Snap Happy (A Daniel Ricciardo story)

15. Makeup

Note: The Christmas chaos is finally over so I've had time to write again - HURRAH! In case anyone is confused this part doesn't start exactly where the last one left off - we start with the last part of the previous chapter but this time from Dan's viewpoint, and then catch up with where we left it. Make sense? Hope so! Thanks again for reading (I stil can't believe people are!). E x 

DAN

I stood for a moment, unsure whether to stay where I was in the hope that she'd find her way back to me, to try and follow her, or to retreat to the edge of the dancefloor. To my left, Matt now had his arms round a pair of giggling brunettes, and in front of me...

 "Shit!"

I swore under my breath and ducked down as a large golden cleavage came into view, followed some way behind by an even larger mane of golden hair. From ground level where I was pretending to re-tie my (slip-on) shoes, I watched as her eyes scanned the place where my head had been, roaming from left to right across the crowd. Finally she spotted someone on the other side of the room and headed away from me, to some other unsuspecting target no doubt I thought to myself , sighing with relief and getting warily to my feet. The woman was an absolute predator, and she didn't take no for an answer. I'd managed to politely decline her oh-so-subtle offer of breakfast in bed back in Canada, but not before she'd had every limb locked round me and her tongue down my throat. 

My face burned with shame at the memory. She was definitely not shy, and definitely not my usual type, but she WAS attractive, albeit in a brassy, in-your-face sort of a way. Big blue eyes, great body -  a few drinks later and I was starting to forget the reason I was moping about in a bar on my own in the first place.

That's when she pounced.

"Mate - accept some friendly advice and stay away from that one if I was you - take it from a man who knows"

The warning had come from a tall, powerful man in an anonymous black t-shirt. He looked vaguely familiar but as we stood together at the bar, my alcohol-blurred mind couldn't place him.

"What do you mean?"

"She's nothing but the paddock simulator" he laughed at my confused expression "y'know - got all the right buttons, makes all the right noises, but not nearly as satisfying as the real thing PLUS you can be sure you're not the only one who's had a ride"

I made my excuses after that, and had been avoiding her ever since, not an easy thing to do when she had a hand in every social event of the F1 calendar. 

 "Dan....DAN!"

Jenson waved his hands in front of my eyes. 

"Your girlfriend's outside - says she's leaving and needs the key"

"Wait, what? Why?" I ignored the word 'girlfriend' but I couldn't ignore the rest of it.

"She didn't say, but if I saw what I THINK I saw then I think she's been Tara'd."

"SHIT!"

"Oh God please tell me you're not another notch on her bedpost?"

"Not quite" I rubbed the back of my neck in embarrassment "too close for comfort though" 

 "Lucky escape from what I've heard....now go!"

I went.

EMILY

"Em, what are you doing out here" I tried not to melt as the Aussie tones caressed my mind, and silently cursed the handsome British bastard who had given me away.