'Hey, I'm on my lunch break now. Where are you?' Valeria texted Seb.

They had exchanged a few texts during the weekend. Mostly Valeria complaining about being hungover and Seb telling her about his PT sessions. They hadn't managed to find a time to meet, so they had decided to meet at the factory.

'sim room, do you know how to get here? 😏'

'following the signs?'

'They grow up so quickly'

Valeria snorted at his reply. She loved his cheek even before she had met him. If she liked the guy as a driver before, now she had realised he was a pretty good human too. And cute. But she had tried to brush that off. She couldn't afford to jeopardise her career for a crush. Seb had been the face of the sport for years, she needed to realise he had better things to do than care about her.

She knocked on the door. Riccardo,his race engineer, opened up.

'Hello, Valeria' he greeted her. 'how are you?'

'I'm all good and you? Riccardo, right?' she asked.

'Correct. I'm very well, thank you' he smiled. 'Seb's just doing a lap, he'll be out soon' Valeria turned to the simulator, watching Seb drive through the Barcelona circuit. She had forgotten what it felt like, driving on a circuit. She sat next to Riccardo, popping her bag by the side.

'hey, sorry I kept you waiting' Seb told her with a smile. 'Thanks for returning it' he added, as she passed him his jacket.

'i tried to sell it on ebay, but nobody wanted it.' She joked. 'how's the sim?'

'Very good, wanna try?' he asked. Valeria wasn't sure if he was joking or not, her forehead wrinkling as she looked at him. 'I'm not joking, Charles told me you used to kart?' he added with a smile.

'Can I really?' she asked.

'yes of course' Seb nodded.

Valeria sat on the seat. She looked at the wheel, it had a lot more buttons than she expected. She had played a few simulator games, she even had a rig back at home, but this was the real stuff.

'Front brake bias, differential, DRS, engine modes...' Seb had seen her confused look and had started to explain the buttons. 'accelerator, brake' he added.

'sorry, which is which again?' she joked. 'excuse the socks, I can't do this in boots.' She added, taking her shoes off and showing off her bright non matching socks.

'Do I need to speak to Enrico and get you a raise so you can buy matching socks?' Seb joked, making her laugh. 'when you're ready, press that' he pointed at a button.

Valeria took a deep breath and pressed start. She drove through the circuit, managing not to crash or spin out, narrowly doing so a couple of times as she missed the breaking point.

'Not bad, not bad' Seb said. He did look fairly impressed, she thought.

'yeah, tyres a bit square. Sorry, Riccardo' she joked. 'Man this is making me miss karting a bit. Thanks, Seb!'she put her boots back on and walked out of the sim room.

She walked to the canteen to grab some lunch and sat at an empty table. She got her phone out and opened her chat with her dad.

'Just did a lap on the Ferrari sim and, apart from a couple of square tyres, I didn't crash on anything. Hope you're proud. Missing you and everyone else.' She texted.

'I'm always proud of you, baby.' He replied.

Valeria smiled. She was almost 29, but being the youngest in the family, everyone had always called her the baby. She put her phone down and turned her attention to the book she has taken out of the bag.

'Why are you sitting by yourself?' Domenico had appeared out of nowhere, making her jump. 'Reading? Stephen Hawking? Nerd alert!' he joked.

'It wouldn't hurt you to open a book and shut your mouth sometimes' she joked. 'we're going to be travelling around the world together, I will always have a book. You're more than welcome to interrupt my reading with cocktails though'

'we're at work' he pretended to be shocked.

'So, when are these incredible nights out happening? We're almost ready for winter testing.'

'We'll plan one in Barcelona. You'll see' he smirked. 'you can even bring your driver friends, they never come out'

'Oh, well, I can try with Charles, but he will probably say no. You know first year and that?'

'you're a newbie too' he told her.

'it doesn't matter, I'm not famous' she joked.

Seb had just got to the canteen too. He had spent enough time in the simulator, he thought, he needed to recharge and start again. He grabbed a sandwich and looked around the canteen for a quiet spot. He clocked Valeria laughing with Domenico and felt a little hint of something he could describe as jealousy. He brushed it off, as he sat down with Riccardo and Britta.

'Britta, could you do me a favour?' he asked her. 'can you try and book Fiorano for Friday night?'

'sure, may I ask why?' she smirked. She knew Seb well enough to know that the new girl had attracted his attention. And finally, she might add. He hadn't been interested in anything but racing in a while, she worried about him.

'you let me know if I can and then I'll let you know why I need it' he replied, a cheeky smile on his face.

Friday

Valeria had just got home and she was knackered. She turned on the TV she always left in the background since she lived by herself, put her home attire on and threw herself on the sofa.

'busy?' Seb had just texted her.

That was out of the blue, even for Seb. 'if you call watching Netflix and drinking wine being busy, then yes'

'Open the door' he replied. What? The door? She jumped up at the sound of the doorbell. She darted out of the living room to check herself up in the mirror. She took her glasses off, checked her braids and fixed the smudged mascara she had been too lazy to take off.

'it's cold?' he messaged again, as the doorbell rang again. She ran to the door and opened up.

'Hello, finally! I thought I was going to freeze before the start of the season' he joked.

'please come in' she said. She couldn't think anything else. She had so many questions. 'What are you doing here? And how do you know where I live?' she asked.

'The things you can find out when you're me' he winked. Being smug didn't suit him at all, she thought. 'I have a little surprise for you, if you'd follow me'

'Seb, I'm in my comfies. I haven't even taken a shower'

'you don't need one and what you're wearing is fine.' He replied.

'Where are we going?'

'I told you it's a surprise' he repeated. Valeria didn't want to admit it, but she was feeling quite excited. Why was Sebastian Vettel in her flat? What had he organised and why had he organised it?

'OK, then. Give me a minute. I'll just change into something a bit more acceptable for the outside world. Please make yourself at home.' She picked up a blanket from the floor of the living room.

'What the hell are you watching?' he asked, laughing, as Hitler appeared on her TV.

'Oh dear god. It's world war two in colour, I swear. I'm not a nazi, I just like history' she blushed.

'good, me neither, you know?' he laughed.

'fucking hell. Embarrassing. I'll be back' she walked out, feeling like she needed to Bury herself for a day or two to reduce the embarrassment of having welcomed a 4 time world champion in her flat by shoving Hitler on her tv screen.

She changed into a pair of comfortable jeans and a bright jumper. She put her favourite sunflower vans on and went back to the German.

'Ready?' he asked.

'I guess?' she joked, following him. He had parked his Ferrari behind her 500. 'giving me some serious inferiority complex here, Vettel' she joked.

'I thought you might like to get into one of these' he smiled.

Valeria got in, trying not to completely loose it. She looked around the car, her brain not able to compute what was happening to her. She listened to the engine revving and felt a shiver.

'Driving these in a town must feel so restrictive' she said. 'I have always wanted to drive a supercar on the autobahn or on a circuit for that matter' she added.

'blasting out some Rammstein?' he teased her.

'hey, they're probably the best thing to have come out of Germany' she mocked him.

'Ouch.' He laughed.

'wait, are we going to work? Vettel are you that sad? Working on a Friday night?' she asked.

'Closeby' he replied, cryptically. Not long after he parked up at the gates for Fiorano. 'You said you missed karting?' he told her.

'what the fuck, Seb?' she asked, a wide smile on her face.

'We've got this for a couple of hours. See if you can beat me' he replied. Seeing her that happy could only make him feel happy himself. 'this is for you' he told her, passing her a racing suit. He had got her a simple red suit, no logos, just her name embroidered by the hips, with a little Italian flag. She changed into it and grabbed her racing shoes and gloves.

'I guessed you used to race under Italian flag. The only British thing you have is an accent' he told her, as she walked out. He had changed into a similar version of her suit, with a little German flag and Seb embroidered in the same place.

'You'd be correct.' she smiled, as she tried a couple of different helmets. She found one that fit and she followed the German onto the circuit.

'You know, I raced with the number 5 for a while' she told him. 'it's my dad's favourite number'

Seb smiled, he liked to find out random facts about her. 'Even if dad's favourite driver is, of course, Charles' she concluded.

'Ouch again! You just want to kill me tonight' he laughed. 'and who's yours?' he asked, curious.

'you really need me to spell it out, don't you?' she laughed. Seb looked at her confused. 'it's you, ok?' she said , nervously chuckling. 'if we're talking current. Otherwise, Michael, but i think that's obvious.' She added.

'Oh, wow. Thanks' he said. She looked up to him, with a raised eyebrow. He did look surprised, how could he? He should know by now that he was one of the most appreciated faces of the sport.

'Anytime.' She smiled. 'now let me kick your ass, so I can tell everyone the story about the time I kicked a formula1 driver in the butt'

Seb smiled, as she put her helmet on. It took Valeria a few laps to get used to the circuit and the driving again. Seb had beaten her at every single race they had done.

'last one? Winner takes all?' Valeria asked him, checking her watch.

'Sure, why not? I can kick your ass one more time' he joked.

They got in the karts again. '3... 2... 1... lights out' Valeria thought, pressing on the accelerator. She had managed to get ahead of Seb by just a bit but she completely misjudged the breaking point for turn 3 and the German overtook her. She fought pretty close for the three laps they were doing, on the last straight she decided to go for it. She had overtaken him just before the finish line. She got out, jumping. 'I'm pretty sure you let me pass you, but... I'll take it. It was pretty close, this time' she laughed 'grazie a tutti, grazie ragazzi. Grande macchina' she teased him.

'fuck off!' he told her, laughing.

They changed back into their normal clothes and left the circuit. 'Seb, thank you so much. I hadn't had this much fun in a while. Thanks for reminding me about how good this felt.' She told him, a massive smile beaming.

'anytime, Vale' he replied. 'I'll take you back home, now'

Valeria spent the car journey in silence, so much going through her head. Why had Seb done that for her? Why was she starting to feel feelings she didn't want to? Why did he have to smile at her and send her brain in override?

She nervously touched her tattoo. A habit she picked up since she had it done, she used to touch it every time she felt unsure, or scared. Any time she would have liked to have Jules with her to ask him for advice or for him to tell her she was being stupid.

'is that for Jules?' Seb had asked her out of the blue.

'yeah' she smiled, showing him the full tattoo as he stopped at a traffic light. 'we were quite good friends' she added.

'I'm sorry' he told her, a sad smile on his face.

'thanks' she replied. It was still weird talking about Jules, for her. It was like her brain had compartmentalised it away.

'here we are' Seb said, as he parked behind her car again.

'Thank you so much, Seb. I loved this. Really' she beamed.

'anytime, Vale. Oh, this is for you too.' he told her, giving her a little present.

'What? What is it?' Valeria asked confused.

'Open it' he smirked.

'Socks, clever' she laughed. Seb had got her a few pairs of brightly coloured socks.

'now you can wear them properly or mix and match' he joked. 'I'll see you in Barcelona' he added.

'bye, Vettel. Thank you.' she kissed his cheek.

'bye, Proietti' he replied, watching her walk in and damning himself for not having kissed her.