Chasing Daisy

comes over.
    ‘Is she alright?’ he asks Holly. Luis’s family look on with concern.
    ‘Daisy!’ Holly demands.
    I feel dizzy. I feel like I’m going to faint. But I can’t look away. Will has just taken third place. Suddenly everything goes red in front of my eyes and then black.
    When I come to, I’m on the other side of the garage and Holly is fanning my face. The Castros are looking on, worriedly.
    I try to sit up.
    ‘Just take it easy,’ Mr Castro insists.
    ‘What’s happened? Is Will okay?’ Panic threatens to engulf me once more.
    Holly glances at Luis’s family, guardedly.
    ‘ Both Luis and Will are fine. Will’s in third place, Luis is still running second. Come on,’ she says, helping me up, ‘I think we should go back to the hospitality suite.’
    ‘What’s going on?’ Frederick demands to know when Holly has sat me down with a glass of cold water.
    ‘She fainted,’ Holly explains.
    ‘Hmm. Must be the heat,’ he says, even though it’s not that hot today. ‘Sit there for a while.’
    ‘Are you going to be alright?’ Holly asks.
    ‘Yes, I’ll be fine,’ I reply weakly. ‘I’ll be back on my feet in a minute.’
    ‘Don’t you dare. Just relax. Watch the race.’
    But when I look up at the cars on the big screen, the same thing happens. Nausea creeps into my throat. I lean forwards and put my head in my hands.
    ‘Are you okay?’ I hear an American man ask.
    I look up to see one of the sponsors peering at me.
    ‘Yes, I’m fine,’ I quickly tell him, getting to my feet and steadying myself on one of the chairs. ‘Thank you.’ I hurry back into the kitchen.
    ‘What are you doing?’ Holly snaps. ‘I thought I told you to chill out.’
    ‘I’d rather keep busy,’ I say, steadfastly walking to one of the counters and grabbing a tomato to slice.
    She stares at me, hesitantly for a moment, before seeing my determination. After a while, she decides to go back to the pits, but I tell her to take Gertrude. I diligently work away for the next hour, trying not to think about the race. Finally I hear the sound of applause from outside in the hospitality area. I’ve been using the blender on and off so it’s the first commotion I’ve heard. I hurry out of the kitchen and ask one of the guests what’s going on.
    ‘Luis came second!’
    Is it over already? ‘That’s great!’ I say. ‘What about Will?’
    He looks at me like I’m nuts. ‘Didn’t you see his crash?’
    ‘His crash?’ I feel light-headed.
    ‘He’s okay,’ the man hurriedly assures me. ‘It wasn’t a bad one.’
    ‘When? What happened?’
    ‘Takahashi span off the track and clipped Will’s wing. It happened about half an hour ago,’ he explains.
    Naoki Takahashi is a Japanese driver for one of the least competitive teams.
    ‘Do you know where Will is now?’ I ask, but the man just shrugs. I quickly hurry up the stairs to Will’s room. There’s no answer when I knock, so I tentatively push the door open. The room is empty. There’s no sign of his bags.
    I run back down the stairs and crash into Holly. ‘Where’s Will?’ I demand to know. ‘Have you seen him?’
    ‘No.’ She gives me a look. ‘I thought you were staying away from him from now on?’
    I take a deep breath and she obviously feels sorry for me because she says, ‘I’ll find out, don’t worry.’
    Ten minutes later she comes to find me. ‘He’s gone.’
    ‘Gone? Where?’
    ‘Back to the UK. Simon said he could catch an early flight instead of waiting around for the debriefing meeting.’
    I’m crushed.
    ‘Don’t worry, you’ll see him again in a couple of weeks.’
    A couple of weeks? I can’t bear it! I stare across at my bag, where my mobile phone is buried deep within. I could text him, while I know he’s still at the airport or on a plane . . . While I know there’s no chance of him being with his girlfriend, yet . . .
    I snatch up my bag and hurry to the ladies’ room.
    ‘Where are you going? Daisy!’ Holly calls after me. I ignore her.
    I go inside a cubicle and dig my phone out from inside my bag. What should I say? I think for a moment before typing out:
    I HOPE UR OK.
     
    But what if he doesn’t know it’s from me? I add:
    DAISY X
     
    Is the kiss too much? Should I send it? Fuck it. I press send and instantly regret it.
    I sit on the loo with the seat down scrutinising my phone for a full three minutes before I decide he’s not going to reply. Just as I go to put my phone back in my bag,