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Oh, Henri,I thought to myself, always ready to play the part of Hermes’ golden boy.
"Well, I was basically her biggest fan from the day she started. I did my best to drop hints to Henri over pre-season, but by Imola, I finally had to tell him – well,beghim – to let me have a chance. Henri, of course, told me the usual, you know, if I hurt his sister, he would make sure to ram his car into the back of mine. I told him not to worry; I’m sure his sister would beat him to it... I mean, she is the faster Dubois driver, after all.” Luca chuckled at his comment, and Henri waved him off, much to the audience's amusement.
Have they practiced this already?I thought to myself. I could just picture Francesco, dressed in his Hermes F1 gear, ignoring the clipboard he was holding full of racing strategy, instead educating Luca and Henri on what they were supposed to say during these media exchanges.
"You know, I gotta say, we were all kind of shocked when we saw you guys walk hand in hand into the paddock today. Not to be rude, but we didn't think you could pull such a lovely lady like Georgia," the presented laughed.
I wanted to throw something at the presenter. Why didn't he just say what he actually wanted to say:How did Georgia Dubois manage to bag dashing, attractive playboy Luca Rossi? How did she manage to tame F1's heartthrob? Why had Luca Rossi settled for Little Ms. Sassy Dubois?
If only he knew the truth.
"What, you saying she's out of my league?" Luca quipped back, causing the audience to erupt into laughter. "You know, I was as shocked as you were. You see, the rest of the world sees Georgie as this quiet, boring racing driver who only has eyes for winning, everything else be damned. But the Georgie I know, it couldn't be further from the truth." I closed my eyes, unable to bear the thought of where Luca was going with this one.
"Oh?" The presented asked, motioning for Luca to continue.
"I think what really won me over is her ability to always have a witty remark handy… and her pranks. I have never met someone as quick-witted as Georgie. And her pranks on Edward? The stuff of legends. You should ask him about them when you have him on before Silverstone. Absolutely hilarious.
As for Georgie, you'll have to ask her in Monaco why she's dating me 'cause I certainly have no idea; she must be blind!" Luca shrugged his shoulders at the audience as they playfully booed his last remark.
I could feel my cheeks heating up, and a blush was taking over my face. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that Luca knew about my pranks on Edward; he was Edward's teammate for years at Wilmington, and I had played some great pranks on Edward, hence my 'semi-enforced' ban at the Wilmington F1 garage.
"Georgie Dubois a prankster? Now that is definitely something we'll have to discuss next race, Henri," the presented announced, wagging his finger toward my brother.
Henri just laughed and nodded, yelling back at the podcaster, "Oh, do I have some stories to tell!" I slapped Henri on the shoulder and gave him a dirty look, much to Éliott’s amusement.
"Now, let's talk about Miami. When Georgia pulled up into the P3 spot, it was as if you already knew she wasn't feeling well. Fans have speculated that the teams put a radio for you to chat inside the cars – any truth to that?"
Now, I really wanted to roll my eyes. As if Valkyrie would allow me the extra weight so I could chat to my boyfriend. Who did he think this team was run by, middle school girls? I heard Éliott very lightly chuckle next to me, clearly enjoying the ridiculousness of the F1 podcaster. We barely got water; the engineers weren't about to add in 'relationship radios.’
Luca did his best to chuckle through that one. At first, I thought his hesitancy to answer the question was because he was set aback by the ridiculous fan theory, but his answer was even more surprising.
"No, no, believe me, I don't need anyone hearing me chatter to myself throughout the race; I think I'd be called certifiably insane," he laughed, his face slowly turning more serious. "Georgie, after each race where she gets a podium, does this cute jump out of the car; she puts both her hands on the bars and hops out of the car with what you can only tell is a huge smile on her face. Both of her arms go flying into the air, and she does this silly ‘window washing’ dance. It's really quite adorable. When she didn't immediately hop out of the car, I just knew something was wrong. If there's something I know about the Dubois twins, it’s that they're the first to congratulate each other. It doesn't matter who has won.”
As the audience around me started to ooh and awe, I felt completely frozen, shocked by the admission from Luca. Had he really noticed that about me? I could feel Henri harden next to me, his back straightening up as he contemplated Luca's words, likely hating himself for not noticing this at the Miami race. Henri still wasn't over the fact that Luca had come to my rescue first. Whether I was independent or not, Henri was always going to be protective of me. Even Éliott fiddled with his hands, unsure of what to say.
"So, did you know this was the reason?" Éliott whispered into my ear. I just shook my head lightly, trying to keep the smile Isabelle had told me to wear plastered to my face.
Truthfully, at that moment, I was feeling incredibly confused.When did Luca start caring enough to notice this? What else had Luca noticed about me?That was the real question I wanted answered, but I knew I was going to have to wait patiently for that one.
"What a true gentleman, Luca," the presented preened, slapping him on the back. "We're glad Georgia is alright, and we're definitely looking forward to seeing the two of you fight it out on the racetrack. This is our last question of the night, and then we'll let you go. Do you think your fights on track will affect your relationship at all? You're both title contenders this year. Has any animosity on the track spilled over to off-track drama?" I did my best to hide my scoff as Henri elbowed me in the side.
"Not at all, we're both fierce competitors on the track, that's true, but the fact is, every moment I spend with Georgie makes me a better race car driver, I mean hell, even a better person," he said softly. Luca was now looking directly at me, his lovely brown eyes felt like they were looking deep into my soul. I felt frozen as I stared back, silently daring Luca to end this with something sarcastic or witty. Anything to make these butterflies go away – anything to remind myself why Luca Rossi was the enemy.
"For example, our battles on the track make me better at driving defensively. When we spend our dinners chatting about the engineering makeup of a car, I learn something new about how to better manage a Formula 1 car. And when we spend an evening snuggling and watching Atonement, her favorite movie, I get this incredible peacefulness that transcends into race weekends."
Luca paused for a quick second, as if he was contemplating what his last comment would be. Slowly, a smirk crept up onto his lips as he added, "Plus, the more fighting we do on the track, the more making up we get to do off the track.”
I could feel my cheeks go bright red, and I impulsively put my hands over my face, trying to hide my redness as much as possible. The crowd burst into applause and fits of laughter, with much of the audience jumping from their seats in a standing ovation for Luca as the announcer got up from the desk and shook Luca’s hand, still laughing loudly from Luca's final joke.
I was pissed. Pissed that while Luca had ended it with something sarcastic and witty, just as I had hoped, the butterflies I had felt a few moments ago hadn't left; in fact, they had gotten stronger.
Despising the womanizing, egocentric Luca was easy, but this Luca? This was going to be harder than I thought.
ChapterNine
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE GEORGIA DUBOIS
Georgia
