Drive to Survive

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

The flashes blinded her as soon as the car door opened. Pierre stepped out first and held his hand out to assist her from the car. She took it gratefully but then made sure to walk next to Carlos as they approached the red carpet.

Already the noise was deafening and she considered spinning around and telling the taxi driver to take her straight back to the hotel.

"Little tip I've learned, Dee." Charles murmured quietly as he dropped back to walk next to her, "Visualise yourself somewhere else. Block them all out and just smile until its over."

"Thank you." She whispered.

Stood at the end of the red carpet was a man with a clipboard and he began to direct them. Apparently, this kind of thing had to be carefully orchestrated. Carlos was guided onto the carpet first and the shouting increased as each photographer fought for his attention, wanting the money shot where he looked straight down their camera.

She'd relentlessly teased her cousin the first time he'd had to pose for the media like this. It had been his first year in F1 and he'd looked like a deer caught in headlights in all his photos. Yet now he walked confidently, staring down the lenses of each camera. 

Charles was called up next. As he started to walk towards the carpet, he turned around and mouthed to Dylan, "Happy place!"

Once more, the flashes and shutter sounds went crazy as Charles navigated the red carpet, every bit as confident as Carlos had been. She knew he also felt much more at ease now than he had in his early days of F1. Charles had never seemed insecure in his looks and he cheerfully smiled at each of the photographers.

Dylan gulped as the man with the clipboard approached her, "Miss James, if you could just stand here."

She let herself be guided to the edge of the carpet as she desperately tried to think of what her happy place was. She definitely had one, so why had every single happy memory in her life suddenly vanished from her brain? 

"Miss James to mark one."

Someone gave her a gentle push and then she was stood on a tiny X on the carpet and the cameras were flashing right at her. It was blinding and loud and all she wanted to do was turn and run back home to the safety of her bed. But this was out of her control and in the heat of the moment, with no time left to overthink about her happy place, her thoughts went silent and all that came to mind was sitting in the tiny living room in Hasselt, watching movies on the last few nights there, and hearing Max laugh.

"Miss James to mark two."

Sophie had made huge bowls of popcorn and Dylan and Max had shared one, their hands brushing occasionally as they ate the salty and sweet mix. They'd shared the blanket again and Dylan had been pressed against Max's arm. He'd smiled at her that night and her face had burned.

"Miss James to mark three."

Brad had been teasing Max endlessly when they'd watched The Fast and The Furious one night. He kept saying that those actors could out-pace Max any day and Vin Diesel was coming to take his seat next season. Max had ended up throwing a cushion at his head and when Brad had returned fire with a poorly aimed remote that came flying towards Dylan, Max had reached his arms around her and caught it just in time. He'd lingered for a second and she'd been blessed with the knowledge of how good it felt to be in his arms, even if just for a moment.

"Thank you, Miss James."

Dylan blinked, stepping off the carpet and allowing herself to be back in the present. Charles and Carlos were waiting at the end for her and she smiled, heading over to join them. God knows what the photos would end up like, but she'd survived the process and that was all that mattered.