Mon Chéri

11

ND68:

"Gate 12A is boarding for Baku." I heard over the speakers and both of us stood up. "That interview was very funny as well." He said returning to our conversation about the weekend. "Ah, I was done with everyone's shit at that point." I said laughing. "Kiss my country ass." He said and I laughed harder. His accent made the comment so much more funny than it needed to be. I got to the lady at the entrance and showed her my ticket. "Have a good flight." She said. I nodded and continued to walk down the tunnel. I stopped halfway to wait for Sebastian and he caught up quickly. "What's your seat number?" "4." "Hey mines 3." "Oh hell yeah."
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Halfway through the flight to Dubai Sebastian passed out. I stayed up listening to music and reading a book I never got to finish due to flying to Italy the day after I started it and spaced the fact I was reading. "Can I get you anything miss?" The flight attendant asked. "Sprite please." I said and she nodded. "Him?" She asked gesturing over to Seb. "Um, maybe a water." I guessed. She nodded and walked away. She came back moments later and gave me both drinks. I sat mine down on my table and Sebastian's water on his side of my table. Slowly I got tired as shit and I decided to put a mark in my book and take a nap. Before I did, I put a little note by Seb's water so he'd know it was for him.
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"We will be landing in Dubai in one hour ladies and gentlemen." The noise from the overhead woke me up so I slowly opened my eyes. I noticed Sebastian was awake so I sat up instead of being a lazy ass. "Thank you for the water, Dame." He said when he noticed I was awake. "No problem. You were asleep when she came by. I wasn't sure what you liked so I figured water was a good option." I replied. "Good option always." He said and I smiled. My nap turned into a whole-ass sleep. Six hours Jesus Christ. "This layover is gonna suck ass." I sighed. "It's only three hours I think we'll be okay." He said laughing a little.
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We landed in Dubai and made our way back through security and then over to the food court. "Im buying what do you want?" Sebastian said turning to me as we stood in line. "Oh no, I can pay for my own." I said trying to stop him. "I'll order for you myself and it'll be a guess. Order please Dame." He said. "Fine." I groaned. I ordered a chicken sandwich of some sort and a monster to survive the next two hours as it took us an hour to get to this point. "Thank you." I said. "You're welcome." He said and we sat down at a table in the little cafe type thing. A few minutes later his name was called and he went to get the food. I opened up my phone and saw a text from P asking if I made it to Dubai safe. I let her know I had made it and I had met another driver at the airport so I wasn't alone. Seb returned and place my food in front of me. "Thank you oh great one." I said and he chuckled. P texted back asking who it was. "My best friend wants to know who I'm with can I send her a picture of you?" I asked. "Of course. I refuse to piss off the best friends of women I'm around. They're crazy." He said and I laughed. He smiled and I snapped a picture to send to her. "What's this best friend's name?" He asked. "Penelope." I replied as I sent her the picture. "She's from the States like you?" He asked. "Originally yes. Currently no. She moved to Australia for school and her parents got her a nice house out there so I stayed with her for the race." I said. "That's very cool." He said. We ate in silence after that but it wasn't awkward. He had a very fatherly like vibe to him and I loved it. My father isn't the most supportive of my lifestyle. Neither of my parents are. So P is all I've got for support when it comes to racing.
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Hours later we finally arrived in Baku. Once we got through security and got our bags we went our separate ways. I got a cab over to my hotel and the trip was beautiful. This place was gorgeous. I got out of the cab then walked into the hotel and got my room. "Kijk eens wat de duivel me vandaag heeft geschonken." I turned around and saw it was Max. "Dood me, nu moet ik in hetzelfde hotel blijven als een Red Bull-coureur." I said rolling my eyes in fake annoyance. "Good to see you, Nova." He said smiling. "Good to see you too Maxie." I said and he chuckled. "How have you been? I haven't seen you since Abu Dhabi." "I'm alive dude. And yeah sorry. I've been working out a lot and I was in Australia till yesterday." "What's your room?" "379. You?" "373." I groaned and he chuckled. "Please tell me Charles isn't on the same floor." I begged of him. "He's a floor above. You're good." He said and I sighed in relief.
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Press day. Kill me fucking now. They were currently fixated on Logan so I wasn't having to be nice at the moment. "Okay moving from one American to another." Never mind. "Nova you were spotted in Australia with Pierre Gasly and people were quick to assume. Do you have anything to add to it?" "Pierre and I are friends. Nothing more and nothing less. I have no intention of dating any drivers or anyone at this point. Before you know it people will be saying I'm dating Max if I spend too much time with him." "Why do you think that is?" "Listen, I'm a lone female in a grid of nineteen other men. People are gonna think I'm screwing all of them because I am a female surrounded by men. Last I checked though, I can be friends with the people I race with, without fucking them. Next person please." Another reporter asked a few questions but they were all relevant as they were about racing and the difference between F1 and F2 cars racing them. "Last question, as the only American drivers are you two close?" He asked pointing between me and Logan. "Genuinely I don't think we've had a single conversation." I said looking over to him. "I don't think we have either. We hang around different groups and she's got a mean resting bitch face so when I do see her I'm shitting myself a little." We all laughed and I felt a little bad. "Dude I'm nice I swear." I said. "Don't listen to her it's a lie. She's the meanest person here." Max chimed in. "Stikken in een zak pikken Verstappen." He laughed and so did a few reporters. "I'm the nicest gal east of the Mississippi." I said and Logan laughed. "The fuck is the Mississippi?" I heard and it was Nyck. "It's a big ass river in the States, my man." I said and everyone laughed. "Moving on to Fernando..." I stopped listening and just slipped into my own world.