The Photographer

(5) The lunch (not a) date

Seb felt a bit guilty as he entered the Silverstone base that formed the headquarters of his F1 team. He hadn't needed to fly here from Switzerland, his original plan had been to drive to Imola, Italy, for the next race as flying so much seemed unnecessary when he could drive or travel by train and he was trying to keep his own personal carbon footprint down as much as he could. He already got shit from people who though he was a hypocrite because of what he did for a living when climate change was a big issue for him and he agreed with them - yes, driving fast cars and taking flights around the world did make him a hypocrite and it was something that was constantly chipping away at him more and more as time had passed.

Flying to the UK when it really hadn't been necessary would definitely look bad to those who criticised him and it didn't sit right with himself either but knowing that Iris would be here, working in the media offices and flying out with the team on Wednesday meant that he'd wanted to come here, bringing Antti and Britta with him under the premise of wanting to get some extra time in the simulator ahead of the weekend - even though he had a (scaled down) simulator at home.

"Morning Sebastian," he was cheerfully greeted by Jenny, the red haired receptionist, "didn't expect to see you today, does Mike know you're coming?"

"No, I'm only here to grab some extra time in the sim," he replied, picking up a pen and scribbling his name and signature down in the visitors book.

"Oh, you know Nico is here, don't you?"

His eyes darted up from the book to Jenny, he couldn't let on to her that he didn't know that Nico Hulkenberg would be here using the sim too so he thought quickly and made out that he knew, "yeah, I know, I'm keen to look at the new data from the upgrades and want to discuss it with him."

Behind him Britta frowned in confusion, Seb had never mentioned Nico being here, he'd just said he'd wanted to spend the day in the sim but if it was set up for Nico to use then he wouldn't get much time in it himself. It was a rare oversight, Seb was usually always so switched on and aware of this sort of thing.

He handed the pen to Britta, who'd got plenty to do in her own office and so wasn't bothered when Seb just wandered off and disappeared through a door.

"Hi Britta," she was greeted equally as cheerfully by Jenny, a forty-something year old woman who'd worked here for several years. It was also well known that she'd got a bit of a crush on Seb and she got mercilessly but good naturedly teased for it by her colleagues. "It's a nice surprise to see Seb today."

"It's a surprise for me too if I'm honest," Britta muttered as she signed herself in before remembering her manners, "and hello to you too Jenny, love the hair, have you had it cut?"

Jenny smiled and patted her, newly layered, bobbed hair, cut so it rested on top of her shoulders, "yes, last week thanks."

Not even bothering to check if Britta was behind him or not, Seb headed straight to the media offices. With every step he took he tried to think up an excuse for being there, to just walk in and not have a reason would seem weird to Iris and to the others working there too but also it would make it blatantly obvious that he was attracted to her. And with her being a married woman he had to tread carefully, he couldn't afford to be seen pursuing someone who was already spoken for.

It was that last thought that made him stop and question himself. He leant back against the wall, his shoulders sagged, hitting his forehead with his palm. What on earth was he doing?! What was he thinking?! He'd gone to the extra time and expense of getting a flight here, turning up here and was going to walk into her place of work to do what? Stare at her? Chat her up? Ask her out on a date? The harsh reality of it was that he shouldn't and couldn't do any of those things. What did he think would happen? That she'd forget she had a husband and act like she wasn't married? "You fucking idiot," he angrily told himself, "chasing after a married woman, she'd never look twice at me, not when she's already in love."