No Regrets, Only Memories

The First Hurdle

Maeve

Despite Daniel's best attempts at begging , pleading, and literally trying to prevent me from leaving our shared room, I had to leave on a flight Sunday night back to London from the race in France to get the absolute final approval for my project to start my build. I was already on a high from placing P2 in the race, my best race result to date, and Daniel had asked me to be his girlfriend just at the beginning of the week. The team was doing well and I was winding down on my final time in school. It honestly felt like the P2 podium was simply the icing on the cake of the incredible week I was having in the current context of my life. Daniel and I making the next step in our relationship official had been the highlight.

Daniel knew that too and begged me to go straight to Austria with him. He wanted "Us and Schnitzel time" as he called it. It made me laugh, but it wouldn't stop me from going to school and taking care of what I needed to. With all of the work I had put into this, a final approval meant that the end was near. He understood and respected that, promising me a night out when I made it back. Christian also wanted me to come see him when I landed in Austria. That didn't take an idiot to figure out. Christian needed to know about what I was going to do next year. The truth was that I hadn't made a decision with my project taking focus since being on the back burner for nearly a month. Everything I had been working on, long sleepless study night's fueled by whatever energy drink I had nearby (typically a red bull courtesy of shipments from Daniel), the years of burning my eyes staring at the screen's of the data centers to figure out what would be the best for the car, and even now as I suffer through a shit engine lead to this moment. There was no way I was going to mess it up by worrying about something that wouldn't matter if I can't finish this.

Monday morning walking into school was terrifying with the weight of that on my shoulders. What next season looked like for me had to be pushed to the back of my mind as I had to focus on my presentation today. I had borrowed one of the loaner cars from the factory on Christian's insistence. Public transport wouldn't be running at the early and late hours I would be coming and going from the school. Yet at 6am on Monday when I pulled into the parking lot for the engineering building, there were plenty of cars already in the lot that normally saw just a handful of dedicated students and professors this time of day. The two overnight security officers were ticketing multiple cars as well, meaning they either didn't have parking passes or didn't go to school here. The Aston Martin entering the parking lot had obviously gained their attention from the task they had been on. One of them made a move to meet me as I parked the dark blue vehicle in a spot at the back of the lot.

"Morning Miss, do you attend this University?" The security guard asked as he walked up to me once I was out of my car.

"Yes, I'm an engineering student. I had to borrow a car this morning and didn't have a chance to grab my parking decal." I explained as I locked the door to the Aston Martin. The guard examined the car, a bit perplexed as it seemed at the car itself. He still sighed, looking back at me with an exasperation I couldn't place.

"May I see your School ID and Government ID?" I had never been asked that before when on school grounds. Confused, I still dug through my Red Bull backpack to show him both as they were situated in my wallet with most of my things from this past week as I didn't have time to change bags. He still eyed me curiously as he took the IDs.

"Ah," He cleared his throat, standing up a bit straighter as he handed them back after the recognition of my name," Miss, I'll issue you a parking pass before you go for the day, but I suggest contacting your professor before going into the building." He handed me the IDs back before digging the paper parking passes out of his side bag.

"Uh, I don't think he would be awake at this time. I was just prepping for a presentation I was supposed to be doing today before he comes in." The man handed me the paper pass before sighing again.