ALICE Ch 117

Bright lights shine on the simple chair.

Erica Bruhl looks lovely in her jeans and white top, with her hoop earrings gleaming as brightly as her elated smile.

“As a journalist, this must have felt akin to winning the lottery,” the producer says.

“Well. It was an interesting development. Never in the history of the sport has a driver dated another driver. The only thing more fascinating would be if they were on different teams,” Erica remarks.

“I understand you were present when Alice Wilde got the news that Faye Darcy had said that.”

“I was nearby. We were in the Paddock. Alice was speaking to one of her technical staff.”

“I understand that she wasn’t happy,” the producer says.

“I don’t know that I would say that. I wouldn’t presume to… characterize her reaction as anything beyond surprise. That announcement was definitely unplanned. I don’t think Faye Darcy planned it either. Alice took it well. She quietly excused herself and went inside.”

“Did she deny it?”

“She didn’t make a statement of any kind. But for this to come on the heels of the Diorgasm reveal with all this fan chatter about Alice and Valeria Flores…” Erica is unable to completely hide her excitement. “Have you looked on social media lately? It’s as though Max and Lewis don’t exist anymore. FUTA racing is making F1 look more and more like FUTA every day.”

“You don’t seem bothered by that.”

Erica smiles, bites her lip, and shrugs.

FF1

The yelling is over, at least. Alice is pretty sure about that.

Glynda’s back is to her. She’s alone with Glynda in her office at the Paddock. Glynda leans heavily on her desk, breathing hard.

“Are you done?” Alice asks.

Glynda looks at her over her shoulder, gaze icy.

“I’m not dating your daughter,” Alice tells her flatly, folding her arms. “I never was. We messed around a little bit. That’s true. It was like two times. That’s it.”

“You messed around with my daughter?” Glynda says it slowly, tone dangerous.

“Yeah. I mean, we had sex.” Alice matches Glynda’s glare. “I know it’s weird, but she’s weird. You had to be there. Not in a weird way.”

Glynda doesn’t seem to like those sentences.

“It’s not serious. I mean, it’s not really anything.”

Glynda squints at her, then stalks across the room and puts her finger in Alice’s face.

“You will make that crystal clear to the press. And to my daughter. And you will not touch her again.”

“Are you sure you’re done?” Alice asks. “Because you need to get it all out before you get anywhere near Faye.” She waves a hand. “She doesn’t need this. She’s under enough pressure without you being all weird and judgy and controlling about her sex life.”

Glynda stiffens. Alice gives no ground, although she’s squirming on the inside. She knows that sleeping with her teammate, even casually, is not an optimal thing to do from a sports perspective. While this mess is having a positive effect on PR at the moment, it’s also a complication that Glynda doesn’t need even aside from her own obviously fiery feelings about an American scoundrel corrupting her only child. There is a zero percent chance that Glynda will ever believe that Faye was kind of the instigator of what happened, so it’s not even worth bringing up.

Alice does them both a favor and walks out. She pauses on the stairs; there are lots of journalists outside in the sunlight. Qualifiers are tomorrow. It’s time to decide how she’s going to play this.

She doesn’t have to do what Glynda said. Faye is her own person and can make her own decisions about her relationships, even if she… is a little clueless about things and very bad in interviews. Alice is ready to admit that getting physical with her teammate was a mistake, but it can’t be undone. They certainly are not dating.

But Faye thinks that they are. Alice doesn’t know how Faye will react to being corrected on that little misunderstanding, but probably not well. Alice has already heard through Kylie that Faye didn’t take it well when she found out about the Diorgasm ad and all the shipping going on with the fans about Alice and Val. It’s flattering; Alice just wasn’t paying attention before. Faye really likes her a lot.

Should Alice do what Glynda said and make things completely clear to Faye that they are not a thing?

Or should she defy Glynda and have some kind of thing with Faye?