Back To You (Sebastian Vettel)

Chapter 8: Surprise

Seb was sitting on a couch inside his private room. He had worn his race suit. He was waiting for the FP1 session to start in 30 minutes. He really didn't expect that Gia would be there. She would watch him race for the first time.

As he still had some free time, he decided to text Britta. He wanted to talk about Gia's presence with her. Some minutes later, she had come to his room in the hospitality. She always knew that if he asked her to come to his room, it meant that he wanted to talk about something personal.

"What's up, Seb?"

"Sit down," Seb patted some free space of the couch. Britta finally sat next to him. He took a deep breath before he said, "She is here."

"Georgia?"

"Yes. She comes here with her friends. I met her at the entrance because one of her friends asked me to sign his cap. Didn't you see that?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Seb. I was talking to Antti when you signed your fans' stuff and took some photos with them, so I didn't really pay attention."

"It's okay."

Britta then warned him. "Seb, don't let her become a distraction to you. I mean, you have to focus on this race."

Seb immediately shook his head. "She will never be a distraction to me. Yeah, I thought so 12 years ago. But then I realize that it is the most stupid thought I've ever had."

Britta felt guilty for saying that to him. "I'm sorry to say that, Seb. I didn't mean to accuse her as a distraction to you."

"No problem, I understand what you mean," Seb said, patting her thigh.

Gia was not and would never be a distraction. Instead, she would be his morale booster, Seb thought to himself. He would make her attendance that weekend worth it.

---

On Saturday morning, Gia, Mariska, and Tobias had arrived at the circuit. Just like on the previous day, they waited for some drivers whom they hadn't met. After half an hour, they had met the drivers who hadn't signed their official race programmes. But, there was only one driver whom they didn't meet at the time. Sebastian.

"Gia, I think that Seb came here earlier than us," Tobi said, regretting that they couldn't arrive earlier than him.

She patted his shoulder. "It's okay, Tobi. There's still tomorrow."

"Yeah but, we just need one more autograph on our race programmes and that is Seb's."

"But you've got his autograph on your cap, right?"

"I know. But from all of us, you are the only one who hasn't got it. Mariska has his autograph when he visited your bookstore."

Tobias felt guilty as she hadn't had Seb's autograph. But for Gia herself, she didn't know if that was important for her. Moreover, she had known how his autograph was like way before them.

"What if we go to the grandstand now?" Gia asked.

"But-"

"Tobi, Gia is right. There's still tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow we'll have a chance to meet Seb again. Now let's go to the grandstand," Mariska suggested.

Tobias gave in. "Okay, babe."

They finally walked to the grandstand. They felt grateful as the weather that day was really good. On their way, they were stopped by a woman who wore Ferrari uniform.

"Hi! Sorry to disturb your time."

Tobi greeted her too. "Hi! No problem."

"May I ask you some questions?" the woman asked.