As I feel myself waking up, I also feel that my head isn't on a pillow. My arm is around something and it makes me open my eyes, slowly. I instantly get a smile on my face, when I realize that I'm laying with Daniel. He is on his back, my head resting on his chest. His arm is holding me against him, while my arm is around him.
I bring my hand up to his chest, softly tracing his skin. His arm tightens around me, letting me know that he is awake. But he isn't saying anything yet, as I keep tracing his skin. I can see goosebumps appearing on his arms, making me grin.
"Good morning" Daniel mumbles, pressing his lips against my head. It makes me press myself more against him, only to have him tighten his grip on my as well.
"Good morning, Daniel" I reply, sounding a bit more awake than Daniel just sounded.
"How'd you sleep?" Daniel asks me, as he moves a hand to my hair, playing with it. That makes me relax even more.
"Better than the last couple of days, much better. You?"
"Like a baby" I smile when he says that. Although I don't know what will happen, I'm enjoying this moment. Because I don't know if it'll ever happen again.
"You know what I'm wondering?" Daniel asks me, pulling me out of my thoughts.
"No idea, tell me"
"How I'd never had the courage to just walk up to you and tell you how I felt" I feel my cheeks heating up at his words.
"Because I do really like you, Mackenzie. It wasn't just a drunken move, last night" he mumbles. As if he sensed that I was thinking about that, he starts to admit his feelings.
"I hope you realize that I don't think of that kiss as a mistake, Mackenzie" I look up at him for the first time this morning and she somewhat looks nervous.
"I don't think of it as a mistake either" I just mumble, not really knowing what to say to Daniel now that I'm sober. Daniel starts smiling though.
"I'm glad. I just don't know what to do now. Like what's next?" Daniel asks, frowning slightly.
"Maybe we should just spend some time together before we label anything" Daniel nods his head and smiles.
"Let's do that. For now, what about breakfast?" Daniel asks. I smile, just as I feel my stomach grumbling. Daniel chuckles, moving to sit up right. I just stay down for a bit, just looking at Daniel's back muscles. As if he feels my eyes on him, Daniel turns his head to look down at me.
"Do you want to go down for breakfast or order up?" I sit up now as well, just smiling at Daniel for now. I sigh, feeling as if we probably should just get out of bed.
"Let's go down, see if anyone else is having breakfast" Daniel nods and throws the covers off of himself. It's as he just realizes that this is my room and his stuff isn't here.
"Go, I'll knock on your door in 30 minutes?" Daniel chuckles and nods, pressing his lips against my temple. He just quickly puts on his clothes from last night and leaves me alone in bed. I grab my phone, ignoring all the texts I have and put on some music. I quickly take a shower, making sure I atleast smell alright. After that, I just put on a pair of jeans and a plain, grey shirt. I put my hair up in a messy bun and apply some light make-up, seeing the dark bags under my eyes. After some foundation, concealer and mascara, I feel ready. I grab my phone and room key card and walk out of the room.
I make my way to Daniel's room, which is just a bit further down the hallway. I knock onto Daniel's door, waiting patiently for him to open it. When he does, he's standing there without a shirt on, grinning at me.
"You're lucky it's just me and not some fangirl" I say and smile at him. Daniel chuckles and let's me walk inside. Daniel just grabs a shirt from somewhere, putting it over his head. He grabs a cap, not bothering to do his hair.
"What did you do in those 30 minutes that you're not even done now?" I ask him. Daniel blushes slightly.
"Well, I was going to shower, but I got a call from a friend that lasted until 10 minutes ago, so I then jumped into the shower and was able to put on some pants before you arrived. Besides, you're early" Daniel mumbles the last part, making me giggle slightly.
"I'm 2 minutes early" I state.
"Yeah, I only needed my shirt and cap, that would've been enough" Daniel grabs his phone and key card as well, stuffing it all in his pockets.
"Ready?" he asks me. I nod and follow him out of his room. We make our way down to the restaurant, where breakfast is being served. Like we thought, several team members are walking around, sitting around. Daniel walks to a table where Simon, Rocky and Dan are sitting, eating together. They look up when we arrive at the table, smiling.
"Good morning, guys. Can we join you?" Daniel asks the three of them. They all nod and smile, so Daniel and I take a seat at the table. Within a minute, someone is next to us, asking us what we want to drink. Daniel orders orange juice and I order a coffee.
"How was your night, guys?" Daniel asks them.
"Pretty good. Haven't seen you two much, though" Simon answers, smirking at the two of us. I giggle and shrug.
"I did see you dancing with Carlos, Mackenzie. What's up with that?" Rocky asks me, grinning as well.
"Oh, Carlos is a good friend of mine. Nothing special there" I simply answer. I can feel Daniel's eyes on me, but I ignore that for now.
"Where is Max?" Simon asks me. I giggle at the thought of Max laying in bed, completely hungover.
"Not sure if we will see him anytime soon. He must be so hungover" I say, while the others laugh along. Daniel and I get our food, Daniel some eggs and I have some pancakes.
"There he is" Rocky chuckles, making all of us look up, to see Max walking our way. He looks better, fresher, than expected. He is grinning widely, taking the last available seat at our table.
"Good morning everyone" he says, not looking hungover at all. Everyone just kind of stares at him, while he frowns at everyone.
"What?" Max asks, looking at all of us.
"We all kind of thought you'd be half dead by now" Daniel answers, grinning at his teammate. Max chuckles himself, grinning at everyone.
"Well, I feel fine. I don't think I've ever felt this good after going out" Max mumbles, ordering a coffee and some pancakes. Everyone just kinds of eats in silence. I keep stealing glances at Daniel, as he jokes a bit with Simon. I admire their relationship as well, they're close, like best friends.
"I just realized I don't even know what time we're flying back to MK" Max mumbles, looking at everyone. I softly giggle at him. He seems like nothing can break him, he is on top of the world.
"We leave for the airport at 1, our flight leaves at 3" Rocky answers, kind of the leader of this group. Everyone nods at him, probably knowing it already.
"When do I have a sim session?" Max asks me. I try to think of the schedule I had planned together with Simon, who could go in when.
"Tomorrow morning. Daniel is after you, if I remember correctly" I say and look at Simon for comfirmation, which I get. Daniel nods as well, hearing this for the first time. We usually discuss these things on the plane, when we have the schedules next to us.
"Okay. Very early? Or decent early?" Max asks.
"I honestly don't remember the exact time, but I thought it was around 9" I say. Max nods and goes back to eating.
After finishing up with breakfast, I just make my way back to my room, while Daniel stays behind with Simon and Rocky. Dan had gone to his room a few minutes ago and Max is following me, slowly.
"Hey, where did you and Daniel go to last night?" Max asks, catching up with me. I just stare at him for a few seconds, before thinking of an answer.
"I wanted to go to bed, so he brought me back. I guess he didn't feel like going back" I mumble. Max nods, having convinced him of that story.
"I'll see you when we leave. Remember, 1 P.M" I tell Max as I reach my room. He nods and waves, walking to his room. I open mine and look at the mess. I sigh heavily, grabbing my suitcase from under the bed and open it. I start to fold all my clothes, collect every last thing I took with me.
I close my suitcase, taking some data sheets with me on the plane. I just wait until it's one.
I make my way down to the lobby, where various team members are already waiting for everyone. I just stand next to Simon and Rocky, who smile at me.
"Ready for another two weeks of Factory work?" Simon asks me, grinning. We all know that everyone who's on the travel team enjoys the race weekends way more than the Factory weeks.
"Not really. I'm so excited for Monaco" I say while smiling widely. They both agree with me, nodding their head along to my words.
"Did I hear the word Monaco?" I hear Daniel's voice say from behind me. He is grinning, while looking at everyone. His eyes stay on me a little bit longer. I smile at him, trying to not make it awkward with Simon and Rocky. Daniel just smiles back, before falling into conversation with Simon and Rocky. I sometimes still feel like I don't belong in their little group, but I keep trying.
"I made it, on time" Max joins us as well, looking happy with himself.
"Good job, Dutchie. Ready for another flight?" I ask him, trying to just talk to Max. Max sighs a bit before nodding.
"Flying does get easier everytime I go" he mumbles.
"I disagree" I mumble, frowning slightly. I don't like flying all that much, but for his job, it's worth it.
"We can talk, so you'll be distracted"
"Yeah, good idea. And it's only, like 2 hours" Max nods and smiles at me. I just sigh again, taking out my phone to finally check some texts. Some are from my mum, just asking how I felt and congratulating me with the good result. One is from a good friend from back home, also telling me how proud she is.
"Alright, let's go!" someone yells, before the team members start making their way outside. I put my phone away and follow everyone outside. We get into a van, that'll take us to the airport. I just take a seat, luckily, Max sits down next to me, smiling.
"I just want to thank you again. You were great this weekend" Max says as the van starts moving. I smile widely at him.
"You did great as well, Max. We make a good team" I say, making Max grin as well. I just lean my head against the window, only now feeling how exhausted I am.
-
I let myself fall onto the couch in my apartment, completely exhausted and drained from energy. I have enough energy to turn the TV on, but that's about it. I just lay there for a while, staring at the TV, not moving a muscle. That is until my phone buzzes with incoming texts. I grab it from the table, seeing a name flash on the screen that makes me nervous.
Daniel Ricciardo : when do you have a day off?
Daniel Ricciardo : cause we should do something fun soon xx
I stare at my phone for a little while, trying to think off my schedule.
Mackenzie : my first day off is Friday, I think. And then Sunday again! X
I finally get up from the couch, making my way to the fridge. I grab a salad that I had luckily bought before I left for Barcelona. I check the date and it's still eatable. I grab a glass of water and sit back down on the couch. I change channels, seeing my favorite show on.
I check my phone, seeing some texts.
Daniel Ricciardo : i'm off Thursday and Sunday
Daniel Ricciardo : so does Sunday work for you? If not, maybe I could switch around my schedule
Mackenzie : no, Sunday sounds fine, Daniel! What are we going to do?
Daniel Ricciardo : let me worry about that! I'll let you know, soon xxx
I just turn back to the TV, but after having finished my food, I just change into my pyjama and go to bed. While laying there, with my eyes closed, I can only think of a certain Australian laying next to me.
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Almost forgot that it's Tuesday, which means post day! I'm so confused with the days, it's not even funny anymore.
Let me know what you think!
Xx