Chapter 2 Rosa
ROSA
When the race comes to an end, three different team’s drivers are on the podium. Moscardi takes first place, Blaze takes second, and Velocity finishes third and fourth while Huck kept his fifth place with Atlas until the end. The team congratulates him, and I do too.
“My god, Rosa!” the blond sweetheart immediately hugs me. “Finally got enough time to see the old man?” he asks, and I chuckle. He’s older than me, but gosh… He’s still fine as hell.
“Chris convinced me to come. And hey, you were great out there! Glad I came.” I smile at him and he ruffles my hair. He smiles back and leaves right after, probably to do interviews. Why is everyone leaving me after two seconds of talking today?
I congratulate most of the team members and wait until everyone leaves. Chris said to wait for him so I’m sitting in the paddock. I see Nathan leave with Mateo and I wave to them, but only Nathan sees me. Not long after do I spot Chris walking up to me with a couple of team members.
“Hey, kiddo. Sorry, it took so long. Ready to go?” I nod and we all start walking toward the exit. “So tell me, what happened at that meeting of yours?”
“That’s the problem, nothing happened. I was late and they called me saying that they have to leave.”
He chuckles. No, it’s not funny at all, man.
“In case you didn’t know, in your work area, it’s crucial to be punctual. Sure, this missed meeting isn’t the end of the world, but look out for these kinds of things, alright?” He lectures me like I don’t know. I just messed up one time.
“I know, alright? I’m not stupid, it’s just my old habits backfiring on me. I won’t mess up again.”
“You’re still using that old clock? Gosh… Okay, hey. No worries. I know you can do it. And if you need any help, I’m here.” He smiles at me warmly.
“Thanks, Chris.”
We walk to the car with his arms around my shoulder, trying to cheer me up. The hotel is not so far from the track, and we get there soon. Just as I step through the door of my room, my phone rings. It’s Nathan.
“Hi there, stranger. Didn’t think you’d pick it up.”
“Hm. Who is it again?” I hear him chuckle on the other side of the line.
“It was good to see you today on track. Chris finally got you to come?”
“Yeah. I gave in. I needed a change of scenery. And well, I missed you guys.”
“Oh my, Rosa became a softie, eh?” I roll my eyes, and he continues. “Really, Rosa, it was good to see you. What do you say we meet up? There’s an after party tonight.”
“I don’t know, Nathan. I’m not sure I’ll go. I messed up a big client today.”
“Then there’s the reason to come. You could loosen up and have fun, forget about it for now. Come on, Rosa,” he pleads.
I want to go, I haven’t seen the guys in a while, and I could use some fun. But on the other hand, I don’t want to go. I feel too bad to party when I just lost a potential job.
“I’ll see about it. Have fun, Nath.” We say goodbye and hang up.
Nathan and I go way back. He’s been in the racing world for many years now, since he was only a little kid just karting around, just like the other drivers.
That’s one of the things I admire about him the most; his passion.
He loves his job; he doesn’t even see it as work, but as fulfilling his lifelong dreams.
We became friends when he first got into a Formula 1 car. He met with my uncle after his first practice session, congratulated him, and when he left, we started bonding. We were only kids, but that bond never broke. He’s like a brother to me, who I don’t see often, but I can count on anytime.
Although this party does sound tempting, I shouldn’t go.
Now that I’ve lost the possible biggest client I could ever have, I have to focus on my work more.
I can’t, and won’t go. I have plenty more opportunities to lick salt, do a shot, and bite a lime.
I don’t count as a Dancing Queen anymore—at least not age-wise—but I’m not a corpse yet either.
I push my thoughts away and decide to shower, I need to freshen up.
It’s getting late, but I still need to work.
I have to plan an upcoming wedding. I only worked on corporate parties and smaller award ceremonies since I take on bigger events, but this wedding will have exactly 478 guests altogether, so we could say it’s going to be pretty huge.
After I finished showering, I texted one of my old friends, Rylee, who works as a bridal consultant, to see if she’d be available for the wedding. I haven’t met her in a while, since she got married to that bastard James, so it’d be nice to see her again, even if I’ll see her at the wedding anyway.
The bride and the groom contacted me quite literally six days ago and asked me to, I quote, “work my magic”. I almost fainted when she told me it’s on the 17th of August—only three months away.
I very kindly told her that this is not how it should be, that a wedding takes much more time to plan, especially that it is in the busiest season of the year and it has such a long guest list, but apparently, she heard that there aren’t many weddings held in Mallorca, because it is so expensive.
And that, ladies and gentleman, is one of the biggest lies I’ve ever heard.
Sure, for that many guests, it is very expensive, but Mallorca is one of the most sought-after places for a wedding, even for smaller ones.
A chime from my phone pulls me out of my thoughts. For a second, I think it’s Rylee, but then I see Nathan’s name pop up. He sent me a picture, holding a drink with the biggest grin.
I see the three dots with the bubble appear, and for what seems like three years later, I get a text message which says, “havin fn”.
At least he’s not drunk. I take a quick selfie and send it to him with a message saying “me too”.
He sends me a heart emoji, and I set my phone down to go back to working.
As I search through the venues and polish the to-do and guest list, I can’t help but get a little jealous.
Men did not particularly do me right before. The relationships I had, let’s just say not all of them ended well.
I vividly remember Kenny, my ex, crying his heart out when I told him I wanted to break up with him. Then he had the audacity to throw a vase at me when I showed him the dick pics he sent to women while he was dating me.
There was once a time, where no matter how hard I tried, I didn’t feel any desire toward men.
I was dating, heavily, but I couldn’t feel the electricity.
I felt like I was doing something wrong, that I’m the one to blame.
But not so long after I realized that it is not my fault.
There is nothing wrong with me, it’s just that I’m not with the right person.
Since then, I’ve been focusing mostly on myself, and gave up trying. I put myself first, and if the right person comes, I’ll know. So ladies, heads up, don’t let any man steal your light. It is okay to put yourself first.
I save a couple hundred venues, so that they have enough options to choose from. Rylee still hasn’t texted me back, but it’s late, so I’m not too worried about that. Tomorrow, I’ll start to check off things from the list and schedule a meeting with the bride and the groom.
For now, I head to my super inviting, comfy-looking bed. I can focus on everything else tomorrow, I’ve done enough work for today. No need to exhaust myself. Not even for a thick paycheck.