Fifth Light (Sebastian Vettel)

Chapter 15: Spain

The movie eventually ended and Casey pushed herself up, stretching her arms out.

"That was a long movie," she commented with a yawn. She wasn't tired as such, Seb was just so damn cozy.

"There were like 10 moments where I thought that was the end, but it kept going," he agreed with a bemused look on his face.

Casey leaned forward and picked up her phone from the tabletop. It was 9:45pm.

"Another?" Seb asked, sitting forward with her.

She chuckled and nodded, "On the condition that you have to choose this time."

He smirked, "If you insist. Though I don't really mind whatever we watch." This whole human contact thing was more than enough for him to want to keep this train chugging along.

She tossed him the remote and he cycled through the choices, eventually choosing "World War Z".

"Do you mind if we lay down?" he tried to ask as casually as possible.

"Of course not," she replied; her tone light, giving nothing at all away either.

She sat patiently on the edge of the couch as he propped up a pillow and lay on his back. Once he seemed settled, she boldly wedged herself in between him and the back of the couch, resting her head on his shoulder and an arm across his stomach. Was this okay?

It must have been, as without without further ado, he hit a button to start the movie. From that moment on, she spent approximately 90% of her mental energy focussing on the fact that some of her fingers were resting against the exposed skin at his hip. He was maddeningly warm and soft. Despite her initial anxiety, she was so comfortable that she surprised both of them by falling asleep somewhere during the second half.

At some point she twitched slightly and Seb turned his chin back towards her, "You okay?"

No reply.

He turned a little further and pressed his lips against her forehead before returning his attention to the movie. A small, smug smile slowly spread across his face.

---

Just after midnight, Casey bit her lip as she let herself into her apartment. She leaned her forehead against the door on the other side as it clicked shut. She could hear the Infiniti's engine outside fading into the distance. Seb's cologne hung on her clothes where she'd been pressed against him for the last several hours. For good measure, he'd given her one last lingering hug as they'd parted on her doorstep.

Well, that was it. It was way too fucking late now if she'd thought she had any hope of having a regular friendship with him. Even if he hadn't been giving her obvious signals that he wanted more, which he indisputably did, she knew she wouldn't be able to get him out of her head. Not anymore. She had no idea though what it would mean for her job. Was it even remotely allowable? Would it matter? What was Seb thinking about all this? 

He was flying to Switzerland tomorrow night for some time off at home. He had one last breakfast interview commitment tomorrow, so she wouldn't see him again until the next Grand Prix. She hoped the next week of work at the factory would go quickly and got ready for bed in a daze, still trying to process what had happened that day.

---

The next week and a half felt like the longest days of Casey's life, but finally the first day of the Spanish Grand Prix arrived. The team had all flown in very early that morning. She'd exchanged a few text messages with Seb during the break, though nothing more than friendly banter. She'd tried not to think too much about it or go into the overanalysis black hole too quickly.