Snap Happy (A Daniel Ricciardo story)

8. Friends Will Be Friends

EMILY

As I left baggage reclaim I was attacked by a hyperactive blur of hairspray, ruffles, and Estee Lauder perfume.

"How was  it? How was he? Which one is he again?" This was my Mum somewhere in the vicinity of my left shoulder. 

"How many pictures did you take? Did you see any other drivers? Did you visit a casino?" This was Dad, squeezing me into a bear hug of his own, albeit in a slightly more masculine fashion.

I filled them in on everything (well, NEARLY everything). on the drive back to our sleepy rural village. It couldn't be further from Monaco I mused, and I wasn't talking about physical distance. I noted the quaint marketplace, the OAPs, the sea of green fields instead of cobalt ocean, and couldn't help but sigh a little. It was home, and it was always good to be home - home was safe and constant, but it wasn't living. For a few brief days I HAD lived, but it was just a tantalising glimpse of what could have been, and what I would be missing.

And who I would be missing...

'I'm home. Thanks for a special few days. x' 

This time I let him have the kiss. But just one. A text kiss says all sorts of things right? 'No hard feelings'. 'Fond memories'. 'Best wishes'.....

An actual kiss, even an almost-sorta kiss says a whole lot of other things.. Maybe he thought he was sparing me any uneccessary hurt with that little peck but he couldn't have been more wrong. My skin was on fire even now at the memory of his soft lips brushing my jaw, before settling on the spot just below my ear. I rubbed at it absently, half expecting to feel a scar, some kind of proof that it didn't all happen in my head, but of course there was nothing. 

There are some things that you just don't tell your parents about - fantasising about a celebrity like a lovestruck teenager was one of them. I lay on my bed and reached for my phone.

Luckily LJ picked up on the third ring, a rare occurrence. 

"Hey honey, you alright?" Her distinctive voice was an instant comfort, even from the other side of the country.

"Yeah I'm...good. You?"

"Everything's actually going really well at the mo, but it's unlike you to call without texting first. Spill it." 

"Am I that predictable?"

"Yup!" She knew me too well, which is probably why I was ringing her.

"So, I kinda met a guy in Monaco..."

"Was he fit?" She interrupted before I could explain.

"LJ!!!"

"Sorrrryyyyyy. But was he?"

"Yeah, you could say that" I grinned sheepishly and told her everything -  from the beginning when we first met, right up to the moment we said goodbye.

"So he kissed you?"

"Kinda, sorta, not exactly"

"Jeez woman, so what stopped you?"

"Well I guess he did. I mean he looked like he was going to, and then he turned it into a peck, I think he was worried about leading me on and decided to abort halfway through. I mean I'm not THAT naive - I know nothing was actually going to happen for real. Its not just the fact that he travels constantly, comes from the other side of the globe and is WAYYY out of my league. He's Daniel freakin Ricciardo and rightly or wrongly I really really wanted to kiss him..."