Page 25 of Away We Go

He walks out, leaving me behind and I can’t help it. I follow.

“We’ll go on this.” He points to his motorised scooter, a boyish grin tipping his lips.

“Oh.” It’s not a Formula 1 car, but it doesn’t seem that safe. Or big enough for two people. “Do you have another one for me hiding in your jacket?”

His laugh is deep and hits me in the chest. I wish more people got to hear it; it’s the sort of sound that could bring about world peace.

“I’d forgotten how funny you are.”

I preen at this because I’m not actually funny at all, and he uses this distraction to grab my hand in his again. With a gentle tug, he pulls me towards an opening to the track while he wheels his scooter behind us.

“Come on.”

He steps up to the front of the scooter, balancing on one leg while he fiddles with the handles, and I glance at the spot behind him.

“Up there?” I point and he nods, his eyes locked on mine with a touch of something held in there. Something that looks a lot like a dare.

“Fine,” I grumble. I stand semi-sideways on the floorboard of the scooter and immediately wobble.

“Hold onto me,” he commands and my hands find his waist. I was right about the size of the scooter. There’s barely enough room for the two of us on here.

“Shouldn’t we have helmets on or something?” I nibble on my bottom lip and wrap my arms around his waist, holding on tighter. In this position my entire front is plastered to his back, and if I wasn’t so nervous about the ride, I’d be revelling in being this close to him.

“Do you trust me?” He presses my hands into his stomach, his thumb tracing lazy circles over the back of my hand, and I rest my forehead between his shoulder blades and say, “Yes.”

If I’m going to die; this isn’t the worst way to go.

“Hold on.”

Nicky presses a button and the scooter whirls to life. We lurch forward and I swallow a squeal, screwing my eyes shut and sending up a brief prayer.

“Are you okay back there?”

I peel one eyelid open and see we’re barely moving. In my spatially challenged estimation, we can’t be going over fifteen kilometres an hour. With the wind gently rushing past us and his hard body anchoring me in place, I lift my head for a moment. This is quite pleasant.

Okay, fine. Holding onto him like this is a lot more than pleasant.

“Yes,” I answer. I rest my cheek against his back and soak in this unique experience. I’m getting to scoot around the Suzuka F1 racetrack—a track that is a favourite for many of the drivers on the grid, including the man I’m hugging like a koala bear hugs a tree. This is the stuff dreams are made of. “This is incredible.”

I feel rather than hear his quiet chuckle and we ride in silence for the next few minutes, his heart thumping in his chest under my cheek. The circuit, I know from my quick study ahead of the weekend, is one of the oldest tracks on the calendar, is three-point-six-zero miles long and has eighteen turns, including the hairpin we’d just gone round.

It’s thrilling.

After several more minutes of silently soaking it all in, Nicky takes on the role of tour guide. He points out things, like the speed traps and the low-speed corners, as well as landmarks beyond the grandstands. His knowledge not only of the road we’re scooting along but also of the city and the history of the place highlights just how long he’s been doing this. How many years he’s had the privilege of racing here.

“Does the Ferris wheel go round while you race?” I try to picture sitting in one of the glass boxes, going round and round thegiant wheel, while the race cars go round and round the track. It makes me smile.

He laughs. “It does. And when the race is boring, I watch them go round while I’m going round.”

“That’s amazing.”

He peers over his shoulder, his eyes narrowing as he takes me in. Pressed as flat as a pancake against his body.

“You comfortable back there?”

I giggle, using my forefinger to turn his head back forwards. “Eyes on the road, big man.”

We round the last corner and as we come down the home straight, I picture what it would feel like to have the grandstands filled with cheering crowds and the checkered flag waving up ahead. It’s exhilarating to experience it on this little scooter for two.

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