ALICE Ch 147

CONSTRUCTOR’S CUP STANDINGS

1. Red Bull 160
2. FUTA 85
3. Aston Martin 83
4. Mercedes 68
5. Freedom 67
6. Ferrari 62
7. McLaren 37
8. Williams 22
9. AlphaTauri 16
10. Haas 6

“Ah! Fecker!” Glynda bursts out as Lora pinches her bottom.

“Wound a little tight, aren’t you?” Lora asks quietly. Glynda must’ve been in her own world of anxiety. “It’s supposed to be a party.”

The media is so fixated on Alice that Glynda has a rare moment to herself. With their backs to the sea, she and Lora drink champagne like water.

“I have a call with Annette.”

“When?”

“Half an hour.”

“She must be pleased.”

“No doubt she is.”

“Then why do you look as though you’re about to be fired?”

“When this team was established, expectations for this season were set. Points,” Glynda clarifies. “If I didn’t deliver a certain number of points by the summer break, I was out. That was the arrangement.”

“How many?” Lora asks.

“Fifty.”

“Dear Lord. Alice has given you that in just five races.”

“I know,” Glynda says tightly. “We’ve had some good luck. I don’t want the owners setting their expectations based on this.”

“Alice is very quick,” Lora suggests.

“I know that. What I don’t know is if she’s consistent. Reliable.”

“Seems to be so far. You can’t help it, can you? Waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“It always does,” Glynda says darkly.

“Was she always this cheerful?” Lora asks as Faye approaches. “Your mum?”

“Err…” Faye looks uncertain, clutching a can of ginger ale.

“This is your party,” Lora says, clapping her on the shoulder. “It’s your two points today that have us in second instead of tied with Aston. That’s all you, Faye.”

Faye blushes and looks uncertainly at her mother, who casts a murderous gaze toward Alice and Toto.

“What’s Toto want?” she mutters.

“I’m sure he’s congratulating her,” Lora replies.

Glynda’s hand tightens on her glass.

FF1

“No, no,” Alice laughs as Toto moves on, replaced by Erica Bruhl, who has stuck to her ruthlessly.

“It’s a story, Alice. The story of how Alice Wilde conquered her fear of Monaco,” Erica says, looking astoundingly beautiful in her dress. She doesn’t usually try this hard with her appearance, even for parties like this. She has gotten all dolled up, and Alice isn’t stupid.

“I didn’t conquer it,” Alice says. “I mean, fear’s not even the right word.”

Faye is wandering over.

“Faye,” Alice says, beckoning to her.

Blushing, Faye joins them.

“It was actually Faye,” Alice tells Erica. “I wasn’t afraid of Monaco. Monaco’s just higher stakes to me because it’s tight and easy to crash and I am scared of crashing because it’s expensive. It’s just a bad place for my insecurity, but Faye told me something that helped.”

“I did?” Faye peers up at Alice curiously.

“Yeah. It was, uh…” Alice thinks hard. Other journalists are clustering around them, following Erica’s lead for making a narrative out of this crazy weekend. “Uh… you know, thinking about things the right way. Like, I’m not locked in here with you, you’re locked in with me. I had to stop thinking about it like a scared person.” She pats Faye’s shoulder. “Remember?”

“Alice, I wasn’t trying to give you advice. I was explaining why Watchmen is such an enduring, you know, one of the reasons is that it has so many iconic lines…” Faye trails off, blushing. The journalists are all staring at her. Her face goes redder. She seems to have lost the ability to speak.

“Well, that’s what I took away from that,” Alice says. “I thought you were telling me to change my perspective.”

Frustrated and burning with embarrassment and the stress of having to act natural…ish, Faye glares up at her.

Alice feels a little bad for putting her on the spot this way. And misunderstanding, apparently. But Faye’s pretty cute when she’s like this. And as always, Alice’s elation does like to manifest as libido. Faye is looking profoundly kissable right now.

Under the bright stars and festive lights on the yacht, everyone is watching.

Should Alice kiss Faye?

Or just apologize and move on?