugh through the sentence.
From behind me, I hear the Mercedes driver advance further into the room.
"What's this?"
I turn to see him holding the star necklace my Nana gave me when I was 15. She passed two months later. I take it with me wherever I go because having it with me is as close I can get to having her with me. She was my biggest supporter throughout my childhood, and funded a lot of my early racing years.
"Uh, just a necklace from my Nana." My voice cracks slightly. Remembering her makes the tears rush to my waterline, but I hold them back not allowing them to fall. I blink a few times to clear my vision.
"I'm ready now." I stand up straight and face George. Even though he put the silver piece of jewelry back on the nightstand, his eyes were still locked on the sentimental object. He looks up to meet my eyes and his neutral face instantly lights up.
He leads the way out the door and to his car.
"So where are we going?" He never explicitly stated where we were going, just that we were getting dessert.
"You'll see." She turns to me briefly and smiles.
He let me choose the music. After a handful of songs play, me singing and him laughing at me, Forever & Always by Taylor Swift plays through the speakers.
"Oh this song is great I actually know this one!" He announces from the driver's seat.
"Wait seriously?!"
"Yes I love this one!"
"I never took you as a Taylor Swift kinda guy."
"I am great at surprising people." He says before he reaches over, turning up the music and sings along with the chorus. I secretly record him from the passengers seat.
"Speaking of surprises, we are here." He pulls into the car park of the Cheesecake Factory.
"No fucking way. How did you know?!?" They don't have a Cheesecake Factory in Australia, so any time Parker and I go to America together, I force her to go with me.
"Parker told me." he puts the car into park and quickly jumps out, running around the car to open my door, which I laugh at.
He made us a reservation so we are seated as soon as we walk in the door. I get the chocolate and caramel cheesecake, he gets the Oreo cheesecake.
"You're like a child." He looks confused and offended.
"Ouch. How am I a child exactly?"
"You just ordered Oreo cheesecake out of all the other great options."
"Not my fault, Oreo is a classic."
I shake my head and scrunch my nose. "See now you just sound like an old man."
"That one is definitely worse than the child comment." He places his hand over his heart to dramatize his hurt.
I laugh and shake my head.
"Definitely child."
We move the conversation to just talking about our lives outside of racing. I got to learn more about his family and him.
"How did everyone react?" The question is totally unrelated to what we were talking about, and makes no sense in relation to the conversation.
"With what?"
"The argument after the race." He looks down at his plate and won't meet my eyes. He pokes at the cheesecake in an attempt to look busy.
"Oh that yeah. Well not as bad as I thought they would, honestly. Just a little disappointed is all." My eyes turn to my own plate, subconsciously imitating his moves of picking at the food.
"I'm still really sorry about hitting you."
I can see in my peripheral vision that he's looking up at me now.
"God, you sound like a broken record." I laugh, looking up to meet his eyes. "You can stop apologizing I know you didn't mean to do anything hurtful." I shake my head.
"Sorry."
"You did it again." I can't control my laughter, and it gets worse as he says,
"Sorry- argh I did it again!" He starts laughing too.
The sound of our laughter mixing is almost euphoric to me. It's the same feeling someone would get as a teenager when baking cookies in the kitchen with someone they love unconditionally. The music playing loudly as they sing carelessly to each other, the sweet smell of the cookies baking in the oven drifting through the air as you do so. Laughing as you both embarrassingly dance to the melody in a way you would never do if someone else was in the room.
(1970 words)
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A/N - uh yeah I meant to have this out sooner but finals literally killed me and then I had a game which also set me back but it's here now😭
so I hope you enjoy and if not pls tell me what you didn't like so I can improve on it