𝙖𝙡𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙚: 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙪𝙡𝙖 1

𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙖𝙧𝙞

"I think we did really well, our job is to push harder and going into the race, hopefully make something of our positions that we start in." Ana finished her final interview for the night, she knew that physically she was tired from qualifying but she was buzzing with excitement from her finish.

"P4" Charles came up to her, bringing her into a hug.

"P4? Charles that's amazing" she congratulated him.

"P6, Ana that's so good, so good" He told her that he had asked his engineer where she finished as soon as he got out of his car, and he was so incredibly proud of her.

The two were joined by Pierre who pulled Ana into a hug, it was the first that he'd seen her in what felt like forever, the two had always gotten along extremely well, ever since they were young.

"Fucking incredible job guys" he had one arm around around Anastasia, using her as an arm rest.

The three drivers were all sitting at the top half of the grid in fourth, fifth and sixth.

"You know how we should celebrate" Pierre said.

"How?" Ana asked, looking up at him.

"Your ideas are never good" Charles chimed in, crossing his arms and laughing about the time that Pierre had taken them all out and managed to end up in a male strip club, with all male strippers.

"Legend has it that Pierre meant to take us there" Charles laughed.

"Shut up I thought it was a women one, I didn't even know they had men ones" Pierre tried to defend himself.

"Sure" Charles nodded, earning a laugh from Anastasia.

"I was going to say let's go get ice cream, I saw this really nice place before I came here" He got the place up on his phone and showed them.

"Yeah I heard that's good" Ana replied, Natalia had given her a run down of the city before they arrived and had mentioned this popular ice cream parlour more than once.

"Do you need a ride?" Pierre offered Anastasia, to which she replied with "I drove here, but thank you"

"Didn't even offer me one" Charles shook his head.

"You aren't invited" Pierre pointed to him.

The three made their way over to their cars and had arranged to meet up at the dessert bar. Ana sat down in her Honda Accord and let herself relax in the seat, tonight had been one of the most overwhelming nights, but she managed to calm herself. She drove out the parking lot, and onto the open road. The song White Ferrari flowing throughout the car, the wind playing with her hair while she drove, feeling completely free. She neared the city, the time displayed on the screen in her car

11:30 PM

The dessert bar was open 24/7 to their convenience, making it extremely popular with club-goers. Ana pulled up in a side street, next to the dessert bar. Stepping outside, she wore her grey Red Bull jumper and matching sweats like how she did when she arrived to qualifying. Across the street, getting out of his car at the same time was Charles. He crossed the road, Ana waited for him.

"You know considering how quick you are on the race track, you drive like a grandma on the road" Charles laughed, he'd followed behind Ana and noticed her careful driving skills compared to the fast and erratic driving that could be assumed with a race car driver.

"Don't say that, my grandma actually drives a lot faster than I do" she laughed, pushing Charles on his arm.

The two walked into the dessert bar together, inside already ordering his ice cream was Pierre. He took two extra cones from the worker and turned to his two friends.

"Hey! perfect timing" he smiled, handing them the two cones. "Salted caramel" he pointed to the ice cream that Ana held in her hand.

"You remember?" She laughed, tasting the dessert that she had proclaimed as her favourite flavour since she was 6. "Vanilla" she pointed to Charles' ice cream and he nodded.

"So basic" she nodded her head in disappointment.

The three decided to sit in the outdoor area of the shop, and enjoy their ice cream under the fairy lights that twinkled above them.

"That was crazy, Sebastian is like last now" Pierre carried the same amount of surprise about Vettel's qualifying as everyone else.

"I don't really blame him though, it's a new car he just needs to get used to it" Ana explained.

"True, but you in the Red Bull..." Charles shook his head, "crazy"

"Max has some serious competition" Pierre added.

Ana knew the comparisons between her and Max were going to start somewhere, she'd read in an article that Max would be outshined by her, the rookie, as they put it. Everyone had their own opinion, but most rivalries in formula 1 start with teammates.

The three continued to talk about the night they had, and the following race day. Every time the race was brought up Ana felt like her heart had stopped, she avoided the thought but knew she'd eventually have to confront it, especially considering the fact that the race was a day away.

A change in conversation was forced when a group of three fans approached their table, two girls and a boy.

"Can we get a photo?" The first girl asked, her hands seemed to shake, making her phone almost fall on the pavement beneath them. Ana noticed this and took the phone from the girls hands.

"Of course, of course" Ana replied, taking the phone and getting them all in a photo. After Ana was satisfied with the photos and after carrying a short conversation with the three fans, they walked off, with smiles on their faces that made it look like they'd just won the lottery.

"I literally get more nervous than they do" Ana sat back down in her chair, taking a drink of water.

"Same!" Pierre exclaimed, adding several e's on the end of his word.

The night ended with a 'I'll see you tomorrow' and an abundance of hugs. Pierre walked back to his car which he'd parked on the opposite side street and Charles and Anastasia made their way back to their cars.

"If you can't sleep, call me" Charles opened Ana's car door after placing a kiss on her cheek.

She drove off once she saw Charles in his car, and made her way back to her hotel. It didn't take her long to get back to the hotel, she walked through the lobby and made her way up to her room. She was so tired that she struggled to keep her eyes open, and as soon as her head hit her pillow, she could feel the day drift away and the warm comfort of sleep embrace her.