“Yeeeessss! Let’s have some fuuuuuunn!” I sing out, shaking my water bottle up and over the three of us as we laugh. We debrief about the race and get excited about close passes until Rayna enters the room with Koby and Fleur’s team owner, Zoey Clarke, in tow.
“Congratulations, folks! That was a race and a half. Fans went nuts!” Koby congratulates as he hugs us.
“Save something for the rest of the season.” Rayna smiles as she follows suit and makes her way around to hug us, too.
We all walk back down to the pits, the air buzzing, getting more electric as I approach the open garages. Mabel stands out the front of Infraction32’s garage, her face focused on herphone as she spots Javi and I walking side by side, aiming the phone at us as we approach the pit. I smile at her wide as I throw her a wink and wave around holding my helmet. Her face is still down, probably recording. I can see her smile back as she raises her hand to wave back. Small, as to not jolt her other hand recording.
“Great race, man.” Javi taps my elbow with his, our arms still full with our helmets and trophies.
I nod and continue to my pit, Mabel being in my path. She puts her phone down when I’m a few steps in front of her and she beams at me. “Congratulations! That was so exciting to watch!” She smiles. My hands are full, but she still extends her arms open and hugs me. Her hair brushes against my cheek as her arms circle my torso. It’s probably a good thing I can’t wrap my arms around her and bring her flush to my body.
“Thanks! I hope it looked as good as it felt!” I remark. “It was great!” She pulls away, folding her arms across her torso.
“Hotel bar is going to go off tonight. Hope you don’t have much work to do so you can come hang?” I ask. I know she had planned enough of her work so she doesn’t have to work more, but unsure if she needed to do more with Javi’s placing over the weekend.
“Nope, unless Rayna has a special request, I’ll get the last things done on the bus back to the hotel, and then I’m all yours,” she replies. “I mean, free all night.” Her eyes go slightly wider. “Ready…to…party.”
I ignore her fumbling and smile. “Great! I’ll hit the hotel room for a shower then be at the bar!” I continue to head to my pit box with a whole new level of excitement, but I have to rein that in. She didn’t mean anything by those fumbles. Accidental word choices. Nothing to read into. Reaching my pit box, the team erupts into chants and cheers, and I am riding an incredible wave of emotions.
Tradition of hanging at the hotel bar for a few drinks after a win is in full effect.
Mabel sits with Sophia and Fleur, the dim lights not hiding her beauty. They laugh at something Mabel has said and I whole-heartedly agree. She is funny. And sexy. And fiery. She can definitely meet my gentle ribbing and then give it right back.
Stop. I cannot think of her like that. Friends, we are friends,I repeat to myself.
Javi comes around from behind me, slapping me on the back. “Again, great race today, man. Had a ball!”
“Yeah, felt like I have my groove back a bit. Kiara would have loved it.”
“She would have been screaming from the pit wall.” He squeezes my shoulder. “Parents coming to visit a track this half of the season?”
“Nah, I told them to come to one of the New South Wales tracks. I want them to take it easy.”
“Fair call.”
“Fleur has something cooked up for a mid-season group break thing, if we are all keen. Somewhere in Sydney,” I mention.
“Sounds great. Let’s go chat with them about it.”
10
Mabel
“Hey, I’m starved. Did you want anything? I’m thinking some room service for dinner.”
“Maybe just some ice cream?” I ask, suddenly in the mood.
“For dinner? Are you serious?”
“Absolutely.”
“I’ll call it in.”
While he waits for dinner, he sits on the lounge, eating a peach. Obscenely eating a peach with no napkin. A trail of a singular drop of juice pools in his palm, starting a slow trickle down one of his palm lines. It tracks past his wrist, towards toned forearms, meeting one of his veins, and picking up speed as it rolls down the side of it, down to his elbow.
A booming knock breaks my trance, and I breathe again when Riley jumps up to retrieve his dinner and my ice cream.
I'm sitting on the lounge, facing him, my knees up, resting my phone in my lap. From here, I can continue to watch him eat, pretending to be involved with my phone. Licking the spoon and dragging it out of my mouth, I imagine all the ways I could be putting this ice cream on his body and licking it off. Slowly savouring the sugary taste mixing with his skin.
