My Best Mates Sister

2.

Rosie

This is it! We are on our way to Australia! We are currently walking through the airport to our gate "you excited Rose?" George asks me "I really am! My first race weekend as your race engineer!" He grins "my first F1 weekend! It's a really exciting time!" We are both buzzing as we reach the gate "passport and boarding pass" the attendant asks and we both hand our paperwork work over "have a nice flight" we walk through and follow the tunnel down. As it is a long haul flight we are in business class and I couldn't feel more out of place. I take my seat next to George and tuck my backpack under the seat so I can access my laptop during the flight. "Do you ever stop working?" George asks me "nope, I'm stuck on this flight for 17 hours so I might as well get myself as prepared for this weekend as possible" I explain "I couldn't imagine doing your job!" I laugh "and I would never want to do yours so it's good we've found our careers" we both crack up as a flight attendant comes to ask if we want a drink, I request an orange juice and George gets a water. I'm sure she is used to people having champagne but me and George don't drink. Perk of the job I suppose!

"Please watch a movie with me" George asks for the 15th time "let me just finish this paperwork and I will, we still have 8 hours to go" he rolls his eyes "you're no fun" I save my document and turn to George "what are we watching then?" He selects Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker and I give in "okay" I take one of his earphones and settle in watching the movie. I've actually really enjoyed watching this movie, we ate our dinner whilst watching as well which was quite difficult as the earphone cable kept getting caught. "Cabin Crew prepare for landing" we have a stop over in Singapore with an hour till our next flight departs. I'm not the biggest fan of travelling, I enjoy flying but I get quite anxious with arriving on time and this risk of missing my flight. George knows this so normally organises us to get to the airport and to our connecting flights. "Come on Rosie" he calls as he is practically sprinting away, somehow he is ridiculously tall yet I'm all of 5'1 and he doesn't let me forget. We make it to our gate and I see the information for our flight to Melbourne.

We finally land 9 hours later and we have been travelling for 17 hours already! I feel absolutely exhausted "I've got a hire car for the weekend, so it won't be long till we get to the hotel" George promises me as we step out of the doors of the airport. The heat hits me "bloody hell it's hot" George comments immediately stripping off his sweatshirt. It is WARM, I haven't been in a hot country in months, since Abu Dhabi at the end of last season. As much as I adore living in the UK the weather absolutely sucks. "Right this is the one" George unlocks a Mercedes before throwing my suitcase in the boot along with his own. As George is a Mercedes junior driver he gets a few more perks than other drivers. Me and George are quite close as siblings go and I've been looking forward to spending this season with him. I climb in the passenger seat and immediate pop my favourite playlist on "you always play this one" George complains but it's my absolute favourite "I'm just trying to make you less of a grandad" he rolls his eyes at me "let's just get going" he says pulling out and manoeuvring the car through the busy streets of Melbourne. In flyaway races we stay in hotels but for most of the European races we stay in motor homes next to the track, much more convenient.

"This is gorgeous" I say to myself as I enter my room, I know it won't be as nice as George's but it's still a very lovely room. My phone starts ringing and I see that Soph is calling me "Hey Soph" I answer "Hey Rosie, you at the hotel?" She quickly asks "I am, wanna get dinner?" I ask her and she squeals "absolutely! Meet you downstairs in 10?" I agree and hang up the phone. Me and Soph tend to spend most race weekends together, it's really great travelling the world with your best friends. I grab a pair of soft cotton shorts and a sweatshirt as I knew I would get colder later. I grab my phone and my room key and wander out of the door. I see that the lift is open and I dash into it accidentally knocking the person inside "I'm sorry" I say quickly as I look up to see Sebastian Vettel, act cool Rosie "not a problem, are you okay?" I nod my head "I am sorry, I'm late meeting my friend" he smiles "are you normally late?" I nod again "then why bother rushing?" He makes a fair point "good point! I'm Rosie by the way" he smiles "Sebastian but call me Seb, are you here for the racing?" I smile "in a work capacity" his eyebrows raise "which team?" I debate telling him as no one in the paddock knows I will be George's engineer just yet "Williams" he nods "media?" How stereotypical "engineering actually" he raises his brows impressed just as the door open in the lobby "nice to meet you" I say as I notice Soph waiving frantically in my direction. I walk over quickly "Was that?" I nod before she says anything else "oh my gosh! What was he like?" I shrug "funny but also presumptuous " she laughs "didn't he guess you were an engineer?" I shake my head "media" she understands my frustration, it's insanely difficult being a woman in my job and I take a lot of pride in the fact that I have got this far. "Where are we off too?" I ask to change the subject "thoughts we could head into Melbourne?" She questions "sure thing" I say wondering if my outfit is even appropriate but Soph is wearing something similar. My phone dings and I see I have a Snapchat from Lando? I open it