(Lewis' Version)
A LITTLE QUIET LAUGH escapes my mouth when I react to Salina's text. I've decided to text her to let her know that some of the drivers are planning on having a couple of drinks tonight. It's a little tradition with us drivers whenever we're in Miami. Though, I have to say, I'm a little disappointed that she'll be busy.
The two of us text a little more. I type on my phone, smiling without even me noticing that I am. We continue to text when my ears hear Angela speak across from me.
"You're smiling again. Is it Salina you're texting there?" I look up at her when she asks me. My smile immediately drops.
"That's none of your concern, Angie." I roll my eyes.
"It's definitely Sally. I can see it on the reflection of his sunglasses right there." George points a finger at my black sunglasses I've decided to wear today as the three of us sit outside of the motor home.
When I hear him say that, I immediately pull up my sunglasses over and rest it on my head. "All you see are blue and gray text bubbles, you wouldn't know if it was Sally or not."
"Uh, actually I can tell whether it's Sally or not." George raises his eyebrows at me, giving me an attitude like a twelve year old girl.
"Yeah, I can tell too." Angela backs him up.
"What—how? You guys are crazy. Even if it is Salina, I don't even know why you two would make it such a big deal." I place my phone down on the table and cross my arms together.
"One; you got this smile you do whenever her name is mentioned or whenever you're near her. And two; everyone around here thinks you two are some kind of thing." He puts up fake quotation marks in the air with his fingers.
"A smile? Really, George?" I furrow my eyebrows, scoffing. "I smile at everyone, just because I also smile at her doesn't mean anything."
"It's a different smile than the smile you give George and I or anyone besides Sal." Angela apprises me.
I start shaking my head. "And that second thing, what the hell do you mean by thing? There's nothing going on between us."
"Maybe there isn't, but word got out around the paddocks about you and Sally. With the paparazzi photos and all." Mentions Angela.
"Shit," I curse to myself. "I forgot that those existed."
"Have you spoken to Salina about it?" George takes a sip of his iced tea.
"No, the two of us haven't brought up anything about the topic. I don't even think she knows about it." I start rubbing my beard.
"Well, someone has had to have told her by now." Angela shrugs her shoulders.
"The woman has to know. She's probably not ever going to bring it up in a work environment—plus, Toto's always around. That's probably another reason why she hasn't spoken to you about it." George starts suggesting all the reasons why.
All the reasons I'm being given are very reasonable. I'm already growing a healthy friendship with her and I'm afraid if I bring this up, it'll ruin it back to how we first interacted with each other. I don't ever want that. I've grown a little liking for Salina. She's a lot different than what I assumed she was a couple weeks ago.
But I think it's only right if the two of us talk about the paparazzi pictures the next time I see her. Just to clear things up and make everything go back to normal with the media. Salina is a good person and a hard worker. I can't let my status ruin her reputation all for a stupid rumor that'll never come true.
THE MUSIC GETS EVEN MORE lit when Lando goes up to the DJ bar and starts playing his own remixes. Carlos and Daniel both start cheering once they hear new music start to play and I enjoy, watching from the side.
We've all been hanging out for two hours now and there hasn't been any sign of Salina ever joining in with us tonight. She hasn't texted me back since our conversation this early afternoon. I take a sip of my beer, standing next to Mick.
"Hey, you guys should come with us to the front! Come on!" Daniel yells through the loud music.
"You guys go ahead, I think I'm just gonna stay here for a bit and join in later." I tell Mick and George.
"You sure, man? Everyone else is going over there." George uses his loud voice to fight the music as he speaks to me.
"I'll be fine!" I cup my mouth with my hand.
"Alright, I'll see you around!" Mick gives me a thumbs up as George pulls him away from the table. I hand him one back, smiling.
I'm not the type to stay back, but tonight I'm just not feeling it. Don't really know why, but that's how it is right now. I don't feel tired or anything. So I don't see why I'm not up to partying with the others. I stand here, observing my friends and the crowd from afar.
Until, I feel a tap on my shoulder. My head looks over my shoulder to see who it is. It's Salina. What is she doing here? I turn around and give her a big hug.
"I thought you were busy with work?" I ask her as our hands hold onto each other's arms.
"Oh, I finished a little earlier than I expected, so I decided to check in on you guys." She tells me. "How come you're over here and not with the rest?"
I don't hear the second part she says, so I lean down over her to hear better. "What did you just say?"
"I asked why you're standing here and not with the others over there!" She fights through the loud music.
"Oh! I don't know, just didn't feel like it tonight. But I'm fine here anyways." I fill her in on what she misses. "Nicole is here somewhere, you can go find her on the dance floor and join."
"She can do all her dancing and swaying on her own. We may be best friends, but we're total opposites." Salina chuckles as she places her purse down on the table.
"That says a lot." My head nods, laughing.
We catch up on some other things. The usual. Work, work, and work. Yeah... Salina and I haven't really talked about anything, but work. We're growing into friends, we should start talking about anything else, but work.
I bring up the topic of Lando being a part time DJ when he's not racing. You know, to change the subject of boring work talk. I tell her he's been doing it for some time and he's actually quite good at it. She doesn't know much of the other drivers besides George, Mick, and I. So I thought it'd be nice to give her some information about each one.
I have to say, Salina's a great listener. As I tell her about the other drivers, it's clear she's listening to you and only you. Even if there's loud music playing. It must be a perk since she works in the business industry.
Even though she's mostly my boss with Toto, she acts as if we're both in the same position. She does it with everyone. Salina never lets any down feel down but equal. I enjoy the fact that she's like that.
For example, she saw Valtteri hanging out by himself behind us and asked him to join us. I could see it brightened his mood up a little. But it graded mines down a little. It's nice of her to include everyone, but I am fond of spending tonight with just her. Not to be rude or anything to my dear friend, Valtteri.
It's looks like some of the drivers are getting refills as I see them walk over down to us from the dance floor. Daniel greets us with a big smile, along with Pierre and Esteban with him.
"Ah, I see you've brought the girlfriend tonight." Daniel raises his eyebrows, pointing to Salina. "My name's Daniel and—Salina if I'm right?"
I look over to see her reaction to Daniel calling her my girlfriend and she just smiles. "Salina, yes, that's me." She let's put a chuckle, shaking his hand.
"It's finally nice to meet you. I know you're a busy person, thanks for coming out to hang out." Daniel places his hand over his chest.
"Of course, I always make time for some fun." She says. Did she not hear Daniel just call her my girlfriend? Or was it just me?
"Pierre here and this is Esteban. It's a pleasure meeting you. Lewis here doesn't really let us meet any of the women he's dating ever. So it's kind of a big deal you're here with us tonight." Pierre puts his hand out for a shake.
"Dating?" I hear Salina whisper to herself. She shakes her head back into reality quickly, assuming she must've heard him wrong. "The pleasure is all mines. It's all very amazing to meet some of you already, I know we all don't get to see much of each other during work and all."
"Uh—I'm going to get her a drink. We'll see you guys around." I grab onto her shoulders and start leading her to the bar in the back.
She starts laughing at something while I walk her over there. "And what are you laughing at?" I ask her.
"Nothing." Her giggles cause her to smile uncontrollably. I don't believe her, so I ask again.
"Come on, tell me."
"I don't know if I heard Pierre correct or not, but I think he thinks we're some thing. It just seemed funny to me, that's all." There she goes using that same term just as Angela and George did earlier today.
"Oh, that is funny." I try to give out a chuckle.
"As if that's ever going to happen." She says happily.
Why on earth was she sweet about stating that fact? Not going to lie, I'm a little hurt by that. Even though it's true. It just feels... wrong to hear. Salina goes on and orders herself a drink. My eyebrows draw together as I watch her fully ignore the fact that three drivers have mistaken her as my girlfriend.
Her head looks over to me as she taps her fingers on the counter. I guess she notices my body language being shifted from earlier.
"Hey, you okay?" She tilts her head.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I force out a smile.
"You sure? You're facial expression says otherwise. I can tell when it's a real or fake smile and your smile, Hamilton, is a fake smile." She brings her hands up to my face and squeezes the corners of my lips.
"Stop calling me that, will you?" I take her hand off of my face and hold onto them without me even noticing.
"Everyone calls you Hamilton." She scoffs.
"It's tiring to hear." I sigh.
"Okay, I'll start calling you Lewis then. How about that?" There it is, her sweet and innocent smile she does. Salina starts swinging our hand side to side, waiting for me to answer.
"Can't be even more original?" I throw my head back.
"Well, I'm sorry your name is hard to create a nickname. Let's restart. Lewis Hamilton, oh, what do you request for me to call you from now on?" She let's go of my hands and bows sarcastically.
This makes me laugh. "Anything else besides Lewis or Hamilton."
"Hamilton, hm... Ham—Hamilton. Humpty Dumpy. Hampty Dumpty! Haha, I like that. Okay, from now on you're Hamlet to me." She crosses her arms, feeling proud of what she just thought of.
It's unique. But not what I had expected for her to think of. I nod my head slowly, taking in the new nickname for me. Hampty Dumpty. I don't know about the Dumpty part, but Hampty is pretty creative of her to create.
"I love that. What about you, Hampty Dumpty?" She makes sure to use my new nickname.
"I'll let it slide. But not when there's a lot of people around. You can stick to either Lewis or Hamilton in that case." I warn her.
"Yes, sir, yes." She salutes.