ALICE Ch 311

“It’s a beautiful day for racing in the Netherlands, and tensions are high as the start of the Dutch Grand Prix is fast approaching,” Alex Jacques reports excitedly. “Max Verstappen is on pole with a hungry Valeria Flores just behind him. Lewis Hamilton is in P3, and he is not content to go quietly. His former teammate, Valteri Bottas, is in P4, and in a surprise to everyone, the Woodcock sisters for Williams Racing occupy P5 and P6. Both FUTA drivers are out of this race, and chatter on social media suggests that Charles LeClerc is not very pleased at all with the performance of his car these past weeks. The tension is visible, even in this formation lap.”

FF1

Alice sits on Glynda Darcy’s sofa with her arm around Faye. The Dutch Grand Prix is on the TV, although Alice’s mind isn’t really on it. She’d like to see Val do well, of course.

If she’s being honest, she’s a little shaken by these past couple of days with Faye.

Life is so different away from F1. Reality can only reach Alice here through her phone. Faye is so relaxed that she’s like a different person. She’s mostly able to take care of herself with one arm still in a cast, but she’s twice as functional emotionally. The sex has been amazing. It turns out that Alice doesn’t mind all the weird stuff with toys as long as it’s her doing it to Faye, and Faye loves it. The way she acts when Alice uses a toy on her would make someone think that Alice just gave her a yacht. She’s so funny. Ireland’s weird too, but Alice has hardly left the house.

Faye happily uses her free hand to shovel chips into her mouth as she watches with sparkling eyes. F1 is fun when one is not the one under all the pressure in the world.

“Oh dear,” she says as Val quickly loses several positions.

“What?”

“Your friend. She’s having trouble.”

FF1

“It’s a problem with your DRS,” says the voice in Val’s ear. She can’t spare a single brain cell to try to reply; all she can do is keep the car on the circuit. Everything is wrong. The bump is horrendous as she careens into turn three. “We may need to box.”

A plan is forming in Val’s mind. Turn twelve is where the potential is. She doesn’t see a path back to the front, but saving points and controlling the race is still within her grasp. She’ll just be fighting uphill the whole way; it feels like the car is falling apart.

“Val? Val?”

“Yes?” she replies through gritted teeth, slamming over another bumper.

“Val, you need to get aside so that Patty can overtake.”

“What?”

“Val, you don’t have the pace. You have to get aside.”