2021 Season

AZERBAIJAN GRAND PRIX

BAKU, AZERBAIJAN

WHAT HAPPENED IN BAKU

PART ONE

Pierre Gasly had done it. A P3 finish in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, and Dakota had coached him to it over the radio. As soon as he had crossed the line, Mac was over the fence, Franz and Jake yelling at her to come back before penalties were given out as she threw her arms around the Frenchman once he was out of the car.

Now, four hours later, they were in a dive bar, the entire team taking up the back corner, other drivers and mechanics scattered throughout. The bar was closed to the general public, but some fans had been gathered outside when they arrived, drivers more than willing to sign autographs.

Dakota was dancing under the lights, drunkenly screaming the words to 'Spice Up Your Life' by the Spice Girls as she danced. She wasn't drunk yet, just tipsy as she danced with Carolyn.

Yuki was watching her from across the table, his chin in his hand, elbow resting on the table as he watched her in complete awe. He'd been in love with her since they first met at the factory in Faenza, the first day that he showed up to run simulator time.

"I can't believe none of you are dancing!" Dakota scoffed, turning towards one of the other tables. "Nobody wants to dance with me?"

"It's on principal!" Pierre insisted. "Christian Horner's wife is signing this, so I'm not gonna do it."

Jake Volkov roared with laughter. "Good man, Gasly. Good man."

"All right, all right!" A voice shouted from one of the nearby tables. "I'll bite. Let's do this thing."

The entire Aston Martin table cheered as Lance Stroll got to his feet, crossing to the empty floor where Dakota was and taking her hands in his, backing the two of them away from the AlphaTauri table. 

"So, when are you going to tell Yuki how you feel?" Lance asked quietly, lazily attempting a half-assed salsa dance while his mind was somewhere else entirely. "You can't just not say anything. How long has it been since you went on a real date?"

"You know the pandemic stalled every single aspect of my life."

"Is that a gentle way of saying that you were depressed?"

"Fuck you, Strulovitch."

"I regret telling you my real last name."

"It's on Wikipedia, Lancelot."

"Not my name."

From the other end of the AlphaTauri table, it was obvious to anybody in a ten foot radius that Yuki Tsunoda was madly in love with Dakota McManus as he stared in wonder at the Australian as she danced, and the way her body moved in the tight black dress that she was wearing.

"Dude, why don't you just say something?" Pierre remarked, exhausted at watching his teammate flounder in affairs of the heart. "I can tell you for a fact that she likes you too."

"But what about her job? What if the FIA fire her or something? Obviously it's like, a conflict of interest, especially if we break up."

Pierre raised an eyebrow. "Do you plan on breaking up with her?"

"No!"

"Then what is the problem?!"

Back on the dancefloor, Lance and Dakota were having a much quieter, and much more serious version of that conversation as the song changed, blasting Bye Bye Bye by *NSYNC.

"Covid changed me, as a person."

"You moved in with a man whose girlfriend had just broken up with him, and had a daughter under a year old."

"Daniil needed me. And I needed to feel needed. It's nice to feel like you have a place in people's lives."

"And you don't know what to do when you don't feel needed any more. Your mind shuts down."

She really hated it when Lance was right.

"I can't, Lance. This job means everything to me. I barely have anything outside of this job that I was able to bring halfway across the world with me. My life is in Australia."

"Then maybe it's time for you to finally build a new one in Italy."

Dakota stopped, Lance tripping over his feet as he wondered if he had said or done anything wrong.

"Mac? Are you alright."

"I've lived in Italy for four years now. But after grandad's stroke, everything has just felt off, like my life was tilted off balance. And I haven't been able to get that stability back."

Lance's expression softened. "I think Yuki could be really good for you. I think he could be what you need in order to get that stability, Dakota."

"I only just got promoted this season, and there's already so much attention on me because of how and-"

"Stop making excuses." The Aston Martin driver gestured towards the long table. "Look at him. He's perfect for you, and you know it. I see it in your face every day when you walk into the paddock, and anybody with a brain can tell when they listen to the way that you talk to him on the radio."

"Lance.."

"Don't "Lance..." me, young lady."

"There is a month between us, jackass."

"What do you have to lose?"

Back at the table, Ilies Nadri's head shot up at the song change, and he matched eyes with Pierre before turning to Yuki. 

"Hey kid. This song right here, "Hungry Eyes"? It's from Dirty Dancing, which is Dakota's favourite movie of all time."

Ilies should know, he and Dakota dated for half a year before they realized the relationship wasn't going anywhere, and that they were better off as friends.

"It's true." Pierre agreed, taking a sip of the scotch in his wine tumbler. "This is fate, which means you need to go and ask her to dance."

Lance was giving Dakota a similar look. "Mac, you should go and dance with him."

"Lance." She hissed in warning

"Dakota." Lance mimed, pushing the Aussie in the direction of the AlphaTauri table.

Dakota and Yuki awkwardly met each other in the middle, pushed on by friends on either side. Pierre winked at her before gesturing wildly towards the rookie with a smile as she looped her arms around the shorter man's neck, the two swaying gently from side to side while Eric Carmen crooned in the background.

All of her senses were acutely aware of what was in front of her: Yuki's cologne, his warm hands on the parts of her back that was exposed through her dress. The sound of her beating heart as the distance between the two of them got smaller and smaller.

"Hi." she said quietly, looking at the driver.

"Hi." Yuki flushed, staring back, lost in her hazel eyes.

Pierre grinned. Everything was happening just the way that he had hoped it would. If he was a betting man, and let's be honest, there is no universe where Pierre Gasly is not a betting man, he would have guessed that Yuki and Dakota would be in a relationship within the next week.

He would have bet his podium trophy on it. He knows better now. 

As soon as Yuki kissed her, he knew he had messed up. It was too soon, too desperate, pressing his lips to hers during the saxophone solo. He knew he shouldn't have ever taken Pierre's advice when it came to something as important as his relationship with Dakota Elaine McManus.

When she pulled away, he couldn't tell what was going on his her eyes, a sea of emotions that he couldn't read.

Dakota would have called it fear, panic. 

The thing she wanted more than anything was right in front of her, and that scared the shit out of her.

"I need to leave." She said simply, dropping Yuki's arms and running in the other direction, Pierre, Ilies and Lance shouting after her as she vanished into a sea of bodies.