ALICE Ch 135

Erica Bruhl is with the rest of the press behind the rope on the sunny street in front of the moored yacht. She doesn’t have to take her own photos, but she enjoys it. She readies her camera as the designated hype man waves and moves aside. Music swells and the drivers appear, all twenty of them, moving to the railing to smile and wave.

The energy is infectious. There really is something special about the Monaco Grand Prix, even for someone who’s spent as much time around F1 as Erica. She loves it.

These are good photos, but her viewfinder inevitably finds its way to Faye and Alice, waving side by side. The height difference between them is truly comical. Alice isn’t the only tall driver, but F1 drivers skew short. Not as short as Faye, though. Usually.

She snaps several pictures, basking in the vibes and anticipation.

FF1

The party is beginning, and watching everyone drinking champagne and not being able to have any is ****.

“What do you think, then?” Alice turns with her bottle of sparkling water to find Lewis Hamilton beside her. He wears insane sunglasses that she could never pull off and has about him an air of calm and relaxation that she can only envy.

“About what?” Alice has to be cool. She’s met Lewis a time or two at things, but never really spoken to him. She has only a normal amount of hero-worship for the greatest driver of all time, but still.

He gives her a little look, or at least she thinks he does. It’s the sunglasses.

“Discourse,” he says dryly.

Oh. He means having everybody talking. It’s true that FUTA has really seized the spotlight, at least for this one brief moment.

“Which part of it?”

“All of it, mate. How are you coping?”

“Not well,” Alice admits.

He looks cool as hell with his arms folded like this. “Remember. If you don’t give them something to talk about, they’ll find something. If you give it to them, you control what it is.” He puts a hand out quickly. “I don’t mean you should try to be in control. Because you can’t. None of us can. But you have some power. You understand?”

Alice nods. “I think so.”

“And when it goes bad, it’s quick.” He snaps his finger. “Always something else comes along. Remember that.”

Right. Even if Alice screws up, the news cycle will swallow it up within days or weeks.

“Breathe, mate.”

She smiles. “Thanks.”

“Is it true, then?”

“Huh?” She’s puzzled.

He looks past her toward Faye, who is with Glynda, Toto, and Christian Horner.

“Oh my god,” Alice says, looking away and blushing.

“Oh, man,” Lewis says, watching her reaction. “You know that Glynda’s mates with like a load of Continuity IRA lads and mobsters and stuff, right?”

“Wait, the wait?”

“You got the biggest balls on this boat, mate.” Lewis claps her on the shoulder and walks away, chuckling.