The next morning, Aiden made breakfast for all of us and insisted on giving me a ride back on as he dropped his daughter to school. Max had already went back early in the morning while I was still asleep. I tried to back out of it but Abigail's pleas and those soft blue eyes melted me into giving in.
When we dropped Abigail off, she pulled at my hand and whispered, "Are you a friend of my dad?"
I pulled back a little to see her face. "I guess, I am." I tried to say with a smile, not knowing how to explain her the concept of a colleague especially after I stayed the night at their place.
"Will you be my friend too then?" Her eyes were full of hope and innocence.
"Best of friends!" I beamed at her as she joyfully ran towards her school, after giving me a peck on my cheek. Father like daughter!
We rode in silence after giving Aiden my address. I felt sorry for Abigail, she was such a sweetheart and yet I could feel that she was lonely at times. especially, when he'd be out of town. Aiden was doing an exceptional job with her- being her friend, her mentor, and her father. But he did travel a lot!
Soon, we pulled up by my apartment and Aiden slipped out and reached across to open the door for me.
"So, chivalry is not dead, huh?" I couldn't help but smile at this small gesture.
He just smiled but said nothing in return. Instead, he took my hand in his and pushed me, by my waist, to the car closing the door in the process. My eyes widened at his sudden movement. I was pressed between the car and his body; his chest was almost touching mine. His fresh musky scent was edge-cutting sharp and strong.
He let my hand fall on his chest as he leaned down. That moment my heart was running as fast as if to get way from the cheetah that chased it. I felt my free hand tightly clutch onto the edge of his coat as his slightly chapped lips traced my jawline. My body tensed up in anticipation of what was coming next but he gracefully stepped back.
"Breathe Diana." He demanded in a low husky voice.
I slightly shook my head in embarrassment and stepped aside to see a shocked Sam holding grocery bags. She gulped back and walked towards us.
"What is happening here?" She snarled at Aiden.
"Who are you?" He replied coldly.
"Um.. Sam? He's Aiden, the chief architect.. of-of the project. And Aiden, this is Sam, my friend." I said, still trying to comprehend what just happened moments ago.
"I was just dropping Miss Joseph." He stated.
"Well, it didn't look like that from where I was standing!" Sam retorted quickly.
"My apologies for you had to see that."
"Yeah, chewing off your co-worker's face in public doesn't really help the by-standers!" Same said crossly.
"Umm.. Okay! Thank you for the ride Aiden." I said grabbing Sam's arm before she could shoot the poor guy. "Goodbye!"
"Farewell ladies."
"Who the fuck says farewell in this century?" Sam whispered loud enough for Aiden to hear. I shot her a glance and quickly tugged her into the building.
As we stepped into the apartment, we both said at the same time, "What the hell was that?"
Sam went into the kitchen to place the bags and turned towards me, "What are you doing, young lady? What happened to that racer boy?"
"I'm not doing anything and nothing's happening. I would like to get some rest now; I barely slept last night?" I said walking towards my room.
"YOU HAD SEX WITH HIM?!" She yelled in surprise.
"No! It was.. Arrgh! Let me rest for a while and I'll tell you everything later." I closed the door behind me.
I heard Sam banging on my door, "Open it this instant. I want to know everything. NOW!"
"Later Sam."
I won't stop banging the door until you come out." She continued banging.
"Well, good luck then!"
I changed into some more comfortable and dived on my bed. But Sam still hadn't stopped banging. If anything, the noise was getting louder and louder. I groaned and opened the door.
"He is hot as fuck, but I didn't know you'd sleep with him. I mean you barely know him and then there's Sebastian.." She smirked.
"I didn't sleep with him-"
She interrupted, "Shush! Go sit back, I'll grab the doritos and then you can continue."
"Yes, your majesty!" I exhaled.
I spent the next hour reciting everything, from Sweden to last night, but she consistently interrupted me with her stupid-annoying-redundant comments.
"I don't know how you're going to be working around him. I mean that guy seems so.. There's clearly some sexual tension between you guys."
"Thanks! That's what I wanted to hear." I pressed my lips into a line.
"It is what it is!" Sam shrugged off and let me sleep in peace. -ish!
********
The following Saturday was rather free. Even Sam was lingering about the place not knowing what to do with the free time at hand. I told her that we could go for a trek but she had already single-handedly decided to call this Saturday night a club night, and hence, 'the invitations to our fellow freaks were sent out'.
"Hey, did you watch the race last weekend? Spain was it?" A curious Sam asked.
"I forgot to 'eat' and you're asking me if I had the time to watch the race!" I answered.
"Geez! Why so worked up? I just wanted to watch it too."
"Whaaat? Sam wants to watch 'stupid noisy cars running around'?" I raised an eyebrow as Sam threw a cushion at me.
"What have you done you my Sam? Where is she?" I dramatically asked her, shaking her shoulders.
"Oh stop it you!" She waved me off.
"No, seriously, what's gotten into you? Why do you want to watch the race all of a sudden?"
"I just wanted to see what's so great about these races. And also, your boy." I raised my eyebrow again.
"What?"
"Nothing!"
"Just shut up and start it damn thing!"
"I didn't even say anything!"
It took time for Sam to adjust to the race-the rules, the sounds.. basically everything. But the expression on her face said that she maybe liked it a bit. But every time I would get excited or comment on the race, she'd just roll her eyes and smack my hand in reprimand.
Well, after a rough qualifying and the gearbox penalty, the race started off on a little sad note, however, the overtaking done by Seb were exceptional. Yeah, the strategy helped a lot too! So, starting from 15th, after a gearbox-change grid penalty, Seb came home to a 4th, behind his teammate Daniel, who scored his first ever podium after being stripped of the second place in the Australia season-opener. All-in-all, it was a pretty entertaining race.
As the drivers made their way to the podium, my phone rang. I groaned after checking the ID. It was the same person who I've been dying to talk to for the past one week; the same person who had been ignoring my calls.
Out of my good will, I attended the call. "What do you want?" I grumbled.
I heard him chuckle on the other end, "I'm great, how are you, Dia?" He sounded so tired and weak.
"What is it, Sebastian?"
'Be nice', Sam mouthed.
"I just wanted to talk to you!'
"So, you've finally realised that I exist? What gave it away, Mr. Vettel? The uncountable missed calls on your cell phone."
"Yeah, that helped a lot. Hey, I'm sorry, I-"
"Whatever, sir. I'm busy!" With that I hung up the phone. And subsequently earned a blow to my head from Sam.
"What the hell, freak?" I shot her a piss-off look.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you overreacting!"
"I'm not overreacting. I'm just pissed!"
"Just let him reason it out at least."
"Shoo, young lady!" My phone started ringing again. Seb.
Sam handed me the phone, "Talk to him, properly. Like a good girl!"
"I assure you , miss, I'm far from being a good girl."
Sam gripped my hand tightly. "Talk to him!"
I groaned and answered his call.
"Go ahead, I'm listening." I said in a tired voice.
"I'm sorry, Dia. I had-Something came up and I was just... I was too occupied."
"Well, you should've at least texted me once. What if I had something important to talk to you about? What i-"
"What happened?"
"Nothing happened!" I wriggled my hand out of Sam's grasp and headed towards my room. "I just wanted to talk to you."
I laughed lightly. "Did you miss me?"
"No. And even if I did, I think I won't be lying when I say that I won't now!" I spatted annoyingly.
"Hey! I said I'm sorry, I really am!" I could feel in honesty in his voice. "Something happened here and.. It just took all my time. I just- It was so wrong of me, I should've messaged you at least."
"Yes, you should've!" As much as I wanted to know what had kept him so occupied this past week, I was certain that he didn't wanted to share.
"So, am I forgiven?" He asked softly.
"I'll have to think about it!" He chuckled again.
There was silence thereafter. Either of us were contemplating what to say.
"I just saw last week's race."
"Now? Why so late?"
"I had to go to Sweden, remember? We had to meet the architect and get the work started. It was so crazy there. It was like work 24x7"
"Oooh! So, how's the architect?"
"Umm.. He's good. He-he's really professional." I stumbled on the words as the memories of the times when he was exceptionally close to me came flooding into my mind. "Umm.. Anyway, what's up with you?"
We spent the entire evening catching up until Sam snatched the phone and mumbled good-bye before pushing me off the bed and in front of the closet.
********
The next 2 days went by normally. Seb and I were back to an hour long phone calls. And I hadn't met or heard anything from Aiden except from Monday, when he wanted me to join him and Abigail for dinner on the coming Saturday. I didn't wanted to go but he played the 'Abigail' card just too well; so, I had to agree for her sake.
On Tuesday night, when I came back from work a mail was waiting for me at the table. And beside it, an extremely cheerful Sam, so cheerful that it scared me.
Without a word, I looked at it. It was an international mail and my address was written in a rather pretty handwriting. The envelope was already opened. Sam!
I narrowed my eyes at her.
"What? I was curious!" She shrugged innocently.
"Well, curiosity kills the cat, remember?"
"Not this time, love!" I eyed her again. "Oh just check it, will you?"
My eyes widened in horror and I gasped in surprise. I almost forgot how to breath when I saw VIP passes for the Monaco race, this weekend. This Can't be happening!
"There's a letter too. Read that!"
I hurriedly opened the letter to see words scribbled over into 3 lines.
Dia,
I can't express how remorseful I am for not being there for you the past week. So, I'm sending you the passes as an apology and as a peace offering. Please, come with me to this race. I know you wanted Monaco to be your first live race, so I'm offering you the best seats to experience it from!
Love,
Bubbles.
This can't be happening! This can't be happening! THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING!!
"So?" Sam enquired. "Isn't it O-M-G-THIS-IS-HAPPENING?"
I jumped to her and hugged her tightly, "This is so crazy, Sam! I'm so freaking out!"
"I know. Your hands are shaking!" I beamed like a child. "I guess you should call you lover-boy!"
She went into the kitchen leaving me alone to contain my energy and call the man responsible for all this.
He picked up in one ring, as if he had been waiting for my call all along.
"Hello!"
"Oh my god, Seb! You sent- Oh god!" He laughed at my wordless-ness.
"I gather you got the pass?"
"Yes!" I almost shouted. "This is crazy Sebastian!"
"You'll love it, I promise!"
"I have no doubt. But you didn't have to do this. I mean I-"
"Oh come on, I wanted to do this! The apology was just an excuse, I really want you here, with me, standing a the back of the garage, watching me race."
"Holy fudge, Seb!"
He laughed again. "So, I'll see you on Thursday?"
Oh oh!
"Umm.. I can't- I can't come on Thursday." I immediately added, "How about I come on Saturday? right on time for the quali?"
"I wish you'd come on Thursday.. But Saturday it is! I'll tell Britta to look take care of the hotel arrangements."
"No, Seb, I can do that myself too. You don't need to trouble her for something that menial."
"I know you can do it, but I want to do this for my friend, okay? Now, just fly here on Saturday!"
"But- Do you do that for all your friends?"
"Only for the most precious ones!"