“Alright, alright, I’ll miss you.” Julien struggles to free himself, but Rafael leans all of his weight on him. “Jesus, you’re gonna break my collarbone too! Then Ferraro will be shit outta luck.”
Rafael laughs, but kisses the top of Julien’s head before letting go. “Make sure you do your homework before Japan, okay? I want to see you on the podium.”
The underlying statement—the looming promise for finishing in the top three—isn’t lost on Julien.
“I will.”
Without a race this week, most of Julien’s factory work is meetings. Strategy meetings, set-up meetings, marketing meetings.
At least when he was a normal reserve driver, he got to lock himself inside his dark room and race with the fancy simulator, but now Julien barely drives a couple of laps before he’s pulled into his next appointment.
By the time he drags his feet up the stairs of his shitty Italian apartment building, dodges his nosey flatmates, and shuts the feeble door, Julien is itching to race again.
Since it’s not a race weekend, his team doesn’t have a stream planned, but Julien hops on anyway and waits for the automatic notification to find someone to race with.
“Romeo!”Of course Mick doesn’t have anything better to do on a Friday night.“What happened to weekend work?”
“Finished early today.” Julien chooses Suzuka as Rafael’s advice echoes in his mind.
“Nooooo… Choose an interesting track—something with more overtakes.”
“I got here first, I get dibs.”
Kevin’s icon pops up as his camera switches on.“Didya forget there isn’t a race thi—oh! Hey, Romeo. Lemme guess—no work this weekend?”
He laughs, though Julien didn’t catch the joke.
“Lay off it, Kevin,”Mick says.“You’re just as bad as chat.”
“What’d I miss?” Julien scrolls through the logs, but there isn’t anything particularly funny. Most people are just excited about an unplanned stream.
“Only that you’re Julien Dubois.”
Kevin guffaws again as Julien’s stomach plummets.
How did they find out? What did he do wrong? “What? Me?”
“It’s just a stupid joke,”Mick explains.“Because of your new weekend job. You said you’d be gone through Imola, and Monaco is when Rafael is expected to return.”
“Don’t forget when Rafael was literally on his mic after Australia.”
“That was my cousin.” Julien said cousin the first time, right? “He was just fuckin’ around.”
“That’s the best Rafael impression I’ve ever heard.”
“You should drop a pic.”
“Don’t push him—I like the mystery.”
Julien doesn’t even know what to say. How much can he deny it without sounding too defensive? “You think I’d be racing with you losers if I was a Formation 1 driver?”
“Well, Julien’s not actually a Formation 1 driver, is he?”
Okay, ouch.
John’s picture appears, saving Julien from having to answer.
Maybe he should lean into it. They don’t seem to be accusing him of anything, just talkin’ shit like always.
