"Are you okay? You look like you've just seen a ghost." Evan laughed, watching Casey's face with a bemused expression.
Her eyes darted up to meet his. He instantly stopped laughing and frowned, recognising panic in her eyes.
She held up a finger to her lips to silently ask him to stop talking.
"Tell me later." he mouthed in her direction. She nodded vaguely, not really paying attention.
Her mind was too busy going a thousand miles an hour, thinking about what had just happened. Did that even happen? Was she hallucinating? Was she so ridiculously drunk that she didn't even realise she was drunk at all?
She could still feel tiny stinging sensations running down her neck from where ...they had grazed her skin with their teeth. Shit, what if there were marks on her neck? She stood up quickly and darted through the chairs back inside. Seb watched her disappear with a confused look on his face.
Evan jumped up after her and followed her inside. He wandered down the hallway, seeing the light coming from under the door to the bathroom.
"Case?"
There was a pause of silence before he heard her unlock the door. He took that as an invitation and pushed his way through before shutting it behind him.
"What the hell are you doing?" he said, watching her hovering in front of the mirror and seemingly inspecting the skin on her neck very closely.
Casey looked over at him warily and took a step towards him. He watched on, baffled, as she lifted up his shirt quickly and let out a deep breath.
"Thank god." she said, pausing to turn back to the mirror, "I don't have to kill you."
"Okay, seriously, have you lost it?" Evan asked, trying not to laugh. Clearly something was going on but what his stomach had to do with it he couldn't understand.
"I'm in so much trouble Ev." she said. He could see her fingers trembling.
"Tell me what happened!"
"Someone just... I just..."
"Okay stop. Breath. Calm down." he said, grabbing her hands.
Casey took a deep breath, "Someone just kissed me in the hallway, like, really kissed me."
"What?"
"I thought it was Seb! But they were wearing a belt, Seb's not wearing a belt!"
"So you decided to check me?" he said, laughing incredulously.
"Well I don't know! You could have been playing a trick on me, a really, really weird trick."
"Does sound like something I'd do I suppose..." he admitted with a smirk.
"Did you see who went inside during the last 5... 10 minutes?" Casey asked urgently.
Evan shook his head, "I wasn't really paying attention. Not Jake though, he was outside with me. And not Seb, he didn't move."
Casey pulled her hands away and turned back to the mirror, leaning on the basin, "Well... fuck."
"Was it... good?" Evan asked mischievously.
"I will hit you." Casey replied, not amused.
"Well, at least your list of suspects is fairly limited. There aren't many people here."
"Maybe they thought I was someone else and it was all a big mistake."
Evan shrugged, "Maybe. Or you've got an admirer you didn't know about. Do you remember anything else about them?"
"No... I wasn't really... paying attention."
"Must have been pretty good then." he mumbled, smirking furiously.
"Oh god." Casey groaned, "Do I tell Seb?"
Evan shrugged, "He's not gonna' enjoy that news. It's not like you did anything wrong. You thought it was him so, you're in the clear."
Casey bit her lip, that didn't really answer the question for her.
"Let's see, there's Kimi, Olli, Vilho, Heikki, Nathan, Isla and Sofia."
"It wasn't a girl." Casey surprised herself by giggling, "And I'm fairly sure it's safe to rule out Kimi."
Evan snorted, "Okay then the other two Finns, Heikki or Nathan."
Casey scrunched up her face in confusion.
"BUT WHY?" she exclaimed dramatically.
Evan grinned for a second before they both burst into laughter. The whole situation was ludicrous.
"Stop laughing!" Casey whined, "When you laugh, I laugh and I so don't want to be laughing right now!"
"I so want to know who it was." Evan said mysteriously, "I need more details."
"What do you mean, details?"
"Come on, stop being coy. Tell me from the top." he pleaded.
Casey sighed, "It happened quickly! I'd just walked out of the bathroom. I was walking blind in the dark and then next thing I'm pinned against the wall."
"Annnnd?" Evan urged.
Casey sighed, feeling ridiculously uncomfortable, "And he was kissing me, I kissed him back, he was really intense."
"And what's with your neck?" Evan said, watching her as she went back to inspecting it.
"He kind of bit me?" she said, laughing nervously at the end.
Evan giggled to himself.
"Ugh, you are useless." Casey rolled her eyes.
"Don't tell him." Evan said suddenly.
"What?"
"Don't tell Seb. I don't think it's worth it. Just write it off as someone making a mistake. They are all pretty drunk..." he explained in a hushed tone.
Casey's stomach flipped uncomfortably. She hated the idea of holding something back from Seb. But maybe Evan was right this time and it wouldn't be worth troubling him with it.
"Have you ever even spoken to Nathan before?"
"Hardly."
"Hmm... though he could be a silent lurker type." Evan pondered.
"I think I need to forget this conversation now." Casey said, feeling a little sick.
"Come on then." Evan said, opening the bathroom door and leading the way back out.
Casey followed him back outside. She felt an awful sting of guilt as Seb looked up at her, his eyes full of concern.
"Everything okay?" he asked as she approached him. The rest of the group were all still chatting and drinking happily around the fire.
She suddenly felt a wave of anger course through her body. How could someone do that to Seb, let alone trick her into unknowingly doing it to him too. She leaned over, gently tipping his chin up with her fingers, and kissed him. She could feel him smile against her lips and another shot of guilt ripped through her.
She squashed away the feeling and sat down, resuming her place in his lap. Sebastian sighed contentedly, resting his hand on her thigh and drawing little circles on her skin with his thumb. The feeling made Casey squirm a little and she buried her head in his neck, biting his skin inconspicuously.
"Are you trying to torture me?" Seb whispered against her forehead.
Casey smirked and looked around the circle, trying to distract herself from Seb.
Next to her feet, Evan was huddled over Jacob who still sat on the ground below him. They were whispering quietly, sniggering about something. They were so adorable in that moment she could hardly tear her eyes off them. Next around the circle was Nathan and Heikki who seemed to be chatting casually, probably about work, knowing them. Isla sat next to them, leaning in to Heikki ever so slightly although he didn't seem to notice.
Further along, Vilho, Olli and Sofia were all laying back, squished up together on a 2-seater. Sofia was giggling uncontrollably as the two boys teased her over her lack of sobriety.
Lastly, Kimi and Minttu sat together. Minttu was listening to the conversation next to her, smirking occasionally. Kimi was sitting back casually, running his hand through Minttu's hair as he and Seb struck up a conversation about the race earlier that day.
Casey wondered what time it was, thinking back to where she'd left her phone.
"Just grabbing my phone." she murmured in Seb's ear, kissing the spot where his neck met his jaw. He reluctantly released her and continued his conversation with Kimi.
Casey stepped past Isla and squeezed her shoulder, smiling down at her. Isla grinned back at her and jumped up, following her inside. She grabbed Casey's hand and made a quiet squealing noise.
"You and Seb are breaking my heart." she cooed.
"What?" Casey blushed, reaching into a cupboard to pour herself a glass of water. She picked up her phone off the bench and checked the time... 1:14am.
"He's clearly in love with you. I am so jealous." she pouted, taking a seat at the island counter and resting her chin on her hands.
Casey didn't know what to say and looked down bashfully.
"Has he told you he loves you?" she asked, her eyes glinting in the low light of the room.
Casey chuckled, realising she wasn't very used to girl talk, "Uhh, yeah."
Isla's eyebrows raised and she made more inaudible noises, "When? How?"
Casey shrugged. Knowing Seb was private, she wanted to follow his lead on that one.
"Fine, have your secrets." Isla giggled, "Hey, Heikki is still single right?"
Casey dropped her jaw slightly. "Why might you be asking that?" she asked with a smirk.
"Because he's freaking gorgeous." she sighed, looking over her shoulder towards the balcony.
Casey giggled, "Not gonna' argue with you on that one. Today in the garage he was shirtless, you missed quite a show."
"What?" Isla hissed dramatically.
Casey nodded, "Yup, just whipped his shirt right off. You should have seen everyones faces."
"So damn typical that I wasn't there. Whose body is better then? Seb's or Heikki's? Since you've seen them both... you greedy bitch." Isla said playfully.
Casey put on a thoughtful expression, "Depends what you like."
"Spit it out!" Isla laughed.
"Well..." Casey began, sipping her water slowly and leaning against the opposite side of the bench, "Seb's obviously leaner, he has to be."
Isla was hanging off her every word.
"Heikki has more bulk to him. So you know, there's a lot of definition on his chest." she said reflectively, okay, maybe this was fun to talk about.
"Hell. Yes. Sign me up." Isla said cheekily.
"Why don't you make a move?" Casey challenged, raising an eyebrow at her.
"I'm not drunk enough for that." she laughed.
Casey snorted and looked up as Heikki slipped in through the balcony door. She cleared her throat to disguise a laugh. Isla followed Casey's gaze and looked over her shoulder.
"Heikki!" she said cheerfully, swivelling on her seat to face him.
He shot her one of his signature beautiful smiles. Casey could almost see her melting.
"How's it going?" he said, walking around to stand next to Casey. She automatically pushed off the bench and grabbed him a fresh glass, filling it with water and passing it to him.
"Mind reader." he laughed softly, taking it from her with a quiet "Thank you."
"So Heikki, any special girls in your life? We were just wondering." Casey said mischievously, watching Isla's expression turn to one of horror.
"You were?" he replied, looking a little embarrassed. Casey nodded, cocking her head to the side expectantly.
"I don't have time for one." he said after a moment.
"Cop out." Casey said instantly, jabbing him in the ribs. Isla had gone very quiet as she listened.
"I don't!" Heikki insisted with a shy laugh.
Casey rolled her eyes, "If the drivers can manage, you can manage."
"Yeah well it's your job to follow him around the world. That's a pretty advantageous difference." Heikki replied, leaning on the bench in front of him.
"There's plenty of women on every team who travel away too. You could have your pick." she argued.
"The good ones are always snatched up pretty fast." he said, looking down at his glass.
Ouch, Casey hoped Isla didn't take that to heart. He probably assumed Isla already had a boyfriend.
"Then you need to snatch faster." Isla said blankly.
Casey felt awkward. She wished she knew what Isla was thinking.
Evan, her merciful saviour, slipped through the door at that moment and spotted them.
"Case?"
"Yeah?" she replied, smiling at him warmly.
"How many bedrooms you got in here?"
"Uhh, 3." she replied.
"Mind if Jake and I crash in one tonight, can't be bothered going back to the other hotel." he put on a pathetic face, making Casey laugh.
"It's fine."
"You're the best." he grinned, walking around the bench and kissing her cheek before sauntering off down the hallway in search of his new room.
"So Evan and Jake." Isla said curiously.
Casey had forgotten this was the first time anyone else in the team had been exposed to the truth of Evan and Jake's relationship.
"I thought you and Evan were a thing for sure, before he told us he was gay obviously." Isla said, giggling.
Casey smirked, "Most people did, apparently."
"Never would have picked Jacob too." she said sadly.
"Seems unfair doesn't it?" Casey said with a cheeky grin.
"Very." Isla laughed, glancing at Heikki. He was still standing next to Casey, staring down at his glass quietly.
"I suppose you've seen them naked too." Isla blurted out with an evil grin.
Casey choked on her mouthful of water and had to look away.
"Jesus Isla..." she muttered, trying to hide her face and avoiding looking anywhere near Heikki. He'd surely realise they'd discussed him earlier in the conversation.
"Not voluntarily, I'd like to point out." Casey answered finally with a coy smile.