When it Rains | Daniel Ricciardo

Chapter 4 - First Race Weekend

Fast forward one week. Jamie left on Sunday, but before he did I caught him and Erin, that blonde headed bimbo in reception, sneaking a kiss when I was leaving the office one day. I sprinted away from that situation so quickly trying to mentally scrape my eyes out. Gross.

It's the Tuesday before Melbourne. We're at Heathrow Airport awaiting our flight to Australia. Daniel had flown back home last weekend to see some more of his family before the race and Nico was already on a jet from Monaco. So by 'we', I meant myself, the techies and engineers. At least I had Mike as company. We had decided to be travel buddies and made sure our seats were booked next to one another.

"I didn't know the models were joining us," Mike says as I join the rest of the crew.

This morning before Ryan had left for work we had a long talk about us and working things out when I got back home. He is going to plan something nice for the two of us like he used to before all this staying out late and getting drunk shit got in the way. He kissed me sweetly and promised I could call him at whatever time and he'd be available.

I packed lightly, with one or two evening outfits for the team dinner and anything else that might pop up during the weekend along with two Renault Branded shirts and a black pencil skirt to go with them. As much as I am excited to be 'seeing the world', I hate flights. You get so uncomfortable and sweaty and ew. So today I just put on a blue adidas tracksuit, white sneakers and a matching blue cap.

"I don't know what youre talking about" I say in reply to his compliment, "I'm dressed for comfort, not style" I continue as I hug him and greet the rest of the guys I've met from his department.

Mike slowly steps towards me and then takes the open seat next to me " You don't take compliments very well, do you?"

Embarrassed I look ahead to see an elderly couple being greeted by a younger couple and two kids, must be their family I think to myself. Mike is staring at me, from the corner of my eye I can see him fiddling with the hem of his team branded jacket.

"We'll change that, miss Alexia. Don't you worry" he says matter of factly. I look down at my nails, remind myself to do something about their uneven state later and dig out a smile. "My friends call me Lexi" I say, my smile turning out to be more genuine than I initially thought.

We watched some ridiculous Adam Sandler movies, spoke about his latest escapades with the ladies and I tried to get some sleep for the rest of the flight.

21 hrs and 40 mins later I woke up to Mike sticking the end of a toothbrush in my ear. Stupid boys, too bad I'm one of them at heart. I reached over the armrest and went to punch him in the nuts, not hard, but with enough force to let him know I'm not to be messed with. His face was priceless!

The hotel is massive and full of life. Two entire F1 teams and all their guests are staying here for the duration of the weekend. It's already Wednesday night and even though I pretty much slept for a full 10 hrs, I am knackered and I desperately need to shower and do my nails. Okay maybe I'm not that tired, I still have some work to do before press day tomorrow.

"Woah! Slow down there Speedy Gonzales, where you off to in such a mission?"

"Daniel, Hey. Sorry." I realised that the minute I got out of the elevator I started storming through the passages like a soldier on a mission. No prisoners - god I have to stop watching Shooter on Netflix. Back to the situation at hand. Daniel. He's laughing. I smile back at the goof.

"No need to apologize, you were just rambling off about doing your nails and work while taking down anything in your path, I thought I'd see if there was anything thing I could help you with." He's leaning against my room's door and I can't help but notice the way his baseball shirt hugs the tops of his deeply tanned biceps. I'm lost following the line of his arm up to the collar of his shirt, up to his neck. His Adam's apple bobs up and down as he gulps and I catch myself mirroring this actions. He clears his throat and I snap out of it. Shit, how long was I staring? He must think I'm an absolute freak just standing there not saying anything.

"Sorry Dan, I'm. I don't know where my head and my feet begin. It was a long flight and I have a lot to do before tomorrow", praying he didn't notice the way I was openly gawking at him. What's wrong with me I have a boyfriend.

"Stop apologising, Lex" he pries my hands, that are now covering my eyes, away from my face and I'm immediately wide awake. Now is not the time to be touching me, Daniel, if he knew what I was just thinking about. Unable to look at him, I start searching my sweat pants for my keycard. Found it.

"Are you sure everything is okay?" He steps aside, knowing from experience not to stand in my way from the night we met. I smile at his concern, why does such a stupid sentence give me butterflies?

"I'm fine Dan, thanks for your concern. How's your time back home been?" Opening the door and motioning for him to step inside. He complies and walks over to the small counter in the far corner of the room where the kitchenette is situated.

"It's been great, got to spend some time with my folks for a couple of days, catch up with some school friends. They'll all be here this weekend. It's always so stressful at a home race. Not to mention it's the start of the season at a brand new team. At Least it's a lot quieter than Redbull was, they constantly had me in the eye of the public." He's making what looks to be two cups of coffee, and I couldn't be more thankful for this man in front of me.

"Well that's understandable, you were in a seriously competitive team and you are kind of a big deal in Australia Mr. also don't get too comfortable, the reason I'm even in this country is because Renault want us to be more active on social media - so you'll still be in the eye of the public, but I'll try to take it easy on you. I know its a stressful time for you." I look over my shoulder at him to see him adding the milk that the hotel supplied in the mini fridge.

I'm trying to unpack my suitcase a quick as possible so that when I wake up tomorrow I'm fully moved in and don't have to run around looking for everything. "Hold that thought Ricciardo, I'll be right back", I head off to the ensuite with my makeup and toiletry bag spreading out my essentials.

When I return he is standing in front of my now empty suitcase. "What?" I ask wondering what he could possibly be confused about.

"Did you really just get all of that unpacked in the time it took me to make these? He asks holding up the coffee he just made in each hand.

"Yes?" I said as more of a question than a statement. "I like to be settled when I wake up in foreign places.

"I need to bring you with me from now on, I live out of my suitcases over race weekends."

"There's no excuse for that, you just need to suck it up and do it."

"Yeah, I guess so. Here." he walks towards me and hands me the mug of coffee he made.

"Thank you, you're a godsend!"

"You are very welcome ma'am"

"Don't start Ricciardo"