morning coffee

MADELYN WAS NERVOUS AS SHE AND OSCAR HEADED TO THE GATE DANIEL HAD TOLD THEM ABOUT. She was paranoid that the security guard wouldn't let them in, and that she would embarrass herself I front of lots of people. But for Oscar's sake, she stayed calm as they walked.

Oscar was practically skipping towards the paddock, as excited as ever. His dream of watching a Formula One race from inside a real F1 garage was too good to be true. Oscar never thought in a million years he would be a) talking to Daniel Ricciardo, and b) his personal guest for a grand prix. It was wild.

They reached the gate and the security guard stopped her. "Madelyn Craft?" he asked.

Madelyn frowned slightly. "Uh yeah." she replied hesitantly. The guard asked for ID to confirm that she was who she said she was and she showed him her drivers licence. He seemed satisfied and told her to follow him.

Madelyn was already getting bored of having to follow people around the track all day, but she grasped Oscar's hand and they began to walk.

They walked past the Mercedes Garage, where Oscar frantically pointed out Valterri Bottas to Madelyn as they walked.

They went by the Ferrari garage, the McLaren garage. Oscar freaked out when he spotted Zak Brown walking into the garage, and gasped loudly.

Madelyn couldn't help smile at Oscar's enthusiasm. She didn't think she'd ever seen him that happy ever before.

Finally, the signature yellow of the Renault garage came into view. Daniel's head popped out from the garage and his mouth turned upwards into a grin. "Oscar' My man."

Daniel jogged forward slightly and Oscar ran up to meet him. Daniel held his hand out for him to fist bump, and then threw an arm around Oscar's shoulders, which was a struggle considering the height difference between the two.

Madelyn raised her eyebrows at their interaction. Daniel had known Oscar a day, had met him for 20 minutes at Maximum, but the two were acting like they were related.

Daniel looked towards the security guard that was stood by Madelyn. "Thanks Dyl, I got them."

The security guard, who Madelyn now assumed was called Dylan, gave Daniel a small smile and nod, before walking off.

Daniel caught Madelyn's eye. "Hey." he said, smiling at her. He held his breath as he waited for a response. He couldn't stop thinking about her all night and all day, and he desperately wanted her to like him. He didn't know why, and that too was eating him up.

Madelyn sighed gently. "Hi." she said. She wasn't blunt or sarcastic like she had been the day before, she didn't seem annoyed at Daniel or in a bad mood. She seemed fine.

Daniel let out a sigh of relief. His smile widened. He turned to Oscar. "Come on mate." he said gesturing his head towards the garage entrance.

Oscar turned his head towards his sister. "Mads come on!" he said excitedly, before rushing off into the garage.

Madelyn let out a chuckle at Oscar's rush. Daniel shook his head smiling, before turning to Madelyn. "Morning." he said. "You're in a good mood." he said, in an attempt to make a joke. As soon as the words came out of his mouth he regretted it, worried he'd pushed a button.

But she only smiled. "Yeah, I'm not fully awake yet Ricciardo. You got any coffee in that garage?"

Daniel nodded. "Yeah. Yeah we got coffee." he said.

Madelyn nodded back. "Until I have it in my hand I won't believe you." she said sarcastically, shrugging her shoulders.

Daniel gave her a sarcastic look back. "Mhm really?" he said, continuing the conversation.

"Yep." Madelyn said. "And stop mocking me." she said smiling at him.

Daniel chuckled. "Come on. I'll get you coffee."

They began to walk into the garage. It was only then Madelyn realised how he was dressed. His curly hair was messed up, she assumed from his helmet, and his overalls were hanging at his waist. Through the thin material he was wearing underneath, his abs were visible, and Madelyn snapped her head away before he caught her looking.

The pair stopped walking when they saw Oscar stood in the garage, his jaw to the floor as he stared at Daniel's car which the mechanics were surrounding.

"Impressed?" Daniel asked him. Oscar turned around to face them and nodded frantically. Daniel laughed, before a voice caught his attention.

"Danny Ric. Get you're ass over here."

Daniel smiled at the man, before turning to Oscar, "Want to meet my teammate?"

Oscar's eyes widened. "Nico Hulkenburg?" he asked in awe.

Daniel shook his head. "No,no,no it's Nico Huuulkenburg." he said, stretching the u out, in a terrible accent.

Madelyn sit her eyes as she shook her head at Daniel's attempted German accent. Oscar burst into a fit of giggles at Daniel however, who took a hold of the young boys shoulders, gently guiding his over to his teammate. Madelyn followed them.

She found herself stood in front of a tall blonde man, dressed in the same overalls as Daniel, but he had his done up rather than around his waist. He was holding a small paper cup in his hand, with a faint sent of coffee inside. Madelyn assumed this was Nico Hulkenburg.

"Ah. You must be the famous Oscar." Nico said, as he smiled down at the young boy before him. Oscar nodded, his eyes still wide. He was star struck again.

Madelyn's own eyes widened at his statement. "Talking about us. Great." she uttered.

Nico caught her words and looked up. "Madelyn I'm assuming. Well you match Daniel's description. To a T mate." he complimented Daniel's describing skills but patting his shoulder. Daniel sent him a glare. "Dude." he muttered, but Nico only winked at him.

"Yeah? And what did he describe me as?" Madelyn asked, glaring at Daniel.

Nico shrugged. "We'll just the basics, the brown hair and eyes, rough height estimate. Pretty, sarcastic. It fits." Nico said, not realising he had mentioned Daniel calling her 'pretty' before it was too late.

Madelyn said nothing, but her eyes began to switch between Daniel and Nico, a surprised expression on her face.

Nico sent his friend a sorry look, backing away at the daggers Daniel was glaring at him. He placed his coffee down on the table beside him, and clapped his hands together, swiftly changing the subject. "Well uh, Oscar? Why don't I take you on a tour of the garage? Daniel you can get our guests some food. Y'know, be a good host." Nico said.

Before Madelyn could interrupt, Nico had steered Oscar off and was pointing out things on the walls and on the car. She turned to look at Daniel who had his face in his hands, internally planing Nico's sudden death.

"Well, Mr Race Car driver thinks I'm pretty." she thought to herself. "This is all Dom's fault. I don't know how, it just is."

"Um, so that coffee?" she said in an attempt to change the very awkward subject. "I still don't have a cup in my hands Ricciardo."

Daniel looked up at her, his brown eyes staring into her own. "Yeah. Yeah come on." he said.

Daniel began to walk with Madelyn towards the coffee machine. "Please, don't pay any attention to Nico. He's always morning drinking doesn't know what he's talking about." he said, laughing awkwardly.

Madelyn pursed her lips, "Uh, not to make this any more awkward but you've just been in the car for an hour, so it's y'know pretty obvious he's sober." she said.

Daniel nodded. "Yeah, that's true."

"And they say drink words are sober thoughts so, it wouldn't have been a great excuse anyways." she said giving him an apologetic smile. Daniel gave her a look that told her she wasn't helping the situation. She coughed slightly. "Sorry I'll stop."

They reached the coffee machine and Daniel took out two cups, and started to make the coffee. Once they were ready he handed one over to her. She took two sugar packets from the rack and stirred them into her coffee.

She looked up and saw Daniel staring at her open mouthed. "What?" she asked hesitantly.

"You have two sugars in you're coffee?"

Madelyn frowned slightly, "Yeah, what about it."

"I do to! My PT will not get off my back about it! Neither will any of my friends. But now I know someone else who drinks coffee with two sugars." he said in relief.

Madelyn's eyes widened. "It's weird is it?" she asked.

Daniel shook his head. "Absolutely not. It's completely normal. Everyone else is just a weirdo."

Madelyn sighed in triumph. "Take that Dom. A professional athlete takes two coffees in his sugar."

Daniel's expression dropped slightly. "Who's Dom?" he asked, trying to sound casual.

"Oh Dom is my best friend Beau's boyfriend. Oscar and I live with them. They're both Doctors and he's not got off my back about taking sugar in my coffee from the day Beau introduced us." she explained, not picking up on Daniel's change in emotion.

Daniel's face lightened back up as he realised Dom wasn't with Madelyn. "Well you should tell you're Doctor friends I do it when you get back."

He reached his arm around Madelyn to grab two sugars from the rack. His arm brushed against Madelyn's and she felt a tingle up her arm. She cleared her throat and went back to stirring her coffee.

"If it makes you feel any better about what Nico said, I suppose you're pretty on paper." she said, not looking up from her coffee. She could feel Daniel's eyes on her and could picture his smug smile.

"You think I'm attractive?" he said, a smug tone in his voice. "Is that why you won't talk to me? I'm just too hot to handle?"

Madelyn looked up and pointed a finger at him. "That's not what I said." Daniel nodded at her sarcastically, a smug smile still adorned on his face. Madelyn shook her head. "No, do not twist my words Ricciardo. And for you're information you're not my type." she lied.

He was. He was exactly her type. But he didn't need to know that.

Daniel raised a brow, moving closer to her. "Oh yeah? And what is your type?" he asked smoothly.

Madelyn couldn't look away from his eyes, not wanting him to know she was lying. He probably already did, from his stance and his tone, but Madelyn was determined.

"Not that it's any of your business, but uh," she scanned the room quickly for any inspiration. "That guy." she said, pointing at someone who had just walked into the garage.

Daniel looked over at where she was pointing, and his smug smile kept growing. "Really huh?"

"Yep." she said firmly. But his tone was worrying her, it seemed to had gotten worse. He was enjoy this and she didn't know why.

"That guy. Hm okay." he said boxing his head. There was silence for a few seconds before he poked his head up. "Lew! Over here buddy!" he called over to the guy.

"Oh shit." Madelyn muttered.

The man walked over to them and Daniel patted his shoulder. "Lewis, this is Madelyn. Madelyn, this is Lewis Hamilton." he said.

Madelyn's mouth dropped open. If there was an F1 driver Madelyn knew before this trip, it was Lewis Hamilton. "Oh my god."

Lewis nodded his head at her. "Nice to meet you Madelyn." he said.

Madelyn let out a nervous chuckle. "And you. Congratulations also, on... life." she said awkwardly.

Lewis laughed. "Well thank you." he said, giving her a warm smile.

Daniel looked between the two, giving Madelyn a cunning look. "Y'know it's interesting Lew, Madelyn was just telling me-"

"How big of a fan I am." Madelyn cut in. "And then you walked in! Crazy." she said. She moved closer to Daniel subtly, and stood harshly on his foot.

Daniel coughed loudly to mask his pain, and gave Madelyn a sarcastic smile, which she returned. Lewis  didn't notice this little interaction however. "Thank you Madelyn." he said, before turning to Daniel. "Sorry to just barge in but have you seen Seb today?"

Daniel's face dropped all the sarcasm and smugness as he answered his question. "Not today, but yesterday, I seen him with Billionaire Stroll."

Lewis' eyes widened. "What Lawrence? You don't think...?"

Daniel shrugged. "Don't know mate. You remember what he said about the prancing horses though the other day? Wouldn't surprise me." he said.

Madelyn looked back and forth between the two drivers, not understanding a word of what they were saying. Knowing better than to ask, she watched as their interaction continued.

Lewis sighed. "Okay. Well I'm gonna' go look for him. I'll see you later?" Daniel nodded. Lewis turned to Madelyn, "Nice to meet you."

"And you." Madelyn said, as Lewis left the garage. Daniel's smug look instantly merged back onto his face as he stared down at Madelyn, who refused to look at him. "I didn't know that a) that was you're friend or b) that it was freaking Lewis Hamilton okay? Cut me some slack."

Daniel held his hands up in mock surrender. "Alright." Madelyn looked up at him, and his smug expression was gone. He was just looking at her.

They stared at each other for a few moments before Madelyn cleared her throat and picked up her coffee. "Well, now you've met happy Madelyn. So congratulations." she said taking a sip of the warm liquid.

Daniel looked at her in disbelief. "This is happy Madelyn? What's the next stage ecstatic Madelyn where you act like a normal person who's happy?"

Madelyn gave him a sarcastic smile. "Either that it you could go the opposite way."

Daniel immediately shook his head. "Oh no. I'm not going down the scale over again. That shit was scary."

And Madelyn laughed at him. A loud, genuine laugh. Daniel smiled. He'd cracked her shell. He could sleep peacefully now.

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THEYRE LIKE AN OLD MARRIED COUPLE