For Love and maybe Blood

~ > 3 < ~

~When you're smilin', when you're smilin'
 The whole world smiles with you~

"The Formula One world can breathe a sigh of relief. Elizabeth Ward, the girlfriend of George Russell, says she is doing well. She reported this on her Instagram account on Sunday afternoon from the hospital in Bristol. What exactly happened is not entirely known, but various sources say that she fell off her horse during a riding session and was seriously injured, and she confirmed that she needed surgery. Now the new Williams event manager is back on the track for the Austrian opener, as the Corona crisis in Australia prevented her from starting as usual. The 21-year-old has captured the hearts of many fans after she and George Russell - Formula 1 driver for Williams Racing and 2018 Formula 2 world champion - announced their relationship on Instagram. The open and personable young woman became a role model for some as she openly addressed many issues."

That was what they heard about me since we were now in Austria. It was Thursday and nothing stopped. I never thought I would be talked about like that, just because I was the girlfriend of a Formula 1 driver, but it was true. On the track itself, it was a bit quieter, because only a limited number of reporters were allowed and they couldn't go everywhere. Strict rules had been set by Corona, such as that we had to wear masks, the drivers were not allowed to take off their helmets unless they exchanged them for masks and the distance rules from reporters had to be respected. Besides, we were not allowed to have direct contact with the other teams, only with a safe distance and all that. I was happy to be back and not to be in the hospital anymore, but it was annoying that I couldn't do anything. It was boring. I sat in the hospitality and maybe made a coffee for the mechanics or George, looked over their shoulder and that was it. Boring. The doctor told me not to overload myself because I'm not 100% fit yet and too much stress wouldn't be good for me. 
But Claire promised me that I could listen to the team radio during the free practice tomorrow so that it wouldn't be completely boring for me.
"If your boyfriend is driving and you can't do much, why not," she said. At least that. But on second thought, I'd rather have that boredom than have to organise cancellations again. All of us were just happy that we could come to the race at all and that it was taking place, even though Corona is still a big issue in the world. But we all have to get tested regularly and hopefully, our strict requirements will work well so that nothing has to be cancelled. The only sad thing is that there are no spectators. There are limited spectators at some tracks, but that's understandable when we're in the middle of a global pandemic. This is not how I had imagined my first Formula 1 season.
"And how are you?" Ava asked, who sat down next to me in the hospitality.
"Well, I've got a bit of a headache and I'm making coffee instead of running around the track, but otherwise fine, and you?"
She gave a short laugh and readjusted her black Williams mask. "You don't like sports anyway," she said, confused. "I thought you didn't miss it."
"I do, but don't tell George, or he'll be even more motivated to do sport with me after I'm fit again," I said.
"Okay fine, but at least you're here and don't have to watch from the TV," she said.
"That's right," I agreed. "I'd rather make coffee for everyone here," I added, got up and went to the coffee machine, which has become my best friend. "Coffee?"
"No thanks, I'm typically British and drink tea," Ava laughed.
"George too," I said. "He only drinks coffee when he's really tired," I explained.
"Typically British".
"Oh yes, and I love Brits," I confessed with a laugh.
"Everyone knows that after all, we have the best accent!" Ava laughed.
"True," I agreed. "I love George's accent!"
We both giggled at this as George and Nicholas entered the room. "Hello ladies," Nicholas greeted us and I could tell he was grinning even though he had the mask on. But we knew Nicholas always liked to smile.
"Well, what are you laughing at?" George asked curiously, pulling his mask down for a second to kiss me on the head before pulling it back up. The gesture made me smile, so I wrapped my arm around George's waist to pull him against me while he put his arm around my shoulder to return the hug.
"We're talking about accents," Ava replied.
"Ah, we all know my Canadian accent is the best," Nicholas said, adjusting the towel that was draped around his shoulder.
"Are you serious?" asked George, raising his eyebrows. "British accent is best, you hear me talk every day, you should have noticed by now."
"Yeah right, you Brits are just showing off how hot your accent sounds," Nicholas interjected.
"It's the truth," I said.
Nicholas laughed out loud and adjusted his mask. "Yeah right, you're just saying that because your boyfriend here is bragging about his shirtless pictures on Instagram," George's teammate pointed out. "You should stop doing that, mate."
It was true, George had fun during Lockdown taking pictures for Instagram when he was training and mostly shirtless.
"Yeah right, you're just jealous because you can't post pictures like that!" George laughed. "You just eat too much Nutella!"
"Yo! Don't say nothing against Nutella!!!"
Ava and I started laughing out loud at this discussion and you could tell how pissed Nicholas was because George was teasing him about the Nutella.
The two of them continued to discuss for a while and Ava and I had fun watching the two of them do it until Claire came in and the two of them went quiet again.
"The only thing I heard from outside was one of you saying Nutella and the other shirtless pictures quite loudly," she said and Ava and I couldn't help laughing.
George and Nicholas immediately fell silent.
"They're both talking about what's worse: that Nicholas eats so much Nutella or that George posts so many shirtless pictures on Instagram."
"Both are bad," Claire replied and this time all four of us started laughing. "But even worse is when you two don't exercise and aren't fit enough tomorrow," Claire interjected. "Means you can't have Nutella today, Nicholas."
"Oh man," Nicholas pouted playfully.
George gave me another quick hug before he and Nicholas said goodbye and left the room again.
"Coffee?", I asked Claire.
"Oh come on Lilibeth, you're not our coffee girl," Claire laughed.
"At least temporarily.", I joked. "Besides, I have the opportunity to work as a waitress with my college degree."
"I know you're a superwoman, but to Williams, you're the event manager," Claire said. "By the way, we have a little meeting coming up. Do you feel ready to listen in and contribute? It'll only take 15 minutes and I'd hate to leave you out of it."
"Sure," I accepted her offer immediately, happy to get a bit of my job back. "I'll probably just listen in."

When I undid my ponytail in the evening, I screwed up my face because it started to hurt when I touched my wound. When my hair was loose, the wound was still easily visible, so I hid it because I didn't want anyone to see it. Tired, I sat down in front of the mirror and massaged my forehead when I got a headache again. It was a mistake to take part in the meeting, I immediately noticed how exhausting it was for me and my concentration quickly waned. The doctor was right when he said that I had to take it easy. But at least I only saw it myself and hoped that no one would notice how I was feeling.
Especially not George. If he saw that I wasn't feeling well he would be worried and I knew George well enough to know that it would distract him. And that's exactly what I wanted least of all when the season could start now. I shook my head and picked up my comb. I'm just going to shut up and not say anything to George. Even though I hated lying to him or keeping something from him, I knew it wasn't that bad because I wasn't cheating or anything. I'm doing this to not let him be distracted because we all know that Williams has to do a lot now to get back into Formula 1.
I combed my hair and listened to George's singing, which came from the bathroom because he was in the shower. He always sang in the shower and if I was honest he sang worse than me even though he claimed I was a terrible singer. But when I heard him singing "Criminal" by Britney Spears, I laughed because I only listened to that song with him when we were driving from the airport to the hotel - and he hated it.
Laughing, I shook my head and looked at my mobile phone, which started ringing. Uncle Adam.
I haven't heard from him since he said goodbye to me in the hospital. To be honest, I was unsure of how to react. On the one hand, I was glad that he got in touch with me because we at least talked a bit and we weren't in a complete argument, but on the other hand, I was still disappointed. Yes, I was stubborn, even though he apologised, I still wanted to hear the truth from him. But if I'm honest, I missed him too. Not only Uncle Adam per se, but also the Uncle Adam I could always laugh with. But those days were over, because of one place. And it was to this place that he had now returned. I exhaled deeply before taking the call and putting my mobile phone to my ear. "Yes?"
"Lilibeth?"
"Hi," I greeted him, leaning back in my chair, inwardly hoping that this call wouldn't end up like the one when we were in Australia. "I'm sorry I didn't get back to you, but I had some problems getting here."
Hearing the word problems come out of his mouth like that, I wasn't sure if it was okay the way he said it...
"No problem, I hope you had a good flight," I said instead of what I was thinking, not wanting to start the next argument. "Thank you I did," my uncle thanked me. "And how are things with you? Are you okay so far?"
"More or less," I replied, grabbing my head. "I have headaches from time to time."
"Could be worse, but I'm glad you're reasonably well. I read an article of yours, by the way... You're getting popular," he laughed. I rolled my eyes and couldn't help but laugh. I didn't think it was great that some media were happy to use my accident as an attraction, but it was typical of Uncle Adam to make a joke about it.
"And you're not working at the moment either?", Uncle Adam asked after a short silence.
"Yes," I answered. "But I'm allowed to be on the track and watch. That's all there is to it, I'm afraid, but at least I can do that. Today I was still at a short meeting and I think that was a mistake."
"You have to take it slow, that's important," he said. "Please take care of yourself and don't overdo it."
"I'm not overdoing it," I assured him. "The only thing I can call 'work' is distributing coffee among the mechanics."'
Uncle Adam laughed out. "All right, I trust you," he said. "Besides, I know George is looking out for you."
Smiling, I bit my lips as I thought about Uncle Adam and George spending some time together. This I had completely forgotten, but it was also a shame that I didn't see it. Come to think of it, though, I was the reason...
"And are you getting on well?", I asked curiously, not knowing exactly how things were with the two of them. I had to ask George about it because if Uncle Adam didn't like him, he couldn't stand him. But if he called George his future son-in-law, they must have understood each other.
"George is a good boy. He's very likeable and a good driver he is too," Uncle Adam said. "He's doing good for you. So as I've checked him out he seems a good one."
I smiled at his words and was glad they understood each other. Even though I wasn't there, I knew they certainly had a good chat.

A/N: Hey Guys! Sorry for the low updates!! But I'm very busy with college and I'm half dying here:/ 
So do not wonder if there aren't new chapters that often. And I really hope that you are not mad at me :) 
How is it in your country with Corona? Are in homeschooling? 

Stay safe guys!! I hope you are doing well!!

Sending love

Mac x