Drive to Survive

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

The Netflix budget was clearly bigger than Dylan had expected because her hotel room was beautiful. She had a large double bedroom with floor-to-ceiling windows covered with heavy, cream drapes. The light that came in throughout the evening was absolutely beautiful and she spent a long time trying to get the perfect photo of it, but to no avail.

There was a big, comfy sofa that swallowed her when she collapsed into it and a desk and chair, which was good because she had a lot of work to do before the season officially began.

She'd used the first few days to adjust to the time change as well as prepare her material and review her job role. The managers at Netflix had explained that she was expected to shadow Max like a friend, getting behind the scenes content for Drive to Survive, as well as content for the Red Bull social media platforms. She was meant to integrate into the team as if she was a paid member of Red Bull, rather than an awkward outsider from Netflix.

Dylan couldn't imagine a downside, it was the perfect combination of her love for F1, cars, and social media. She'd begun building her platform at age fifteen and although it could never compare to Max's 9.2 million Instagram followers, her 214k was one of her proudest achievements. Not to mention, she'd got into the flow of TikTok recently so she was looking to build on her rapidly growing following there as well.

Already, she'd been snapping some pics of her travels and new surroundings in Bahrain to share online.

Carlos and the rest of her family were due to arrive at the hotel any minute and she was collecting the last of her belongings around the room as they were going straight to a dinner for the drivers and their families.

Dylan had opted for a simple floor-length green dress, paired with cream heels and some emerald earrings, a present from her father upon her acceptance to Oxford University. She put some hairpins, a tube of lipstick, and her phone into her clutch bag before locking up the room and heading down the stairs.

It had certainly been an unusual few days as she had been alone for the most part. Of course, there had been a few meetings with her various bosses as well as a couple online workshops from Netflix regarding the correct conduct to be maintained and some introductory information about Formula One. She hadn't needed it, but not everyone working the content creator roles had been raised in the sport like she had.

So yes, she was definitely looking forward to some company before she went insane watching New Girl for the fifteenth time.

Dylan caught sight of her family as soon as she entered the hotel reception. They weren't hard to miss as a famously good-looking - and very loud - group. Five dark heads were stood around a pile of bags in what sounded like a heated discussion.

"Am I interrupting?" Dylan laughed as she approached the group, tapping Carlos on the shoulder.

He spun around, grinning as he caught sight of his cousin, "Dylan!"

She barely had time to breathe before he tackled her into a hug. The commotion caused the rest of the family to look up, distracted from their argument.

"Dylan, ¡cariño!"

"Hi, tía." She smiled, reaching past Carlos to hug her auntie.

Reyes' hugs were known for their lethality and Dylan silently begged her uncle for help as she saw him over her auntie's shoulder.

"You look lovely, cariño." Her uncle chuckled, refusing to free her from the death grip.

Luckily, Dylan could always count on Ana, "Ay, ma, you're going to suffocate the poor girl. Let me have my turn!"