Love, Monaco

00.04

The next morning the three of us make a quick breakfast before stuffing our bags full of stuff that we may need during the day. "Do we think bandaids are necessary?" Émie asks, "knowing us that's a hard yes" Wren replies, I nod as I put some snacks into my bag followed by our water bottles. "Why did we choose a karting track that is almost two hours away?" I look at my annoyed friends, "my brother said it's one of the best ones, something to do with F1 but I wasn't listening too much" they roll their eyes but don't say anything else as we finish preparing for our trip.

We're all dressed in comfortable clothing as we get into the car. I slide into the passenger seat since I have the directions to the track. "This is going to be fun" Wren exclaims from the backseat, "yeah I think so too" Émie interjects S she start the car to start the journey out of Monaco. I smile at them hoping that my fear of karting isn't visible as I spout out directions taking us towards Brignoles. "Del why are you so quiet?" I shrug while biting my lip, "is this about the guy?" I shake my head, actually having forgotten about the mystery guy from the cafe. "What is it babe?" When asks concerned, "kinda scared of karting" I tell the two brunettes, "didn't your brother do karting for awhile?" I nod, "I only ever watched, I preferred to read over going really fast in a kart" Émie places a hand in mind squeezing it, "you'll be fine, they know what they're doing we'll be very safe" I smile slightly feeling a bit better, "yeah I guess you're right" she nods and brings her hand back to the wheel before we go into another silence while we approach the venue.

☕️☕️☕️

When Émie parks at the track a half hour later I take a deep breath and follow her and Wren out of the car. The three of us walk towards the entrance, but I stop when I see a dark grey Ferrari parked, "woah fancy" I say making my friends turn to me, "sorry I just need to take a picture for my brother" I mumble as I slide out my phone to snap a photo. I finish and jog to where they're waiting and we walk into the building leading to the track.

Once the rules have been explained to us we're handed race suits, gloves and helmets. We follow the directions to the track, where our karts will be waiting. The grip on my helmet tightens as we walk back outside my nerves taking over as I watch my friends pull on their suits. "Come on Del get your butt into that suit" Wren exclaims and comes over to pull me with them to where the karts are, I giver her my best smile and I put my helmet down to get into my race suit. I manage to slide on the one-piece without making a fool out of myself in front of the other people getting ready.

Émie takes my hand before pulling me over to the parked karts. When we're closer to them I feel myself tense up and freeze on the spot bringing my friend to a stop. She looks over at me and her expression becomes one of concern, "Del?" I shake my head stepping away slightly, "can't do it" I say quietly, "babe it's going to be okay, we're here for you and the employees here will make sure that you're safe from start to finish" Wren explains from my right side. I watch the other people at the venue drive off in their karts, speeding away around the curves of the track, "you guys go first, I need a minute" I say to them, "are you sure?" I nod and give them a small smile, Émie let's go of my hand before they walk over to the karts where an employee helps them.

I find myself pacing along the pavement of the small pit lane my arms crossed as I try to calm down and get the confidence to get into a kart like my friends. "Are you okay?" I stop pacing and look up, i'm surprised to see the blue eyed guy from the cafe, "hey it's you" he exclaims with a smile, I smile too my arms dropping to my sides, "oh hey" I reply. "Have you already been out there?" he asks gesturing out to the track, "uhhhh no, but my friends are already out" he looks at me confused, "are you going to go out?" I bite my lip and shrug. "Well today is the perfect day" he exclaims, "yeah, but the problem is that I'm kinda terrified" I reply making his eyes go wide, "I thought that I would grow the courage on the way here, but that clearly didn't happen" I add as an explanation.