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“Annnddddd…?” Chris looked at me with exasperation in his eyes. I knew he was dying to learn more about this new, mysterious boyfriend that had been thrust upon me.
“I learned he likes the color purple,” I responded simply.
“Good thing I put you in that purple dress then,” Lizzie said, shaking her shoulders with unhinged giddiness. With that, she, Lily, and Chris burst out laughing.
“He must have thought he had died and gone to heaven!”
“I doubt it,” I said solemnly, although none of them seemed to believe me. “Now, if you don’t mind-” I began, but before I could continue, Chris pulled up a new Instagram post.
“Now look at this one!” As much as I wanted them all to leave, I let my curiosity get the better of me and motioned for Chris to read it for me, even if I had seen enough social media for one morning.
“It says, ‘Rumor has it Georgia Dubois has moved on with a new driver in the paddock – Luca Rossi Jr., son of famous F1 champion Luca Rossi Sr. Sources tell us that rumored ex-boyfriend and fellow racer Éliott Simon is fuming at the match.’”
At that, I let out the biggest groan I had ever heard myself utter. Apparently, I had better luck getting fake boyfriends than I did real ones. According to the press, I had managed to snag two fake ones in just a couple of days.
“I am sure Éliott will love that,” I said sarcastically. For years, the media and fans had speculated that Éliott and I were dating. Sure, he was flirty, and our relationship was quite touchy-felly, and we were close enough to where it might look less than platonic, but the truth was, Éliott was my brother’s best friend – and Henri had made it very clear we were both off-limits to each other, something Éliott and I had decided to –somewhat– respect.
“Well, I am glad your little publicity stunt is working, but I must be off to get ready for Free Practice,” Lily announced, getting up from her seat and giving me a small hug.
“Good luck out there!” I yelled back, but my attention was still on Chris’ phone as I re-read the social media post over and over again.
* * *
Free Practice sessions 1 and 2 ended up going better than I had expected, considering the weather. I came P3 in both, which, considering the heat and issue with my front wing in the second practice session, was not a bad result. I was annoyed that both Noah and Henri had beaten me, but at least I had beaten Luca, who had come in P4 and P6, respectively.After the sessions were over and I had adequately reviewed the data with my race engineer and Fiona, I caught the eye of Lizzie, who was motioning for me to come over. I knew what she wanted. It was time to stir the rumor mill and give the fans a little something extra. Time for the dreaded garage visit – Garage visit #1 of the weekend. If I didn’t die during this visit, I was to be sequestered to a second visit tomorrow.
Just lovely.
Lizzie met me in the garage as I popped out of my car.
“Alright, time to go!” she shrilled, swaying her hips a tad as if she thought that was going to get me more excited.
“Ok, so when we get to the garage, you need to be all cheeky and ask Francesco if Luca is there.”
“Why wouldn’t Luca be there? He’s a Hermes F1 driver…” I cut in, giving Lizzie a pointed look, which she aptly ignored, continuing on.
“And then Luca will come out and give you a hug, ask you how Free Practice went, blah blah.” I loved how she added 'blah blah' at the end. The only thing Luca and I had in common was that we raced cars – discussing Free Practice seemed like the obvious and only choice for the two of us.
When we arrived at the Hermes garage, Lizzie fixed my helmet hair, and I put on the biggest fake smile I could muster. As I approached, Francesco caught my eye. Clearly, he had been prepped for this.
“Hi Francesco, is Luca around? We were just walking past the garage, and I thought I would see how his session went?” I asked casually.
Francesco nodded, and before he could even call out his driver’s name, Luca came swaying out, his racing suit tied around his hips. Like me, he was drenched in sweat from the Miami heat, and his fireproof clothing was sticking so close to his skin that you could see the ridges of his abs and chest underneath his fireproof spandex. I did my best not to stare – I didn’t need Luca getting even more of an ego boost.
“Oh, look who popped by? How did free practice go, Cara? Heard you got P3, nice one.” I internally winced at the nickname. Since when did I say it was okay for him to call me romantic pet names? Before I knew it, Luca had his arms wrapped around my waist, and we were joined together in a large hug. My head was placed flat against his muscly chest, and he gave a big squeeze, which I might have secretly enjoyed if he wasn’t completely drenched in sweat. Luca was incredibly attractive and in great shape; there was no denying that.
“Yeah, the car felt good, but the heat was draining. Hoping we get some rain tomorrow before qualifying, would make it cooler.”
Luca and I awkwardly chitchatted for a bit more, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see a Hermes F1 social coordinator 'accidentally' filming our conversation.After a few more minutes, Luca put his hand on my back and led me further inside, pretending to give me a tour of the garage, as if my twin brother didn’t also race there. I had experienced this tour a million times, and I tried not to roll my eyes at Luca’s presumptuousness.How was anyone going to believe this stupidity of a charade?
Another ten minutes passed, and I could see Matteo and Lizzie both nod their heads as if to say, “Good job faking it, guys.” Lizzie approached me and made up some story about us needing to get back to the garage, and then we set off.Awkward garage visit one complete. I was sure once this particular social media story was out, I would be hearing about this embarrassing visit from Oliver and Éliott, something I wasn’t sure my frail ego could handle.
ChapterFive
NO POLE, NO PROBLEM
Georgia
By the time Free Practice 3 was complete Saturday morning, I was feeling ready for qualifying. It had rained a tad in the morning, which did lower the temperature, but that only meant the humidity had increased, which was going to be rough on my engine – and my body.After a rough couple of laps due to being blocked by a Rennen F1 car, I easily passed through Q1. Q2 was a different story, but I managed to get P9, which at least got me into the final stage of qualifying.
