Shelby Manning (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shelbycobra) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
muserevival2015-11-14 11:33 pm
shelbycobra) wrote in muserevival2015-11-14 11:33 pm
Entry tags:
107.2.1 - quote
"Friends can help each other. A true friend is someone who lets you have total freedom to be yourself - and especially to feel. Or, not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at the moment is fine with them. That's what real love amounts to - letting a person be what he really is."
"Are we ever going to have a conversation about this?" Shelby asks Shane, the words filling in a calm silence as the two stand behind the pit wall at Road America, nursing morning coffee out of paper cups and waiting for the rest of the day to catch up with them.
"A conversation about what?" he replies, and she tells him, "The fact that Haas wanted you to be their F1 primary strategist and you turned them down."
Shane's eyes narrow slightly, as he decides what he wants to make of that sentence. He's not used to a driver who takes as much interest in his business as this one, and he's still undecided on whether or not that concern is a good thing. "Who told you about that?"
"Leigh Diffey. You know he calls Formula 1 as well as IndyCar, right?" Shelby finishes her coffee, shoves her hands into the pockets of her jeans. "Were you ever going to tell me? Were you ever going to tell anyone?"
"No." His response is quick, efficient as if she were asking whether or not he needed a refill. "I didn't take the job. There's no point in discussing something that wasn't going to happen."
"There is a point." She doesn't understand how he doesn't understand how big of a deal this is. "I don't get why you didn't take it, Shane. Didn't you spend your whole career in Formula 1? I know you were one of the biggest proponents of trying to get an American F1 team off the ground. You put a lot of time and effort into that. Why wouldn't you want to be a part of it?"
"Because I have work to do here." Shane's looking at her directly now, with that steely look he gives when he's particularly serious about something. "The number one thing you need right now is continuity. You just figured out how to get to the top of the league. The way you stay there isn't by changing your strategist for the third time in five years. I didn't give up F1 in the first place just to win a trophy and bail. And while we're playing who knows what, I know that you specifically requested your entire crew back even if Roger had to take money out of your contract."
She briefly wonders how he found that out, then realizes it must have come up in the contract negotiations and shakes her head, mostly because she can't take the calm heat of his gaze. For all their arguing and trying to out-tough each other, Shelby has always believed he's stronger than she is. "There's nothing special about that," she says, staring at the asphalt. "I was just looking out for my team."
"Yeah, and that's what I was doing." He exhales a slow breath. "And I don't need to be asked about it or congratulated for it. It's just something I did."
After a moment Shelby lifts her head and glances up at him, almost recalcitrant. He probably wouldn't call her a friend to her face. She doesn't know how she'd describe him. But she does know that they have a deep respect for one another both on and off the track. That neither of them would be here with anyone else. Without saying anything, she reaches out a hand and they share a firm handshake. A silent promise that they're in this together, for as long as it lasts.
--
Shelby Manning Martin
Need For Speed OC
579 words
"Are we ever going to have a conversation about this?" Shelby asks Shane, the words filling in a calm silence as the two stand behind the pit wall at Road America, nursing morning coffee out of paper cups and waiting for the rest of the day to catch up with them.
"A conversation about what?" he replies, and she tells him, "The fact that Haas wanted you to be their F1 primary strategist and you turned them down."
Shane's eyes narrow slightly, as he decides what he wants to make of that sentence. He's not used to a driver who takes as much interest in his business as this one, and he's still undecided on whether or not that concern is a good thing. "Who told you about that?"
"Leigh Diffey. You know he calls Formula 1 as well as IndyCar, right?" Shelby finishes her coffee, shoves her hands into the pockets of her jeans. "Were you ever going to tell me? Were you ever going to tell anyone?"
"No." His response is quick, efficient as if she were asking whether or not he needed a refill. "I didn't take the job. There's no point in discussing something that wasn't going to happen."
"There is a point." She doesn't understand how he doesn't understand how big of a deal this is. "I don't get why you didn't take it, Shane. Didn't you spend your whole career in Formula 1? I know you were one of the biggest proponents of trying to get an American F1 team off the ground. You put a lot of time and effort into that. Why wouldn't you want to be a part of it?"
"Because I have work to do here." Shane's looking at her directly now, with that steely look he gives when he's particularly serious about something. "The number one thing you need right now is continuity. You just figured out how to get to the top of the league. The way you stay there isn't by changing your strategist for the third time in five years. I didn't give up F1 in the first place just to win a trophy and bail. And while we're playing who knows what, I know that you specifically requested your entire crew back even if Roger had to take money out of your contract."
She briefly wonders how he found that out, then realizes it must have come up in the contract negotiations and shakes her head, mostly because she can't take the calm heat of his gaze. For all their arguing and trying to out-tough each other, Shelby has always believed he's stronger than she is. "There's nothing special about that," she says, staring at the asphalt. "I was just looking out for my team."
"Yeah, and that's what I was doing." He exhales a slow breath. "And I don't need to be asked about it or congratulated for it. It's just something I did."
After a moment Shelby lifts her head and glances up at him, almost recalcitrant. He probably wouldn't call her a friend to her face. She doesn't know how she'd describe him. But she does know that they have a deep respect for one another both on and off the track. That neither of them would be here with anyone else. Without saying anything, she reaches out a hand and they share a firm handshake. A silent promise that they're in this together, for as long as it lasts.
--
Shelby Manning Martin
Need For Speed OC
579 words