Eyes on the prize- Sebastian Vettel

28. Making up

Warning: NSFW!

Joey had just landed in Austin, her stomach hadn't stopped turning since Lewis had dropped her off at LAX airport earlier that day. 

She had ended up spending quite a lot of time with Lewis and his family, even moving her stuff out of the hotel and taking the room Nicholas was using, with the two brothers sharing Lewis' room.

Seb had offered to pick her up from the airport and Joey scanned the car park for his rental Alfa Romeo once she walked out. She spotted Seb leaning on the side of the car. His face lit up when he noticed Joey walking towards him. She was wearing a pair of light shorts and an oversized t-shirt, she looked tanned and the new hair style suited her perfectly. Seb thought she looked even prettier than he remembered. 

'Hey' she said, unsure on how to properly greet him. 

'Hey' he replied. 'Can I hug you?' 

'I am full of plane germs, but it's your call' she tried to joke. Seb leaned in to squeeze her against his chest. He had missed that feeling. He grabbed her luggage from her and put it in the back of his car and then opened the passenger door for her.

'Are you hungry? We can get some food'

'I am good, I ate on the plane, but if you're hungry…'

'No I can survive' he replied. 'Are you at the same hotel as me?' 

'Yeah, from what I gathered'

'Cool' Seb replied. Why did he feel like he had forgotten how to talk to her? 

'Seb' Joey started. 'Why does this feel weird?'

'I guess it's because we are both tiptoeing around the matter at hand.' He said, honestly. 'Afraid of saying the wrong thing, like I did in Japan. Would you like to come to my room and just talk our hearts out?'

'I think that's the best idea.' She replied.

Walking into Seb's room, Joey took a seat on the chair by the desk, whilst Seb sat on the edge of his bed.

'Before you say anything, I know you have no social media but I don't want the media to catch you out on this. Back in LA I accidentally bumped into Lewis, Nicholas and their dad and… well, easy to say the media jumped on it straight away, calling me all kinds of names up to and including "gold digger". Naturally, nobody knew about our little… break… but they still guessed and assumed. I stayed at Lewis' for some time, nothing happened of course, if you don't count me crying about you when I was drunk' she confessed. 

'I… already knew' Seb told her. 'And I might have got slightly jealous, but whatever Kimi says about it is a lie.' He tried to joke. 'But thank you for being honest, I think we need to speak honestly'

Joey nodded. 'I am good with that. I like honesty. Should I start?'

'Be my guest'

'You hurt me. You hurt me more than anyone had ever hurt me before.  You hurt me because you said the things I have been fighting against all my career. And it hurt racing me and racing me is a big part of who I am. But also, you know better than anyone else in my life how my relationships have been and… getting the word love thrown in my face after you're the first man I have said that to in about 10 years… that killed me. It really did.' Joey was trying to speak calmly, but her words were often interrupted by sobs.

Seb felt destroyed once more. Seeing the pain he had caused her was killing him.

'I know racing drivers, I am a racing driver. You always want to and need to keep your eyes on the prize, but don't burn bridges…'