A split second later, Casey turned back around, her eyes wide with shock as the image of what she'd just seen burned into her mind.
"I have to get out of here," she whispered breathlessly, standing up and darting through the crowd towards the exit.
"Case, fuck, wait!" Evan called after her, scrambling to get up from the seat and hurrying in the same direction she'd disappeared. Jacob meanwhile looked between them all wildly before setting his gaze back on Seb and Hayley.
---
Seb was frozen in shock. He was not expecting that to happen at all. It felt so wrong. He was hyper-aware of the fact that it was more than likely someone in the room would be recording them or taking pictures at this very moment. As much as he didn't want Hayley to be touching him, he didn't want to humiliate her either by rejecting her too brutally, especially in a room full of people.
As his brain caught up he pulled away, turning his head slightly to the right to break her contact.
"Hayley, stop," he murmured firmly.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered frantically, "I just had to... I..."
"I have to go," he continued quietly, their foreheads still touching. He could see another tear slipping down her cheek.
With a deep breath he stood up and walked away, rubbing his face with his hands to try and figure out what just happened. He soon found himself back near the team in the lounge area. Some of them were shouting at him to join them for a drink, but he couldn't focus on them properly. He caught sight of Jacob approaching him and wondered frantically where Casey was.
"She saw you," Jacob said simply, his expression perplexed.
"Fucking hell," Seb replied harshly, "I had no idea Hayley would do that!" he continued in a hushed tone.
"I don't think Casey saw it long enough to appreciate that," the brunette replied, his voice unusually monotonous.
"Where is she? I need to talk to her."
"She left."
At that moment, Evan pushed his way back through the crowd and came to a stop next to the two of them.
"Lost her," he panted, "She put her hood on and disappeared in the street. She should be an assassin, I swear to god."
Without another word, Seb bolted for the door, pulling his phone from his pocket and selecting Casey's number as he flew out into the street.
---
What the fuck was that? Casey thought as she maneuvered through the sidewalk. It was cold outside, very cold. That was the last thing she would ever have expected Seb to do. She was so confused... and angry... and god damn sad.
She felt hot tears pooling in her eyes and growled to herself. She must not cry. With no intention of heading back to her hotel, she tucked her chin down and kept marching. She didn't want to be found. She just needed to be alone.
As she crossed to the opposite side of the road her phone buzzed. She ripped it out, looking at the screen through bleary eyes. Of course, Seb was calling. The tears finally started to fall freely as she stuffed it back in her pocket and increased her pace.
As it was starting to get late, her nerves were getting the better of her from walking alone in the dark. She was also beginning to shiver from the cold. A plan formed in her head instantly and she looked up, scanning the street for the nearest hotel.
---
"Just one night in whatever room you've got," she said quietly, trying to warm herself up by rubbing her arms.
The receptionist booked her in with an unusual look before handing over her room key. It had been the first hotel she'd come across. Nothing special, but a lot warmer than outside.
Once she reached the safety of her room, she walked over to the window and looked out, taking a deep breath. Her cheeks were extra cold where the tears had trailed down.
"Argh god," she groaned, hating this feeling. The more she thought about Hayley and Seb, the more her throat burned until it felt almost unbearable. He was supposed to be hers.
She sat on the window ledge and stared out for another hour solid. After a while, her mind had mostly gone blank and exhaustion quickly took over.
---
Seb walked through the streets hopelessly. He hadn't been able to find her in any direction. It was cold and late now, so he decided to head back to the team's hotel. Casey surely would be back there by now anyway, right?
He pulled his phone out for the 50th time, though instead of dialing Casey, he selected Evan.
"Yeah?" Evan said sharply, picking up almost right away.
"Is she there?"
"Nope."
"You'd tell me if she was right? Please? Even if she tells you not to. I have to know."
"I'd tell you, Seb. She's not here."
"Damn it. What the fuck do I do?" he exclaimed.
Evan's heart sunk for him a little. He'd seen the whole thing play out and his opinion at least, Seb hadn't asked for it to happen.
"I don't know man, just give her the night. I'm sure she'll call in the morning."
Seb sighed at the other end of the line, "I can't just leave her out here."
"You've got no choice Seb. She wants to be alone. Go back to your hotel. I'll call you as soon as I hear from her."
"Thanks," the German replied abruptly before hanging up.
Evan took a deep breath.
"Is he going fucking nuts?" Jacob asked from his side.
"Yeah, pretty much."
Jacob rested his head on Evan's shoulder and they looked down at his phone together.
"You didn't tell him you know where she is?" he asked quietly.
Evan tilted his chin to kiss his forehead, "Nah, I know she's safe. So we'll buy her some time."
They watched the little blue dot on the screen, currently residing in a hotel a few streets away on Evan's "Find My Friends" app. He was suddenly very grateful for the time he and Casey had set it up and then promptly forgotten about it.
---
Seb hailed a taxi and went back to the hotel, at a loss for what else to do and feeling completely miserable. He hated being cut off more than anything else. He'd already been missing Casey since Tuesday the week before and had been waiting for tonight ever since he'd said goodbye to her in Monaco. Now she wouldn't even pick up his calls.
He thought back to the time they'd had in Monaco. It had been the most exciting and happiest week he'd had in a very long time. They'd been together most nights, and had been given the all clear from Christian. Everything had been going in their favour. She'd made him so happy.
He pulled out his phone again, if she wouldn't pick up the calls, maybe she'd read his messages.
"Case please tell me where you are. I don't want anything to do with Hayley. I didn't know she was going to do that. I'm so sorry you had to see it. I love you and this fucking hurts. Please don't cut me off."
---
Casey woke up the next morning feeling like shit. Her eyes were a little swollen from the cold and the rather embarrassing crying incident. It didn't matter if it was justified or not, she really fucking hated crying. Picking up her phone, she saw a lost list of missed calls followed by a text from Seb.
Still feeling on the defensive side, she quickly turned off her read receipts before opening it up. She read it and frowned.
He'd said he didn't want it. It was just a kiss, after all. Had she overreacted? If he hadn't wanted it, then why had he let it get to that point? She felt like she'd never let a guy get that close to her without shoving him off. Hayley was his ex-girlfriend though, maybe they were close. She couldn't decide if that made it better or worse.
She groaned and dropped her phone to the floor. Today was a rare day off for her and she was supposed to be waking up next to him. Then tomorrow, she was meant to be catching a flight to Austria to start the routine all over again. She procrastinated doing anything, eventually falling back asleep.
---
Casey woke up with a start at knocking on the door. She panicked for a minute, thinking Seb had found her. She couldn't be seen looking how she looked right now. No way.
"Excuse me miss. You've missed your check out time."
"Shit," she muttered, picking up her phone. 12:14pm!
"Sorry!" She called, swinging out of bed, "I'll be down in a second."
She threw her clothes back on and picked up her phone again. There was another message from Seb.
"Please Case, I'm worried."
As she walked down to reception, she found herself opening the Twitter app. She had been avoiding it for weeks but she had to know if last night had made it on there. She navigated to one of the more popular news accounts for Seb and scrolled down. It didn't take long.
"Sebastian Vettel and Hayley Bauer spotted getting very cozy in Canada last night. Back on again?"
Below the caption was a picture taken from somewhere further down the room than Casey had been. You could only see the back of Seb's head, but most of Hayley's face and of course her arms were wrapped around him. She felt a bit ill seeing it all over again. Anger surged it's way back into her brain and her resolve to ignore him was strengthened ten-fold.
"I'm so sorry I missed my checkout. Can I extend my stay by one more night?" she asked as she reached the receptionist. She was an older woman with a kind face.
"Of course. May I please see your room key?"
Casey waited while the woman amended the booking and thanked her before returning to her room. She'd need a change of clothes soon. Perhaps she'd go back to the team's hotel after they would all have started work that afternoon. It was a better plan than anything else coming to mind right now.
---
Seb dragged himself to the hotel lobby. Britta, who'd been waiting for him, caught sight of him and hurried over.
"What on earth is going on? My phone is blowing up!" she exclaimed in alarm, resting her hand against the side of his face. He looked terrible.
"Case won't speak to me," he mumbled tiredly, looking away.
"Why not?" she asked firmly, "And why is Hayley all over my notifications?"
"Ugh. Something happened in the bar last night. You should probably just read it online."
Britta frowned and retracted her hand, pulling out her phone instead.
After a moment she gasped and he rolled his eyes.
"Seb, how did this happen?" Britta demanded, shaking her head in confusion.
"I didn't want to touch her, for the record. She was the instigator. Case saw it from across the room and now I haven't seen her since the race. She won't talk to me and I have no idea where she is. I only know that it's not fucking here. She probably fucking hates me."
"She can look after herself Seb, I'm sure she is okay. Just give her a little space."
"This is so fucking stupid. I can't believe I let this happen. Why did I let this happen?" he grizzled, rubbing his face.
"Have you slept?" she asked, frowning.
He didn't reply, but that was answer enough.
"Sebastian. You need to sleep. Go back to your room now. You don't need to go to the track today. I'll find her," Britta assured him, pushing him back in the direction of the elevators.
He did as he was told begrudgingly, too tired to argue. Since the last time he slept, he'd done a whole media circuit, driven a Grand Prix and then tossed and turned all night with worry.
Britta watched him slump away, making sure he got in the elevator. She sighed and pulled her phone back out to start making some calls to clean this mess up. As she dialed, she looked around the lobby and did a double take as her eyes landed on Casey making her way through the front doors warily.
"Case!" she called, hurrying over to her.
Startled, Casey looked over at the sound of her voice. Her eyes darted around the rest of the lobby quickly before landing back on Britta.
"Are you okay?" the German woman asked, pulling her into a hug.
"Uh, yeah. I'm fine," she stammered after a moment.
"Sebastian was just down here."
"Is he coming back?" she asked, suddenly realising that she almost felt afraid to see him. He could be furious with her by now for all she knew.
"I sent him to sleep," Britta smiled gently, "Tell me what happened?"
"I don't really want to talk about it," Casey shook her head, "I just need to get back to my room."
"Darling, please just hear me out," Britta said, gripping her shoulders, "I've known that boy for a long time. He can be immature, short-sighted, maybe sometimes even naive. But he is losing his mind worrying that he's lost you," she said quietly, moving in closer.
Casey felt her throat constricting as Britta continued.
"He should have pushed that girl away the second she moved in too close, she's put him through enough in the past and he should know better, " she tutted with a sigh, "Whatever you decide, just, please don't leave him in the dark too long," she finished softly.
Casey sighed and averted her gaze to the floor, "Maybe I've overreacted."
"No darling, you're well within your right to want some time away from it all after what happened. And hopefully it scared some sense into him for the next time that girl comes lurking around."
She gave the tiny woman a small smile. She really liked Britta, especially at this moment.
"I'm sort of scared to see him," she admitted, feeling stupid.
"Why?" Britta asked, frowning a little.
"He's going to be so angry at me. And I can't tell if I'm angry at him," she said exasperatedly.
Britta smiled kindly and squeezed her hand, "The only person he's angry at is himself."
"It's all over Twitter," Casey moaned, casting her eyes down.
"I know," Britta said softly, rubbing her arms, "But you let me worry about that."