There hadn't been a woman in formula 1 for as long as most drivers could remember and it seemed that there was a lack of women in the virtual sport too. When McLaren Shadow, an F1 e-sports team took a chance on a young female streamer, no one knew t...
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"So...you missing Lando?"
Her brother Luke was finding Mira's new relationship incredibly heartwarming, wanting to make sure that his sister was happy despite her newfound 'lover' being away for most of the time. He knew it wasn't a big deal considering she was fine before she knew him but he liked to check.
"Of course I do," Mira mumbled. "What a stupid question."
"It wasn't stupid!" Luke gasped. "I was being nice!"
They were walking through the streets of London so Luke could practice crowded situations with the labrador he was training. Mira loved the dog and found it hard not to pet it at every moment. Instead, she had her noise-cancelled headphones and doing her friend to focus on the pavement in front of her.
"Sorry," Mira gave him a sheepish smile.
"I think it's great that you miss him because it'll be nice when he comes back," said Luke.
"Yes but if I miss him now, the chances are that I'll be clingy when he gets back and he'll think I'm weird—"
"Mira, I think the guy has worked out your unique elements by now," Assured Luke. "He's still here and you've always been honest with him."
"I have. I'm not a liar."
"Exactly," Luke emphasised. "You have nothing to wonder about."
"Do you like him Luke? You know that you're good with seeing through people's...shows. What do you think?" Mira questioned.
"He seems like a really nice guy, honestly. I think he's a little childish at time but still pretty mature so it comes off as humour and honestly, you can be that way at times so it suits you," Luke explained honestly. "He's polite, I like him."
"Good," Mira nodded, feeling relieved.
Oxford Street London was busy as the two walked through it. It was cold, which is why Mira had a beanie on and a warm coat, hoping not to be bothered. The labrador was well behaved so they weren't having any attention drawn to them.
On the other hand, someone else was.
There was a tall woman, with tanned skin and brunette hair, kitted out in warm clothes but looking incredibly tired. The little girl was with, which Mira assumed was her daughter from the resemblance, who was crying with her hands over her ears. Her mother shouted at her to hurry up and follow her.
Mira knew. She wasn't sure how as she made her way over to them.
"Stop! Stop! Stop shouting at her," Mira ordered the mother.
Completely ignoring the girl's mother, she crouched down in front of the little girl, who still had her head tightened over her ears. She opened her eyes slightly to look at Mira as tears came to her eyes.
"She's been doing this for years, they told me there's nothing wrong with her ears, she's just dramatic." Her mother concluded exhausted.
Mira sighed, an all too familiar feeling coming rushing back to her. She looked around at the busy crowds on the London streets, all the talking she knew was happening but was muted by her own headphones.
"She does this any time you take her out?" Mira questioned as she dug around her coat pocket.
"Every time," Her mother replied. "I've tried everything, I'm not neglecting her I promise. She just keeps saying her ears hurt but there's nothing wrong."
Mira had a feeling that her mum was just exhausted, noticing the nurse badge under her jacket. She couldn't even imagine everything she was going through and having her daughter to try to help as well.
With a deep breath, Mira took her headphone off and gave herself a moment to adjust to the world around her before carefully putting them on the little girl. After a few minutes, she stopped crying.
"Do they hurt?" Mira asked, pointing to her own ear.
The little girl shook her head, which made Mira smile at her. Mira stood back up and turned to her mother.
"I'm not trying to intrude or anything but you must know that's not a medical problem. It's sensory. You should speak to her school about it." Mira suggested.
"They don't want to know," The woman replied. "None of them do."
"Yeah, I'm afraid it's not unusual for that," Mira smiled sadly. "Bring her out with headphones...she can uh keep mine. I don't need them. If she's on edge, fidget things help."
"How do you know that? Do you work with kids?"
"Nope," Mira shrugged. "I'm autistic and I get that too. Um, shouting won't make it better so just try to be understanding. It's frustrating but she probably feels physical pain with it."
Mira gave the little girl a small wave before she began to walk away with Luke, heading straight towards the nearest tech store, which happened to be Currys on Oxford Street. She knew they would have exactly what she needed in there so Luke decided to do a loop walk and come back to her when she was done.
Admittedly, that was one of the positives of knowing her tech was that Mira didn't need too much assistance in finding what she needed before going back out into the world with her much-needed headphones. At this point, Mira wasn't Mira without them.
"You're amazing, do you know that?" Luke's eyes widened at his sister. "How do you just know about that girl?"
"I just do," Mira replied shortly. "It just makes me....I guess sad? when their parents don't get it and I don't want the same thing to happen to someone else to happen to me."
"You know, you should campaign for a charity or something," Luke suggestive.
"I would but I don't like the feeling of not knowing when the money is going sometimes," Mira replied honestly. "I thought about doing my own and Esme suggested it but how will I even have time for that?"
"You are the most organised person on this earth," Luke chuckled. "Besides, you hire people. If anyone could do it, it's you."
Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all.
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Luke about Lando 😍 Esme about Lando 😌 Marco about Lando 🙂 Mike about Lando 😡
