Page 3 of Retrograde
Wrangling Julien, Brett and Marco was much like running a crèche, but nobody was better suited to the job than Lucie and Faith. Although they were only their social media managers, they were trusted to keep the team in line because they had the whole close relationship thing working in their favour. People often came to them and asked them to talk sense into them or push them into the right headspace before or even after a race. After all, Revolution Racing were a team, and that went beyond the three drivers.
‘I’ll tell you what, Jensen.’ Lucie breathed in the fresh air, the scent of pine and earth filling her nostrils and making her feel relaxed. ‘It feels good to be back.’
‘Here’s to one hell of a season.’
2
‘Mars!’ Lucie jumped into Marco’s arms the second he walked into the garage.
‘Hey, Lucie!’ He spun her round, his small frame not much bigger than hers but certainly a lot sturdier. ‘I’m sorry I never made it to Julien’s. When my flight got diverted via Switzerland, I figured I may as well go and visit my brother and nieces. It’s been a while since I saw them.’
‘Oh, that’s fine. It’s good to see you.’
‘You, too. How’s my favourite fake Italian doing?’
‘I am not a fake! Both of my parents are Italian born and bred. It is not my fault I was raised in Hell on Earth.’ She scowled.
‘LA is nice! It has… beaches, uh, Hollywood?’ He ran a hand through his curls, trying to find the words. Marco hated pretty much anywhere outside of Europe. He said he thought Hawaii was okay, but who could ever hate a paradise like that?
‘It’s no Italy though, right?’
‘Exactly. Have you seen Brett, yet?’
They were down at the track while the team set up, being nosy and overseeing the inner workings. Lucie and Faith had got some content for socials already and held meetings with the social media personnel who were here early for other teams.
They were able to take more of a back seat this season because there were only one or two new staff, and everyone else was well-versed on how the IEC, and Lucie and Faith, wanted things done and what their team principals liked and didn’t like. The only things they were stricter on were longer videos as they would lose engagement rate, and short-form video trends which had sexual undertones. The fans may love those, but the sponsors not so much.
‘There she is!’ an Australian accent boomed, answering Marco’s question.
‘Found him.’
Lucie turned but before she could take a step towards him, Brett was sweeping her up into his arms. ‘Hey, my sunshine girl.’ He placed one hand on the back of her head and inhaled in an exaggerated manner. ‘Mm, your hair smells like coconuts.’
‘Hello to you too, Anderson.’ Marco threw his arms up in exasperation and Brett instantly dropped Lucie, repeating the bear hug with his teammate. ‘Jesus, okay,’ he choked out as he was squeezed tightly. ‘Let me go, man.’
‘What a day for it, eh?’ Brett looked out at the pit lane, where the sun was shining down on them.
Spa was known for complex weather conditions which flip-flopped between snow, sun and rain with little warning or sense, but somehow, year after year, the IEC were graced with the big yellow thing in the sky. Brett always told Lucie it was her that brought the sunshine, in both a metaphorical sense and a literal one. She liked to think it was all him.
‘It’s due to rain for an hour or two tomorrow.’ Lucie bit her lip.
‘Why are you still stood here, then?’ Brett stared at her blankly.
‘What?’ She hated when she couldn’t sense sarcasm. Being friends with this idiot for ten years should have strengthened her sarcasm radar, but she was still a bit hopeless unless said sarcasm was leaving her own mouth.
‘Get your little self out there and do a sun dance.’
‘I don’t think that’s a thing, sweetheart. You’re getting mixed up with a rain dance.’
‘Oh.’ He looked genuinely confused. ‘Definitely don’t do that. Mind you, we all know Moretz would put in a hell of a lap in the wet. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.’
‘Did I hear my name?’ Julien rounded the corner in his race suit.
‘Moretz, buddy. How are the wife and kid?’ He slapped him on the back.
Faith chose that moment to appear with Ford on a lead. It was an odd sight to behold, a husky in the Revolution Racing garage, on a workday, surrounded by all the people. But he looked happy as a clam despite the noises of the pit lane being too much sometimes even for the human ear.
‘How the hell did you get him past security?’ Lucie gestured at the husky, whose tongue was now lolling out the side of his mouth.
