Dr Zasa was in his office and surprised to see me. He's such a sweet man. He was completely understanding and agreeing with me.
He was quite surprised about Fabio and that there's a change we will end up in a relationship, but happy for me. They had something like this happening before apparently, so he asked me to sign a form. Something saying I won't share medical secrets of other riders with Fabio and same goes for tactic plans and other confidential information. Well I have no issue with that, so I signed right away. Even if we aren't really together, I don't want anyone to doubt things like that.
Dr Zasa told me he'll wait for Lin to call or visit him to talk about it. But he's confident they want to work with me. He said, 'Lin is not gonna pass on this opportunity. He hopes Fabio will be so good, he makes up for the bike. Because we all know the bike isn't good enough'
I think he's right about Lin. I think Fabio is his best and only option to win and Lin knows it. And I think Fabio is the best right now. I mean Pecco is doing an amazing job on the Ducati and he's a very good rider. But I think he's less consistent and confident. And I think that will be his issue this year.
I've also told Fabio about my conversations with Lin and with Dr Zasa.
Fabio's confident Lin will come and see me today. We'll see. First I have my meeting with Uccio in the VR46 pitbox.
I'm a few meters away when I see Marco walking to the door of the pitbox.
"Marco! Wait up!", I call, jogging up to him. Not the best idea. I immediately get dizzy from the sudden exercise and Marco is just in time to catch me.
"Shit, scusa", "stai bene?", we say at the same time.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. Just got a little dizzy for a second"
I really hope I can get that treatment after Assen. Those pills don't work one bit.
Marco holds his hand on my back and guides me inside.
"Sei bellissima", he whispers before stepping inside. I'm getting a little uncomfortable by his words and his hand on my back. I don't answer and pretend I didn't hear him.
Inside I see Luca and Uccio. Luca gives me a quick hug, I'm glad because that means Marco let's go of me.
"Hi Julie! You can call me Uccio", Uccio holds out his hand for me to shake.
"Hi. Thanks for the invite"
We sit down and Uccio immediately talks business.
"I've had a talk to Michele, you probably heard. The guys speak highly of your work and both and Pecco really want to work with you. I don't know much about you, but I think this could be a good thing"
"Thank you. I'm glad to hear. I've talked to Pecco in Le Mans about it, but didn't know if it was a good idea. Now that it's available for you, Ducati and Yamaha, I'm very excited", I explain to him.
"How are we gonna do this? What can you do?", Uccio asks. I tell him the same as I told Lin last night.
"That's great! We are very excited. Did you have a change to look at the footage from Bez and Luca?"
I nod, taking the laptop from my backpack.
"I don't think we need to watch both riders the whole race right now. I want to do that with all the riders. But not this weekend, because I need to work in the clinica mobile today. From Barcelona I can make my own schedule and we can plan it"
I take my notebook and we watch the laps and things I wrote down.
"Look, this looks unsteady and I think you are losing time here. It's not efficient", I point at a certain turn in Marco's race.
"I think you should brake a little earlier to accelerate earlier in the turn", I hear a very familiar Italian voice behind me. I turn around to see Valentino Rossi standing there.
"Oh.. Ehm.. hi", I stumble a little over my words. It is the legend standing there after all.
"Buongiorno, you are the physical therapist they all talk about?", Valentino asks, shaking my hand.
"Yeah, I think so? But I think you are right. Brake a little earlier. Or maybe a little more angle", Marco nods at my words. "Maybe we can compare with Martin a little. Are your Ducatis comparable? Martin is riding a lot on his elbows and a bit shoulder"
Valentino looks at me, nodding.
We go on like this for a little while longer. Until Fabio called. He asked if I needed a taxi to the clinica mobile, he is my first appointment today. I agree after a little bickering about me taking care of myself. I end the call and Valentino looks curious.
"Now I know.. you are Fabio's girlfriend", he says a little surprised.
I feel eyes on me and I turn a little red.
"Well that's still a little complicated", I try to dodge that question.
"Wait, you are gonna work with us, with Pecco and your boyfriend?" Marco questions, "so all our information is leaked to Quartararo"
"Definitely not. I've signed the things I needed to sign. Go check. I would never share confidential information with anyone. And he's not my boyfriend yet"
"Okay, okay", Uccio puts his hands up, "I don't see a problem here. Do you, Bez?"
Marco quickly shakes his head.
"Okay, great. Thank you", I smile shaking Uccio's and Vale's hand.
Luca walks out with me.
"Grazie Julie. And I hope things work with Fabio. Marco's just a little jealous", he tells me quietly.
"Why?", I ask, looking up to him. He's quite tall.
"Because you're a beautiful girl, who is genuinely interested. Every single rider is talking about you. So if I were you I would show it if you and Fabio start a relationship. It will get everyone to back off", he explains.
I don't get it. Why is everyone so interested? I'm nothing special. First Riccardo, now Marco. Luca's words match with what Fabio told me a few days ago.
I hug Luca goodbye and see Fabio coming our way on his scooter. "Thank you, Luca! See you soon"
I say before getting on and holding on to Fabio.
We ride to the clinica mobile and I keep thinking about the thing Luca said, the thing Fabio said earlier and the way Marco and Riccardo are acting around me.
Maybe I am a little autistic, but all this information makes my head spin. Is this the reason Fabio likes me? I don't know, I don't even get why he likes me in the first place.
"Ma Chérie, you can let go off me. We are here", Fabio breaks me out of my thoughts. I look up and we are indeed already at the clinica mobile.
"Oh! I'm sorry", I let go and get off, walking inside. Fabio is behind me and we walk to my room.
When I turn the corner I'm startled by someone inside. He turns around at my gasp and it's Matteo.
"God, please don't scare me like that again", I sit down on the edge of the treatment table. And Fabio stays at the door.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to talk treatment plan about one of the riders", he tells me.
"I'll wait in the waiting area till you're done", Fabio closes the door behind him.
"How's that going?", Matteo asks with a knowing smile.
"It's going", I don't know what to say. We are doing good, but haven't labelled anything, so what can I say?
"What did you need to talk to me about?"
"Oh! Yeah, well, you know how Marc Marquez never comes in here?", He asks, I nod. "Well, he made an appointment with me today"
"Okay, so?"
"Well, what do I do? Can't we switch? We haven't even evaluated his tape", he sounds nervous.
"Yeah of course. But you don't have to watch his tape to know that his riding style isn't good. That he's probably irritating his left shoulder muscles, his elbows, his neck muscles. It's probably all tense and very irritated"
He looks relieved at me, "so we can switch?"
I nod my head smiling.
"Okay great, I'll go check out Fabio", he turns around, ready to walk away.
"Wait. You didn't tell me, he's coming in now and that I have to switch Fabio. That's not gonna happen", I tell him quickly.
"Please? You would do me a huge favour. I can't see Marc", he looks really nervous. His cheeks turn red. Wait.. could he have a little crush?
"Okay, you know what. I can see him after Fabio. I have a 20 minute gap for other tasks, but I can see him then. You have to tell him, he has to wait", I give in. I don't know, I'm not a fan of the former world champion. I mean he's an amazing rider, but I think he's a little arrogant? I don't know, I have never met him, but I have some kind of intuition.
"No, you can't let him wait. Can't Fabio wait?", he's panicking a little now.
"Matteo, do you have some kind of crush?", I'm curious why he's acting like this. He turns beetred and looks to the ground, not saying a word.
"Okay, I'll handle it", I grin at the cute Matteo, "it's cute though"
We both walk out of the room. Him almost sprinting in his own. Me walking towards the waiting area. The French and Spanish men are talking like nothing's going on.
"Hi", I speak up, both men quiet and looking at me now. "Are you Marc?", I ask like I don't know. He looks a little surprised and nods. "Yes, thanks for making the time to see me", he stands up and holds out his hand for me.
"Oksy. Yeah. My colleague is not feeling well. So if you can wait for twenty minutes, I can do the checkup", Fabio looks at the whole thing with a small smile.
Marc looks difficult, "I don't know, I have an appointment right now"
"I can wait", Fabio speaks up.
"No actually, you can't. I have orders from Tom, he told me you have a busy schedule", I tell Fabio, gesturing for him to go to the room. "I'm sorry. I can help you, but you have to wait until Fabio's appointment is finished. It's up to you, what you want", I sweetly tell him, before turning around and going after Fabio.
"What was that? I don't have a busy schedule", Fabio looks confused.
"Maybe not, but I just wanted to see you now", I smile, softly pecking his lips.
"You know, this is very unprofessional..", Fabio looks stern at me, "but I like it", he winks, giving me another kiss.
"And it's the first time ever, he's in here. We are not good enough for him, so he doesn't have to be treated like royalty"
"I think he wants to be treated like every other rider", Fabio tells me, sitting down.
The checkup is nothing special. The only noticeable thing, Fabio's muscles on his right arm are tense and a little irritated.
"What did you do with this arm?", I ask serious and a little confused. Fabio blushes a little, "Let's not talk about that"
Wait... no... is it really because of thát? I don't know if I want to know that.
"Oh, Shit. I'm sorry", I blush. I focus on the arm and don't look up. It feels like failure, him having to jerk himself off.
I will be such a terrible girlfriend. I don't know what to do. Why does he like me? He can get so much better than me. Girls that aren't broken. Aren't damaged. Girls who know how to take care of their man.
I don't look up, I don't say another word. I keep focusing on his arm. Fabio doesn't talk either, but I can feel his eyes on me. I think we continue this for another ten minutes before I let go of his arm and stand up.
"You're all done", I busy myself with washing my hands. I take a deep breath and turn around with a fake smile on my face.
"I'll see you back at the motorhome this afternoon", I softly kiss his cheek.
"Thank you", he says, before walking out.
Pulling a hand through my curly hair, I sigh deep. Why is this so difficult?
A knock on the door interrupts me from my thought. Marc Marquez is standing there.
"Yes, come in"