Rihaan #2
“What do you want me to do?” I asked. “I’m not really in the mood for going to the beach, or even the pool.
That’s what I’ve done the past week and I think my body is having a hard time adjusting to the heat here.
Like it feels wrong going to the beach in February and not being uncontrollably shivery whilst I’m there. ”
She snorted before giving me a look that told me she understood exactly what I meant. “What about the rest of the team? They must have some plans?”
“Yeah, I’ve had enough of cricketers for a week, to be very honest.” I replied, the resignation in my voice evident.
“They’re still having a hard time adjusting to me being here—and sure, they are courteous now that they see Rihaan somewhat working with me, but I just can’t wear a mask all night.
I do enough of that in the day. Plus, I think a break from me might also be helpful to them. ”
“Fair enough,” She sighed, her gaze flicking to whatever notification that had pinged across her screen, and something flashed across her gaze.
The same expression she got when she got an idea.
Before I could ask about it, she spoke. “Hey, you know what’s something cool you can do tonight?
Go to the Yas Marina Circuit, it’s super close to where you are. ”
“The F1 Circuit?” I asked, a frown settling on my brows.
“Yeah,” She nodded.
“What would I even do there?”
“They’re open to the public during certain times as part of a community initiative. I bet you can go there for a run or something? Might be cool.”
The soft tapping of her fingers against the keyboard filled the silence as I considered it, before she replied. “It’s open till ten.”
“That’s a good few hours, I’ll check it out after our call. Thanks, Sam.” I replied. “Does this little knowledge fact means you’re having fun with your research?”
She grinned then. “Yeah, it’s actually not half bad! I’ve been watching some old races too and it looks so much fun. If you haven’t gotten any plans for the weekend, they’ve also got this thing called Ascari World right next to the mall, and it’s like their very own them park.”
“As much as I like the ideas of a theme park,” I said dryly. “I have plans to go to SEA world with Dad tomorrow. He felt bad cancelling on our dinner plans for his birthday that he wants to make it up by coming with me. I’ll consider the mall, though.”
“Yeah, knew that was a long shot but I thought I’d bring it up, anyway.
” She laughed. “Speaking of my project, though. I won’t be here when you get home.
Dev wants us to do a site visit in Monaco and get a feel of the venue space now that they’ve settled to do a masquerade ball for the sponsor dinner. ”
“A masquerade ball? Oh là là, quel conte de fées.”
“I mean, we aren’t giving away any glass slippers, but it is a bit like fairy tale.”
I pressed my lips together. “I was trying to say how fancy.”
Samyra’s laughed echoed through my room. “That would be, comme c'est chic.”
“Well, we know at least one of us paid some good attention during those French lessons.”
“And, now, we know why you got lost during our trip too.”
“Sure, let’s blame it on that.” I shrugged, a grin spreading across my own face. After our first year, when we’d managed to leave finding accommodation until far too late, we’d spent the summer in France instead.
It hadn’t exactly been the plan, but neither of us had wanted to go home for a summer with our respective families, and either we could stay in London, pay extortionate prices to get into our accommodation earlier as we worked in part time jobs day and night to afford the cost of living, or pay a small fortune for our storage space, spend the summer in the South of France, work a part time job and still enjoy the summer.
It had been one of those mistakes that had cost us far more money than we’d intended to spend, but somehow became one of our happiest memories. After that, we’d learnt to get our accommodation in place before the options became far too thin for our liking.
“Are you meeting any of the drivers, then?” I asked, secretly hoping she’d say yes.
She sighed. “No. But it’s the middle of February.
The official season doesn’t start until mid-March, and even testing isn’t until early March.
Which means the chances of running into Axel are pretty high.
He lives in Monaco, and according to everything I’ve seen on social media, you can apparently bump into a different F1 driver every time you turn a corner there. ”
“Is it bad that I’m hoping you do run into him?”
“Yes,” she replied without hesitation. “Not only does that make you a terrible friend, it also makes you a terrible person in general for wishing that upon me, all because you want us to experience misery together.”
“No, I just think your love life needs a bit of spiciness.”
“Said the single girl.”
“I have had to block my creepy ex because he won’t stop texting me—or tell me what he wants unless it’s face to face. I think that counts as enough spice.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Well, there’s a different kind of spice.”
“Yeah, but I won’t find that here. Not that I’m interested in dating any cricketers, but my father basically said that I’m forbidden to even entertain that with his players.
Plus, flings are only fun when your father isn’t around to accidentally run into and kill the vibes. So, for now—you’re all I got.”
“God, help me.”