ALICE Ch 84

Bright lights shine on the simple chair.

Erica Bruhl is a little more done up today in a navy skirt and flattering white sweater. She crosses her legs and rests her hands on her knees, smiling confidently. It’s rare for her to wear her glasses, which have bold, black frames.

“Australia was close to what you would think the perfect race would be,” she says. Her accented English is confident and deliberate. “Unless you were Mercedes.”

“No points. Not even a finish.”

“Mercedes has struggled to match the car that they had when Lewis was dominant,” Erica says, one foot kicking restlessly. “This was a good race for diversity. Some teams that are often having difficulty scoring points were successful. Williams will be pleased. Aston Martin will be pleased.”

“Freedom, certainly.”

Erica smiles and nods patiently. “Yes. A new team ranked third.” She bites her lip and cocks her head. “Remarkable.”

“And, of course, the rumors have already begun. People are talking about Valeria Flores as though she’s the next Max Verstappen. Even the next Lewis Hamilton.”

“Her driving was extraordinary.”

“There are those saying that didn’t go unnoticed. There was speculation from that point forward that Christian Horner was eying her for Checo’s seat.”

Erica responds to that with just a smile. “Perhaps,” she says.

“And it was Alice Wilde’s first podium,” the interviewer notes.

Erica’s smile widens.

FF1

Even in her short time with Formula One, Alice has been to a lot of parties. This one is still a first. It’s not technically in her honor, but a podium, even P3 on a penalty, is a big deal for a new team. FUTA bigshots are here, music blares, champagne is everywhere, and people have said more nice things to Alice in the past hour than they have in her entire life up to this point.

Glynda glows, sticking to Alice like glue and gushing over her.

Cameras flash, people smile, and Alice smiles back, repeating a lot of humble lines.

The worst part is having to sit beside Glynda while she speaks about the race. She’s just doing her job, but Alice hates it. To make things worse, Kylie isn’t even attending this damn thing.

Alice isn’t sure what to feel overall. It’s overwhelming, but everything about Formula One is overwhelming at first.

Her eyes fall on Faye, who wears the same pink livery as Alice for this occasion. The photo ops and speeches are over. Now, it’s all about Glynda and the money people.

Faye’s unreadable, and to Alice’s eye, looking for an opportunity to slink away. They’re just across the street from the hotel. Alice looks away guiltily. She and Faye will have to talk. She hasn’t listened to the comms, so she doesn’t know how upset Faye is about what happened.

No, that’s not true. She’s upset. Alice isn’t blind.

She takes a conservative sip of champagne and looks toward the stage, but her gaze doesn’t get there.

It lands on Erica Bruhl, who is properly dressed for this occasion in a short, black dress with plenty of shimmer. She’s wearing glossy black pantyhose and her hair is up. Alice doesn’t know if Belgium has princesses, but if it does, they must look like this.

Erica’s looking straight at Alice, who remembers what was said when they parted ways after that ‘interview.’

Should Alice go and talk to Erica?

Or Faye?