Drive to Survive

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-One

Friday and Saturday were two massive steps back for Dylan. Neither Carlos or Max were speaking to her and she was feeling guilty about both in different ways. 

Her argument with Carlos had hit her hard. He was her family, and he'd done so much for her yet she was stuck with this feeling that she'd let him down somehow. After their argument at the party, Charles had taken him back to the hotel because he'd been adamantly demanding to speak to Max and was at risk of creating another media drama. 

Lando and Dylan had followed shortly after but by the time they'd got back, Carlos had disappeared to his room and she didn't have the chance to explain things to him.  

She'd tried to track her cousin down on Friday but he was in back-to-back meetings in between his Free Practice sessions. After Italy's double-DNF, the Ferrari drivers were basically on lockdown, drilling hours of practice and analysing every engineering aspect as race day approached. Even in the evenings, he was logging practice on the simulators or going over feedback from his team. Her text messages went unanswered.

So Dylan was stuck in her own garage and forced to face the fact that Max was mad at her as well. He hadn't gone back to his rude behaviour from before, but they'd lost that spark of progress and she endured silence from him as she miserably filmed his practice prep. 

All things considered, she couldn't really blame him. Thursday could have very well been a repeat of Italy's bar fight and there literally wouldn't have been a worse place, considering they were in a room of media personnel. She assumed that the whole thing had reminded him how he'd fallen out with so many of his friends and she took his grumpy silence as an indicator that it was her fault they were where they were.

Brad clearly wanted to ask what had happened but she was too caught up in her worry and sadness to speak to him, and she wallowed in the loneliness, turning down invites to dinners and spending hours in the hotel editing her footage and checking to see if Carlos had messaged her back.

When Sunday came around, Dylan was grateful for the end of the weekend. A new race would hopefully bring a fresh start, and the off-days would give her a chance to properly speak to Carlos. He needed to focus today; it wasn't the right time to track him down and make herself feel better. The Ferrari hard work on Friday had paid off and he and Charles were in P1 and P2 to start the race and she desperately hoped today would bring him a race win. She sent out her typical good luck messages to all of them, and said her internal prayers over his safety. 

The Red Bull garage, as usual, was packed with energy and enthusiasm, despite the unusual P3 and P4 start for the drivers. Dylan tried to let it infect her with optimism, but the weight of anxiety still sat heavy in her chest. Nevertheless, she put on her well-practiced smile and greeted all the engineers she knew, checking in to see how everyone was doing. Most of the time, a few would stop their activities and explain things to her. She absolutely adored when that happened; she had a ton of theoretical engineering knowledge but hearing about the work in practice from experienced people was invaluable. 

"Hey Tom, whatcha doing?" She asked, squatting down next to her friend.

"Good morning, Dyl! Fun night?"

"Eh." She shrugged, "Was okay."

He chuckled, "I feel like any weekend you're not splattered over the headlines should be a victory for you. Sure you still don't want to confess to dating anyone?"

"Still single, Tom." 

"That's what I like to hear." He winked.

"Oh, give me a break." She laughed, nudging him playfully, "Now tell me what you're doing."