Page 113 of Away We Go

“Nicky?”

Paul calls for his attention and I know I’ve lost him until the race is over.

“Go,” I nudge him away, feeling my phone vibrating like crazy in my pocket and dreading what I now know that means. The trolls will be trolling. “Be amazing today.”

He brushes his lips over mine and I melt into him, trying to absorb some of his strength. After pulling away, he gives me a lingering glance, like he’s trying to read my thoughts, before he leaves.

“It will get easier,” James mutters next to me as I tell myself the same thing.

I flash him a smile, a real one this time. “Thanks. I better get to work.”

Carefully, I skirt my way around the crowd of mechanics and engineers, all who just saw Nicky kiss me and are probablyquestioning my role here today. Am I here now as his girlfriend? Or as a member of the social media team, as intended?

“There you are.”

Oh great. As if I haven’t been traumatised enough, now Frieda wants to talk to me.

“Hi.” I smooth a few wayward strands back from my forehead, comparing my appearance with her immaculate one and instantly feeling inferior.Would it kill her to have a bad hair day every once in a while?

“We haven’t talked since everything happened, so I’m glad I’ve bumped into you today.”

Something tells me there was nothing unplanned or coincidental about her ‘bumping’ into me today.

“Okay…”

She steers me over to a private corner and smiles.Yup, no lipstick on her teeth either. Annoying.

“Let me just say how happy I am for you and Nicky.”

I tilt my head and squint up at her.Well, that’s lie number two.

“Um, thanks.”

She nods. “You two make a very sweet couple and everyone seems to eat up the whole childhood-friends-to-lovers angle.”

This is news to me.

“You’ve definitely softened Nicky’s image, which makes my job easier. A relaxed, happy Nicky is much more marketable.”

Ah, maybe she doesn’t hate me after all.

“That’s good to know,” I say, still waiting for the other shoe to drop. With Frieda, I’m learning, there’s always something else to say. Some other angle to spin.

“Can I speak openly?”

No.

“Sure.” I wring my fingers, looking around for someone to save me from this conversation.Where is Serena when I need her?

Frieda looks me up and down like I’m a specimen on display in a museum. “I’m wondering how you’d feel about a makeover?”

I glance down at my outfit and wonder what she’s seeing that needs to be ‘made over’. Today I’m wearing wide-leg light blue jeans, the team t-shirt and my hair in two French braids. When I’d shown Nicky my look this morning, he’d kissed me until I was breathless, so I’d thought it was a winner.

“Um…”

“It’s just that,” she continues, talking over me. “Now that you’re a WAG, you need to look the part. This whole ‘girl next door, I just woke up and threw on an outfit and don’t care what I look like’ vibe won’t work forever.”

I swallow hard, tamping down the way my confidence shrivels at the words she’s throwing at me. “I’m here to work, Frieda. Not to be a WAG.”

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