*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧—chapter two: what's your eta?

RACE WEEKENDS WERE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING LIKE TESTING. It involved so much more work than what Elsie Pearce is used to. Last year, she only had to do a few runs on the simulator, mainly, as well as going on runs in the mornings right when she woke up in order to actually wake up and do some lighter workouts in the gym. Now? She has to strictly follow the healthy diet she didn't give a fuck about on the weeks they had breaks between races, have a smoothie and some toast or a bowl of fruit for breakfast, and then go through her exercise routine with her trainer at the gym—do a mix of the treadmill, weights, the weighted jump rope, and some reaction training that she never passes up. It's more vigorous than before, and she's working up more of a sweat than normal by the time they're done and her body ached.

"Fuck," she curses, taking a seat on the bench and wiping her face with a towel. Her trainer, Thomas, hands her her water bottle. "Why is it so much work now?"

"Because it's Formula One?" Thomas says, bewildered as he stares at the girl who looks like she's about to pass out. "Jesus Christ, Elsie, I'm sorry. Do you need to lie down or something? I can get—"

"No, I'm fine." She takes several sips of water before handing the bottle back to him. "I just haven't raced properly since just before Danny came back, and this routine is different, so I'm not exactly used to it."

"Right," he says quietly in realization, nodding slowly. "Okay, why don't we get your stuff packed up and we can head back to the hotel. I think resting will do you some good, yeah?"

"Yeah, okay, we can do that," Elsie nods and gets up from where she's sitting on the bench, going to help Thomas collect all her things and put them back into the gym bag.

✧ ✧ ✧

Elsie hates elevators.

Well, really, she just hates being in them with other people. She's fine being in them by herself, but it's awkward having to share that space with a complete stranger and sit in even more awkward silence as it ascends or descends to different floors at the request of the people wanting to use it.

The hotel is housing the VCARB team, as well as Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari, and Williams for the week. The rest of the teams are at a complete different hotel just a few blocks away. Her room at the hotel in Bahrain, that she's sharing with Yuki is on the fifth floor (she would've preferred if it was on a lower floor, like the third floor).

She presses the button to take her up, and while she waits, she starts pacing in front of the two elevator doors. It isn't very late out right now, but when Thomas had brought her back to the hotel, there had been enough people to make it seem like the hotel would be busy tonight. And she's sure the elevator is going to take forever and a day to descend.

But fortunately, she's wrong.

The elevator dings and she stops pacing. The arrow pointing up lights up and the elevator door slides open. Luckily for her, this compartment's empty.

With a sigh of relief, she enters the elevator and presses the button for the fifth floor, subsequently pressing the close door button immediately after as she doesn't want to wait for what feels like forever for the door to close on its own.

But right as it's closing, a voice breaks the comfortable silence and solitude she had found herself in.

"Hold that open for me, please!"

Without hesitation, she sticks her arm out and the sensors detect that something is in the way, so the door opens back up, allowing the owner of the voice to enter the elevator. He looks like he'd been in a rush. He's breathing heavily and there's a thin layer of sweat forming on his forehead, his brown curls sticking to it.

Elsie finds herself staring, and honestly, she doesn't even mean to, but he's pretty. Really pretty. Very pretty. Cute, even. Whatever adjective you wanted to use to describe his attractiveness. It isn't just about his hair, the way his curls sit atop his head. It's his eyes. Those damn eyes.

"I'm headed to... whichever floor... Williams is staying on... by the way," he says, leaning against the wall, trying to catch his breath as the door slides shut. Him speaking again snaps her out of her stupor. "Which should be whichever floor you're going to, right, beautiful? Williams and RB are on the same floor?"

Wait a minute. She thinks as she furrows her brows, but then it dawns on her. Big flirt. In Williams... He's in their driver academy. This is—

"Franco?" She questions, she says as she backs away from the button panel and the elevator starts to ascend. She holds out her hand for him to shake. "It's been a long time."

"Two years isn't that long, Elsie," he grins as he meets her gaze. He takes her hand in his and all Elsie is focused on in those few seconds is the way he's looking at her, intrigued, curiosity swirling around in his hazel irises. "You are the new driver for RB, right? I hope I wasn't wrong with what I said earlier."

"Yes." She only lets go after realizing she had been holding his hand for quite a bit. Her hand is starting to get warm, a stark contrast from the usual cold and sometimes sweaty it would get. "Sorry for practically ignoring you for the entirety of the 2022 F3 season."

"No, it's okay. I'm surprised you even remember me." Franco drops his hand. "You know, it is interesting, really. You've only had one full season in Formula 2 before this, which was last year, 2023. Before that, you were in Formula 3 for two years, from 2021–2022, which is how we met. We were gridmates then, I didn't think you would remember—"

Looks like he hasn't changed much. She thinks, listening to him go on and on. She notices he's starting to get nervous and his hands travel up to the railing and start tapping it.

"Uh-huh." She's distracted now, her gaze lingering on him a but too long. She's staring again.

"Is there something on my face, Elsie?" His question brings her back to reality. There's a hint of mischief and something else in those eyes of his as a smirk tugs at the corners of his lips. "I know I'm pretty, but it's rude to stare."

"Are you flirting with me, again, Franco?" Elsie questions, ignoring the fact her cheeks are heating up and turning a slight shade of pink.

"Every time."

"Might be why I ignored you two years ago."

"Maybe," he replies with a shrug. "It did not deter me, though."

He moves away from the wall and stands in front of her. Way too close. Elsie's breath hitches in her throat as she meets his gaze. He doesn't do anything, though, much to her relief. He just winks before taking a step back to give her space.

The elevator dings and comes to a stop just a moment after, the door sliding open. Elsie turns her attention to the door before glancing back up at the Argentine.

"This is our stop. Unfortunately, we have to part ways." He says with a nod as he starts to make his way out of the elevator, Elsie following him close behind. "I enjoyed talking to you, Elsie."

"I enjoyed our conversation, too, Franco." She gives him a smile as she waves. "I'll see you around."

With a nod of acknowledgment, Franco turns on his heel and takes a left, heading down the hall.

This is going to be an interesting year, Elsie thinks as she goes the opposite direction and makes her way to her hotel room, digging into her pockets for her key card.

author's note
okay so originally their
meetup was gonna be
happening in like chapter
ten but i changed my mind
bc i need to get smth written
NEOWWW and i had writer's
block until i wrote the elevator
convo 🤭

10.07.24