It was the day of the team opening dinner and party. Valeria had ordered a dress and a pair of shoes. She didn't like wearing girly things, but she knew she couldn't show up to her first team outing in sweats and converse.

'Have you got a plus one for tonight?' Pietro asked her.

'Wait, we can have plus ones?' she asked curious.

'Yeah, did you not read the invite?' he joked. They had worked together a few weeks now and had got quite close. Their friendly banter had started to annoy the whole floor.

'you know i can't read' she replied. 'well, I have nobody anyways. I'll ask a random person on the street. So is it today I'm meeting this famous Stefano? I need to ask him tips on how to survive a whole season with you' she teased him.

'I already warned him not to speak to you' he joked. 'but he asked me to invite you to ours for pre-drinks' he added.

'oh, I will be there. Where there's alcohol, there's me'

'Now I see why you didn't purse that karting career' he laughed.

Valeria looked in the mirror once more. She had curled her long auburn hair and had pinned it up as best as she could, following an internet tutorial. She fixed her lipstick and put her bracelet and gold necklace on. She grabbed her clutch bag and ordered a taxi to Pietro's place. She grabbed the bottle of wine she had bought and walked out of the building.

A few minutes later, she found herself knocking on his door.

'oh dear god, who are you?' Pietro joked, kissing her cheek.

'your worse nightmare, I think' she joked, following him inside.

'Stefano, Valeria. Valeria, Stefano' he introduced her to his partner. 'Wine?' he offered.

'Please' she replied.

'are you excited? Scared? Worried? He asked, as he poured the largest glass of wine he could.

'I'm excited, I heard it's open bar' she laughed.

'it is, yeah. You'd expect Ferrari to have enough money to pay for a couple of drinks'

'Couple? Pietro, I'm half British. It won't be a couple' she joked.

'Please, don't get drunk before they introduce you' he told her, a fatherly tone in his voice.

'Introduce me?' she asked confused.

'Yeah, they always introduce the newbies. You, Charles and some other aerodynamics guy. Not many, we don't get much turnover here' he explained.

'shit. Do I have to go on stage?' she asked.

'Yes, it was in the invitation' he laughed. 'here' he made her read it.

'I HAVE TO GIVE A SPEECH?' She shrieked as both the men laughed out loud. 'DAMN. Do you have pen and paper? How long have I got?'

'10 minutes before the cab arrives.' He told her, passing her some paper.

'Damn.' She started scribbling. 'wait, what language?'

'English' he replied with a laugh, as he watched her delete what she had written and started again. She finished off her glass, just as they had to leave the flat.

'Be my guinea pigs please' she said, as she read out her speech in the cab.

'perfect. And it works even better when you have a cute British accent' Stefano told her, trying to distract her.

She smiled. 'thank you.' She said.

Pietro helped her out of the cab, they had arrived to a fancy Manor hotel in the middle of a woodland area. Valeria could see a golf course, tennis courts and signs for a spa. 'damn this is fancy' she said. 'I wish I had read the invitation and booked a room'she added, making the two men laugh.

They were offered glasses of champagne as soon as they had signed in. Valeria could see a couple of people she had met before, but tried to stick with Pietro and his partner. She wasn't good at meeting new people, she always felt like she had nothing to say.

She spotted Charles talking to Seb, the girl next to him being Giada, she thought. He looked so grown-up in his Ferrari suit, laughing along to something the German had said. Her eyes met the ocean blue ones of Seb and she realised she must have stared a bit too long. He raised his glass, smiling. Charles turned around, calling her towards them.

'sorry, guys, be right back' she told her party, walking towards Charles.

'Valérie, you look great' he told her. 'this is Giada' he introduced her to his girlfriend. 'and this is Seb' he added, in English.

'nice to meet you'she told Giada, who hugged her. 'and I have met Seb, hello again' she told him, shaking his hand.

'how formal' he joked 'why don't I get a hug?' 

'I thought that was the German way' she replied, with a laugh. 'I mean, who am I to offend a 4 time world champion?' she opened her arms, letting the German hug her. She inhaled his cologne for a second. She stayed there chatting for a while, getting to know Giada and Seb as she and Charles also had some more time to take trips down memory lane.

They were called in the big reception room. Tables were scattered around. It looked like the departments boundaries had been kept and Valeria joined Pietro and Stefano and the rest of the marketing team.

Louis Camilleri took the stage. 'hello everyone, welcome to a new season. I will not stand here too long to bore you with numbers and strategies, you have all been in enough meetings about it... and if you haven't, lucky you' he joked. 'today is, as usual, a welcome. A new beginning. A day where we learn from our mistakes and hope to fix them. In the interest of this, let's welcome a few more people to the team. You might have already met them, but let's give them a Ferrari welcome! Can you guys please join us on stage? Paolo Rossi, Valeria Proietti and, naturally, Charles Leclerc!' Valeria nervously got up. She felt like the whole room was staring at her, even if she knew they were probably trying to catch a glimpse of Charles.

'have you got your speeches?' Louis asked them, after having shaken their hands.

'yeah' they replied.

'well, leaving the stage to them'

Paolo was first, he said something about thanking the team for having made him feel at home and something about the car. She couldn't really concentrate, as she stood behind him, thinking about keeping a smiley face and not show everyone she was shitting herself.

'I'll pass the stage on to Valeria, now' she heard her name and tried not to faint. Jesus, it was her job to speak in public and she was absolutely petrified. Good start, she thought, catching a glimpse of Mattia Binotto sitting at one of the first tables. She caught a glimpse of Seb too, he was looking at her, a smile on his face. 'he's cute' she thought. 'idiot... concentrate' she added as she was given the microphone.

'hello everyone' she started. 'Jesus, there's a lot of us' she continued. 'hello, even to the people at the back' she said giving them a little wave, clearing her throat. 'my name is Valeria Proietti and, don't get fooled by the British accent, I am more Roman than... carbonara and supplì.' She stopped as some people were chuckling. 'I have been with marketing just shy of a month and I want to thank everyone for being so friendly and helpful. Be it with setting up my IT, sharing a cup of coffee or just directing me to the exit when I got lost; you have all had an impact on my first experience with Ferrari, a brand that always made me proud to be Italian. Can't wait for the real scary stuff to start. Thank you' she passed the microphone over to Charles.

She took a deep breath, to calm her nerves, as she listened to her friend talk about how happy he was to have joined the Ferrari family. Not long after Mattia took the stage, as Valeria walked back to her table.

'You've done well, for having written this in 10 minutes. You even made some people laugh' Pietro joked. 'I expected myself to be pointed at, at least, but I'll take the fact that I'm your IT support' he poured her a glass of red wine. 'now you can drink'

'thanks for keeping me in order' she told him, giving him a little nudge.

They enjoyed a wonderful dinner and , once they had dessert, Valeria felt really full and tired.

'oh there's more to come. This is just dinner. There's the after dinner now' Pietro told her. 'they open up the bar and this becomes a dance-floor'

'Damn, I hate dancing' she said. 'I'll need lots of drinks for that' she laughed, walking to the bar. 'What are you guys drinking?'

'I'll stay on the red wine' Pietro said.

'me too' Stefano agreed.

'Hi' she smiled at the bartender. 'can I have two glasses of the Merlot and an Americano, please?' he made the drinks and she threw a note in his tip jar. 'Here' she told her companions. 'I'm going for a cigarette' she added, walking outside. It was freezing and she had left her coat at the cloakroom. She shivered and lit her cigarette, hopping from one foot to the other.

'you really didn't dress for the weather' she could recognise that voice anywhere. She turned around to find two cerulean blue eyes stare at her.

'are you following me, Mr Vettel? I swear I see you everywhere I turn' she joked.

'Just needed fresh air' he replied, he was taking his jacket off. He passed it to her. 'please don't freeze to death before the season starts'

'thanks' she smiled.

'thank you for making me part of your speech' he joked. 'you really haven't made many friends if I ended up in it'

'Don't flatter yourself, you're not the only one who found me lost around the place' she joked. 'And who says we're friends?'

'ouch. I have been nothing but nice to you' he joked.

'Aren't you nice to everyone? Isn't that a thing?' she raised an eyebrow, amused.

'well, yes. But that wasn't my point' he laughed. He liked her. She had an aura around her that made him want to know her more. Also, she was pretty, but that wasn't his main interest. 'Can I ask where the British accent is from?' he asked curious.

'Oh, I heard you had a thing for British accents and I thought I'd put it on' she joked. 'damn, sorry, I actually said that. I might be slightly tipsy' she said, looking up to him. Was she wrong or did he actually look pleased? 'mum's from London. I lived in the UK for a few years when I went to uni, so I guess the accent is from London?' she threw her cigarette butt in the ashtray and grabbed her cocktail.

'wow, nice. Sorry, people are calling me, I'll interrogate you another time' he started to walk off 'And yeah, you're right. I do like a British accent' he winked, leaving her there, still wearing his jacket.

She walked back in, looking for Pietro and Stefano who were on the dance-floor. She went to the bar with the intention of getting another cocktail. 'welcome to the team' a guy told her. 'I'm Domenico and this is Giorgio. We're in Charles' mechanic crew' they explained. 'sambuca?' they offered.

'Hell yeah' she told them, as they passed her a shot and she ordered another americano. 'How frowned upon is getting blackout drunk at these parties?' she asked them.

'not much, everyone does.' Domenico replied. She stood at the bar with them for a while, getting to know about the team and the formula1 parties. 'I like you. You are now one of us' he told her. 'If you give me your number I'll add you to a couple of group chats, we do some great nights out'

'Is that what you call it nowadays? Adding me to a group chat?' she joked, as she typed her number in his phone and gave it back to him. Her eyes caught Seb's again. 'damn, he is everywhere I look. Or maybe I want him to be.' She thought, trying to look elsewhere.

Domenico laughed. 'you wish, I'm taken, honey' he joked, showing her his wedding ring.

'Damn, it's always the best ones' she replied. 'looking forward to that invite, yeah?' she said, as she walked off to join her colleague again.

A few hours later, Valeria was fully drunk and ready to go to bed. She walked to the cloakroom and grabbed her coat back. She still had Seb's jacket. She looked around for his blonde hair and couldn't see him anywhere. Instead she found Charles and Giada.

'Carletto, do you know where Seb is? I have his jacket' she told him.

'I'm not sure. Do you want me to call him?' he offered.

'Please' she replied.

'how comes you have Seb's jacket anyways?' he asked, a smirk on his face.

'I was cold, he offered it to me.' She shrugged.

'hey Seb, Vale has your jacket, she's wondering where you are. Oh, ok. Yeah, I hope she feels better soon. Ok, see you on Monday' he hung up. 'he left, Britta wasn't feeling really well and he made sure she got home safe' he explained. 'he said to keep it and bring it back on Monday, if he doesn't see you sooner. He asked for your number to sort out picking it up at the weekend, am i OK sending it to him?'

'Yeah sure' she replied. Sebastian Vettel was going to have her number. Nothing to panic about.