Drive to Survive

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Thirty-Nine

"Okay, quiet please!"

Dylan gulped at Greg's command to the room, trying for the tenth time not to pull at her styled hair. She knew it was a bad nervous habit to always be fiddling with the ends of her hair but it was a habit nonetheless, and to not be able to touch the hairsprayed waves was strange.

They were about to film the 'Get to Know You' videos for Red Bull and the team had fully committed to the production value, seemingly throwing everything at the project to try look like this was their plan all along.

A woman had come to Dylan's hotel room this morning to touch up her make-up and style her hair, and she'd been firmly instructed not to ruin it before filming. This had resulted in her stiffly walking around all day, trying not to breathe or blink too hard.

She'd travelled to the track with Max but they'd gone their separate ways upon arrival, him to FP1 and her to a spare Red Bull room packed with studio lights and large mics. Two stools had sat before a white-backdrop - the very same stools that Hunter and Dylan were now sat on, trying not to look terrified as a crew of cameramen fiddled with their final settings and got ready to film them.

When Dylan had phoned Hunter in the morning to warn him, she was pleased to find he'd already been briefed by Christian and was fully on board.

"A chance to get my sexy face on the Red Bull channels?" He'd laughed, "You just watch those viewing numbers soar, doll."

Now, as they prepared to start, she wondered if she could steal some of his easy confidence.

God, her hands were shaking.

She clasped her fingers together and forced a tight smile on her face, knowing how bad it would look if she appeared as a shaking mess on this video.

"Okay, are we ready?" Greg asked, sat next to the camera with a clipboard in his hands, "Dylan, relax. This isn't live, we can stop as much as you need."

Hunter looked her up and down, "Shake it out and take a breath, you look like you're going for a poo."

His comment made her laugh and she felt some of the tension marginally escape her. Taking his advice, she physically shook her hands out and took a deep breath, trying her best to relax.

"I hate cameras."

"Wrong industry, doll."

There was a beep as the cameras started recording and Greg clapped once loudly, marking the start of the audio.

He looked down at his clipboard, "Okay, can you both introduce yourselves? Names, ages, where you're from and your job title."

Dylan looked pleadingly to Hunter, needing him to go first and set the tone. He grinned, looking straight down the camera with his winning smile, "Hey y'all, my name is Hunter Andino. I'm twenty-five, I'm from Texas and I'm a Netflix Content Creator, working with the Red Bull Racing Team."

Thankfully, they didn't have to refer to themselves as 'DTS Buddies'. That was just an internal term and Dylan was grateful she wouldn't be permanently branded with the title online.

It was her turn. She looked straight down the camera and tried to project confidence, "Hi, I'm Dylan James! I'm twenty-three, from Oxford in England, and I'm also a Netflix Content Creator, working with the Red Bull Racing Team."

"Great, guys. Could you talk a bit about how you got into marketing and comms? Feel free to bounce off each other."

Dylan looked at Hunter and tried to forget about the cameras, the mics, and the bright lights. This was just a normal conversation with him, something she'd done a thousand times.