Chapter 47
Elen a
“Gabriel, what is going on? You are scaring me.”
“Nothing but I have a surprise for all of you.” He hurries us to sit down on the garden swing he newly got at the house in Rome. My family needed a vacation and Gabriel insisted that we go to Rome.
I could not object, not even if I wanted. He is way too stubborn.
It has only been two months since we have resolved our affairs and even if at times I want to just walk down the altar to marry him, I should be sensible and maybe wait.
Just until he properly gets down on one knee and asks the sacred question.
“Perdeu a cabe?a?” Has he lost his mind ? My mother whispers to me as she leans closer while Gabriel’s back towards us.
Papa chokes on his water.
“Mama!”
“Eu estava apenas perguntando.” I was just askin g .
I chuckle at her and to be honest I myself question Gabriel’s sanity. He has been weird and reckless in his choices which is not like him. “às vezes me pergunto a mesma coisa.” Sometimes I wonder the same thing . I clear my throat when I move away from my mama, trying not to seem suspicious.
“Ahh.”
Gabriel comes back with a small box in his hand, which makes me wonder if he did read my mind and will perform the most unromantic proposal.
He hands the small box to my parents and both of them reach for it. “What is this?” Papa smiles at him awkwardly, scared to open the box.
“A present, open it.”
“Bastante pequeno.” Rather smal l . Mama mumbles under her breath.
“Mama,” I call out for her again, and she just gives me a knowing look.
I watch over her shoulder as they open the box and before I can see what was in the box, Mama screams out in excitement, almost throwing the swing with me and Papa on its back.
“Mama!” I shout after her, laughing as I watch her run into Gabriel’s arms. Gabriel does not know how to act but simply wraps his arms around her, a bright smile on his face as they, my mother still jumps up and down.
I walk up to them and separate my Mama and Gabriel. “What is going on?” I ask him.
“We are going to Singapore.”
“Singapore!” Mama chants after him and runs off to Papa in his open arms.
“Why, if I may ask?”
“You do know there is a Grand Prix happening there next week?”
My eyes widen at his response, my mouth gapes open. “You did not. You got us tickets to the Singapore Grand Prix?”
“Not just any. While your parents will be spending their time at the Scuderia Aravis box, we will be at the McAli Racing box.”
“VIP tickets? Why?”
“Because I love you and I heard that you wanted to go there and I thought what better trip it would be if we go as a family.”
“Family?” I chuckle nervously. The reason for me to grow nervous is his mother. Still.
She still has an unreasonable hate for me.
Or rather dislike. I believe I am starting to grow on her.
“As in the Ferreira’s, Renee, and me. The small friendly group.”
“Why not the Harvey’s?”
“My family is not rather a huge enthusiast for sports. Except for football.”
“Gabriel, I-” the words won’t get past my mind and I am struck with awe for the man that I love. For what he is doing for my family. All I can do now is look at the man I love and not believe how lucky I am to have him. He is the risk worth taking. “I do not know what to say.”
He reaches for both of my hands, holds them to his heart and I can feel the faint beat of it on my skin. “Just say thank you and I cannot wait to go there with you.”
I laugh at his response and repeat his words which he topped off with a kiss on my lips.
The coming week as promised we got to Singapore. I must admit the seven-hour time difference did mess me up a little but sacrifices must be made in life sometimes.
“I cannot believe we got to be at two Grand Prix this year. It’s like I am in my dreams. This is a dream. Pinch me please.” Renee begs me as we walk arm in arm with our passes hanging over our necks around the paddock.
“I will not pinch you.”
“Pinch me.” she asks again in a pleading voice as if she actually believes she is dreaming, and I did as she asked.
Which evidently she was not a fan of.
“What hell? Why did you pinch me?”
“You asked me to!” I argue.
“I did not mean literally.”
“How was I supposed to know?”
“By my tone maybe?”
“You sounded serious when you asked me.”
“Never mind, have you heard they are letting a few fans sit in the cockpits of the car?”
“They allow that?”
“Very rarely but yes. If we spend enough time in the box we might get the chance,” she overly explains herself and drags me through the paddock and the McAli Hospitality to the box where the team is overlooking data and working on the car. It is only Thursday which means no cars on the track.
“Gabriel.” Renee calls after him and pokes her finger into his shoulder until he turns around and puts a pause on his conversation with the Team principal of McAli Racing.
“What do you want, Renee?”
She takes a deep breath in before she turns her gaze to me. “Elena wants to ask you something?”
“What?”
“Hmm,” she hums with much urgency.
I groan in frustration but when I look at Gabriel he is already looking at me with a soft expression. “Hi,” I greet him.
“Hey,” he greets me back. How come we still act like teenagers who have an urgent crush and don’t know how to talk.
“We wanted to ask,” Maybe throw the blame on her? “Well Renee wanted to ask if the team allows fans to sit in the cockpit.”
“I can ask.”
“Yes, do that.” Renee answers for me.
Gabriel walks away from us to the team boss and comes back a few minutes later with the news that we are allowed. Renee and I both scream in excitement, practically holding on to each other in hope that neither of us will faint.
Gabriel holds his hand out for me to take. “My lady,” he says in a sly tone laced in his tone. Renee runs past us, almost knocking us both off. I shake my head at Gabriel, place my hand in his and he leads me to the pits. My mouth gapes open when I see the cars in the flesh.
“Want to go in?” I hear a deep voice ask me next to me and when I turn around, Nate Harper is smiling at me. I stand starstruck with my mouth slightly open just looking at him. I close my mouth, swallow hard and nod my head frantically.
Just as I place a foot on the car, I hear a shout. “Elena!” Renee calls out for me and when I look where her voice is. She is sitting in the other team car, waving at me with the biggest smile on her face that I have ever witnessed.
I place a hand on the halo while Gabriel holds the other one and I slowly climb on the car into the cockpit.
The view is far more different than I have imagined but awesome, nonetheless. I grip onto the steering wheel with a million buttons, a few that I can decipher what they could mean but most of them are a quiz to me.
“Is the view as amazing as you hoped it to be?” Gabriel asks me as he leans against the halo, looking down at me.
I keep my eyes on the steering wheel, driven to fascination how awesome the car is. Well, maybe not the seat because it is as hard as a rock and kind of hurts my butt.
“Even better. Did you know the drivers have to learn the track by mind because from this view it is nearly impossible to see the track limits or gravels or anything except the track ahead, dirty air and the butt of another car?”
Gabriel breaks out in a short laughter at my description of how the view is, his dimples digging as deep into his cheek as I dig for them. I love dimples.
And Gabriel Harvey.
“Couldn’t have described it better.”
“I think it is the best description.”
“Of course it is.” I hold my head high, trying to seem confident in my answer. I should be, it is a great one.
I look over to Renee to see her shamelessly flirt with the rookie driver of the McAli team Marco Garcia.
Oh Charles will go crazy over this. I look around the boy from the view of the car and notice a woman, about the same height as me, watching Marco with a look.
A look of likeness.
Prediction, she has a crush on Marco but is too shy to admit it and is watching the crush of her life flirt with another woman.
Ouch, I can imagine how that can hurt.
I press my lips into a thin line, feeling sympathetic for her. I place my hands on the halo of the car, pull myself up and climb out of the car.
“Did you like it?” Gabriel asks me, regarding sitting in the car.
I hold on to Gabriel's hands as I jump off from the hood of the car. “I loved it.” I exhale a deep breath, smiling brighter than I've ever had. I’m serious, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much. “I love you.” I whisper, wrapping my arms around his neck.
“I love you too.” He whispers, his breath ghosting over my lips and he leans in closer.
“And I love this weekend!” Renee shouts, sticking her head between us. She moves back when she realises that she interrupted the moment. “Oh, so sorry.” she moves back a few steps, her hands in front of her as if I will attack her.
“Don’t tr-”
She falls over a tire that was laying around.
“Trip,” I finish the sentence even though it was much too late for that. “You are clumsier than I remember you to be.”
“I had a shitty vodka shot before we got here and I think it is reaching my brain.” She stabs her index finger on the side of her head.
“Could be that.”
Gabriel drapes an arm around my shoulders and leans into whisper something to me. “Someone should lock the drink cabinet in her room.”
I watch her with a worried expression as she walks around the car, trying not to trip and actually going through with the ‘not tipsy’ act with much grace. “Definitely.”