"You sure you want to share your room? I can book my own room if you want to. I know you like to have your own space when it comes to race weekends," Nora stammered when she and George entered George's hotel room. Her eyes scanned the room before looking back at George.
He looked at here, sharing a smile. "It's fine, stop worrying about me," he replied. "I will take a shower real quick."
She nodded and put her bag and suitcase on the ground. "Sure," she said. "Erm, can I borrow your phone to FaceTime my dad? I'm sorry for using your phone all the time, but my dad won't give me my own phone and the Nokia is useless in Australia."
"Yeah, sure," he said and gave her his phone. "No problem. Why won't he give you your phone? It's been a while since it all happened." George was curious to know what the reason was.
"I don't know. Kline and Damien agreed on one hour of tv, but preferably not a device or computer. And my dad refuses to give me back my phone because he only wants to give it back when Kline and Damien say I can use my phone again," Nora explained. "Overprotective," she said and pressed her lips into a pressed smile.
"Hmm-hmm," he hummed. "I get it."
"It is six o'clock here, so it is nine in the morning in England," she mumbled. "He should we awake by now."
George went for a shower, and Nora laid down on the bed, it felt amazing to lay down on a bed again. Today was an exciting day, and it wasn't over yet. She unlocked George's phone and called her dad over FaceTime. When she called him, she thought about how open George was. He trusted her with his phone. It's not like I have to hide things, and he probably doesn't have too, but a bit of privacy would be nice, and I think he thinks the same about it. Nora licked her lips and waited for the call to be connected.
When the call got connected, Hugo looked at his screen, just like Nora. It was silence between them, but the difference was that Hugo probably was in an angry silence and Nora in a typical silence.
"Where are you?" The words left Hugo's mouth like he saw something horrible to be angry about. Nora gasped for air, she was in trouble. "Nora Florence Clarke, answer my question."
And I'm screwed. Her jaw tightened, and she looked away, she instantly regretted calling her dad. She parted her lips and looked back at the screen again.
"A better question is: why are you in Melbourne without saying it to me?" Hugo was annoyed, but not stupid. Nora's eyes widened. "You're with George, you're calling with his phone. And George happens to be in Melbourne. Don't act like I'm stupid, Nora."
"Yeah, I'm just in Melbourne," she scarily said on a soft tone.
"'Just in Melbourne'. Young lady, have you any idea where that is? On the other side of the world. And how did you get there? With an aeroplane. And you remember what the deal was? Switzerland, you could fly to Switzerland, not bloody Australia." Her dad raised his voice. "We were worried, Nora."
Nora cleared her throat. "This may not be the most clever action-"
"I'm glad you see that yourself too."
She straightened her face and looked annoyed. She rolled over on her stomach. "And I know it is not in the neighbourhood, but I had to go, dad. And I'm fine, I really am."
Hugo sighed, annoyed. "Do you realise what you have done?" Nora stayed in silence. "Many things, Nora. And I'm not quite happy."
"I am nineteen years old, dad. I can perfectly take care of myself, I have flown alone before."
"I do not care whether you are nineteen years old or thirty-five years old, you are still recovering of an almost fatal crash."
Nora licked her lips. "Yes, and I would like you not to remind me of that, thank you."
"Apparently I have to," Hugo frustratedly said. He sighed. "I can't make you come back, but when you are home, Nora, we are gonna have a chat. I'm not going to start a scene because I don't have the energy for it, but I'm not happy with your action."
The water from the shower stopped running. "I know. I'm sorry for this, and I should have told you, but I...I don't know what I was thinking." Incoming texts were showing up at the top of the phone, it was mostly from his team. She got distracted by them but focussed soon back on the call. "I just wanted to see George."
"I better hope you got where you came for," he replied. "How even did you managed to book a ticket?" Now Hugo was curious, how did she do it?
"Don't get mad, but I asked Aubrey to do that. Since I still had a voucher on my name from Abu Dhabi, we used it for a discount. And I still had Airmiles, so it was a lot cheaper than it originally was."
He nodded, impressed. "And your flight back to England?"
"I don't know. I probably need to sell my kidney to buy a ticket," she casually said. Hugo smirked. "No, it will be fine. I believe I have some discount on some flights since I was a regular customer."
"Don't call me when you need money for a ticket or whatsoever."
"Yes, dad. I know," she sighed and rolled her eyes. "I have it all under control."
George exited the bathroom and heard Nora talking to her dad. Nora looked away, in George his direction. She instantly stopped talking; damn. George was wearing trousers, but no shirt, giving Nora a beautiful view. Her eyes were burning on his body, but as soon she noticed George caught her, she looked away.
"Hmm, sorry?" Nora mumbled to her dad. She bit on the inside of her lip to stop her face from smiling.
A smirk rolled over George's lips. He was about to check his phone, but then he realised Nora was using his phone. A frown captured his face when his name dropped in their conversation.
"George's here, yes. Of course, dad," Nora snorted and looked ununderstandable at her dad. She turned around and sat up on the bed. Her eyes found George's.
He got the hint. "Ow," he hummed and sat down next to Nora on the bed. Nora gave his phone back at him, and he faced Hugo. George pressed a smile on his face, "Good evening," he greeted.
"Good morning, George." Oh, right, the time difference. "I hope I don't bother you, and I certainly hope the muppet isn't as well." A cheeky smile spread out on Hugo's face.
"Thanks," Nora sarcastically mumbled.
George smiled widely. "No, you're both not," he said.
Hugo laughed. "That's good. Anyway, I don't know if the media caught Nora already, but it's the best for her to stay away from them - mainly because of her health. It's a lot to ask, but can you keep an eye on her? Keeping her away from the media?"
"Yes, of course. I already asked my team to make it possible; having someone on her side when I'm not around to prevent situations like that. Don't worry, I will take care of her."
Once again, you are sitting very close to me, and you're not wearing a shirt. Nora held in her breath, it was impossible to act normal. She could feel the heat rise to her cheeks.
"Why again, do I have to stay away from the media?" Nora asked. It was silence, George was waiting for Hugo to say something, but Hugo was waiting for George to say something. "You know what, I will stay away. But I have to do an interview one day. If Christian Horner asks how I'm doing, a lot of people have the same question. He was surprised to see me like I was raised from the dead."
"One person is fine, but if you have dozens of people who are doing this, you will get crazy," George replied.
"True," she nodded. "Anyway, I have discussed everything that was on my agenda," she amusingly said and ran her hand through her hair. "If something goes wrong, call Kline and you and go to the hospital. I will let you know when we will leave."
George grinned, Nora and her dad were like best friends, he liked their relationship. "And I will keep an eye on her," he added.
"And I want my phone when I get home."
Hugo laughed and nodded. "We will see. George, good luck this weekend. Nora, take care of yourself and have fun. Bye, guys."
"Cheers," the couple said at the same time and hung up.
A yawn left Nora's mouth. "Overprotective dad," she repeated. "I don't know, your team texted you all the time, maybe you should take a look at that."
He nodded. "Thanks," he said and had a quick look at the texts. "Aren't you tried? It's okay if you want to sleep for an hour, there's nothing I have to do now."
"I have lived on fake coffee all day, I'm fine. Only having some headache, but that's fine. And it's morning in England, so it should go alright. It's just impressive, I'm not used to the hectic anymore." A smile curved on her lips. "But thank you."
George put his phone on the nightstand. "You just told your dad you're fine. Headache doesn't sound 'fine' to me."
"If I said I had a headache, he would've sent me to the hospital. It's just a headache, loads of new stimuli. One painkiller and everything is fine," she reassured him. Her brown eyes found his blue eyes. "You remember that day at the cafe? After the fight?" It suddenly popped up in her head.
"Yes, why?"
"I was feeling like shit when I saw you, I somehow felt guilty of being there with Ben. Your face just spoke volumes," Nora muttered and sighed.
George was biting on his lip. "I had no idea you were there, it felt confronting to see you with him. It got even more worse when Celeste came to me because apparently she was there too, to ask me if he was your boyfriend."
Her eyebrows raised. "She what?" She looked away. "Bitch."
"And then she was like 'oh yes, it wasn't your fault, Nora was just arrogant and you shouldn't give her attention. She is an attention sucker and a complete arsehole'. Look, I was mad at you, but I couldn't accept that from Celeste."
"That woman is just looking for attention. Everything she says, is just shit. I saw her too, and she told me how sorry she was, how much she cried and whatever that bitch said. Celeste probably now has a story to tell to get the attention she wants and needs to live." She sighed. "But I was there with Ben because he saw that we had a fight and he wanted to give me space to talk, what I didn't do though."
He nodded and looked at her.
"I wish I had eyelashes like yours," she randomly said.
"What?" George chuckled confused, that came from nowhere.
"Your eyelashes, they're long and beautiful," she whispered and slowly leaned in, so did he. "Jealous af."
He smirked and came closer. "You are crazy," he said.
Nora was surprised to find her own lips parted, she was preparing for what may happen next. He kissed her, and the world fell away. It was slow and soft, comforting in ways that words could never be. She moved onto this lap, pushing him backwards, making them both lay on the bed. George's hand rested below her ear, his thumb caressing her cheek as their breaths mingled.
She was smiling, she felt happy. All she wanted was him. She broke the kiss apart. "This is better than a painkiller," she whispered and kissed him again. His lips felt delicate and warm.
Their lips moved together, it felt right. He pulled her closed, her body was moulding with his.
"Hmm," he moaned.
George rolled over, making him on top now. Nora didn't seem to get enough of him. Her warm hands were touching his body. A shiver rolled down his spine and goosebumps spread out over his body.