Fifth Light (Sebastian Vettel)

Chapter 35: Ghost

Casey sat at a desk in the bedroom of the hotel room, gingerly applying concealer to her cheek to try and mask the horrible bruise growing there. It was still there even after all her efforts, but now it just looked a bit darker than the rest of her skin, which was at least an improvement on looking like she'd just been whacked over the head with a shovel.

A few extra people had been invited up to the room now and they were all due to start arriving any minute. There was herself, Seb, Jake, Evan, Kimi, Minttu, Heikki, Isla, Seb's lead technician Nathan and three of Kimi's external friends who'd been in town to watch the GP. Casey had already met them from the boat in Monaco, their names were Olli, Vilho & Sofia.

She sighed, giving up on her face, and wandered out into the lounge room. From there she stepped out on to the balcony, finding Seb leaning against the railing.

He smiled over his shoulder as she approached him. He glanced down at her clothing, she was wearing the black crochet dress she'd been wearing at the club in Spain. Later that night had been the first time he'd mustered up the courage to tell her he loved her, now a whole six weeks ago. They'd pretty much been inseparable since.

"What do you think?" she said, tilting her head to show him the side of her face.

"Nearly perfect." he teased.

"I'd like to see you do a better job!" she exclaimed.

Seb pushed himself off the railing and pulled her into his chest contentedly. Casey sighed and kissed the bare skin at the base of his neck. Both of them looked back into the apartment as someone knocked on the door loudly.

---

"Hey!" Casey said, opening the door wide and stepping back.

"Hi!" Minttu said sheepishly as she came through the door first. She was quickly followed by Kimi, Olli, Sofia and Vilho.

Everyone made their way outside and Seb hooked up the speakers to play music off Kimi's phone. Britta had arranged for catering to arrive in about half an hours time. Casey couldn't wait, she was dying of starvation, having not eaten since earlier that morning.

Jake, Heikki, Nathan, Isla and Evan all arrived together about 10 minutes later.

Casey watched from the doorway as Evan was introduced to Kimi. He did well to play it cool but Casey could tell there was some serious fanboying going on internally. The spacious balcony had been fitted with a fire pit and various 1 and 2 seater chairs in a circle around it.

Evan stood up to head back indoors, catching sight of Casey leaning in the doorway watching him. His face broke into a grin as he walked towards her and picked her up around the waist, carrying her back inside with him.

Casey struggled against him, "Stop, I'll explode!" she gasped through laughter.

"Oh my god, that was awesome." Evan said, finally dropping her down to the ground in the kitchen area.

"He's different in private huh?" Casey said, referring to Kimi.

"He's like a normal person!"

"I know!" she replied, chuckling at Evan's enthusiasm.

"But whose bright idea was it to invite Heikki here? Now I really can't drink." he said, pulling a face.

"I have no idea, but you did lose a spectacular amount of blood. It's probably for the best." she grinned slyly at him, leaning forward across the expansive island bench as he took a seat on the opposite side. They both looked up as Jacob slid through the door.

"Party in the kitchen huh?" he said, smirking at them.

Jacob sauntered over, stopping next to Casey and pulling her into a side-hug. Casey rested her head on his shoulder comfortably.