Crash and burn

Chapter 15

I didn't lie in that interview, we worked as hard as we could, sweat and tears went in to perfecting the Portugal circuit. By the end of the week I could do it with my eyes closed.

Working so hard helped lando and I get our minds of the whole George potentially spilling the beans situation. We hardly saw much of each other unless it was in the gym. We became super competitive which actually helped us a lot more to work that but harder. We would see who could run further, pull the most weight during neck training. We worked so hard that we got to take the day of before leaving.

Exhausted, lando and I spent the whole day in each other's arms binge watching the fast and furious series. Lando got a little jealous when I told him that I thought Paul walker was the most attractive man on the earth but I assured him I was his girlfriend for a reason.
LN: "I have a serious question."
I got a little nervous about what he could ask.
YN: "shoot."
LN: "why do you like me? Like I'm obviously no Paul walker."
I laughed to reduce the awkwardness that confrontation gave me. My cheeks grew warm, inviting landos hand so that his cool touch would cool it down.
YN: "oh lando where do I start. I mean don't get me wrong I obviously find you attractive but it's more than that. You take my mind out of dark places, make me laugh and smile. Basically keep me sane and nobody has ever done that for me before."
LN: "I don't know I probably sound ridiculous, your just out of my league-"
YN: "uh uh don't even go there, I definitely don't deserve you."
LN: "ugh aren't we humble."
I giggled into a kiss, which developed rather quickly.
LN: "I think... I .... I might."
I pulled back reluctantly to let him speak without being interrupted by my lips.
LN: "I know it's only been a month but I really do like you, maybe more you know?"
Of course I knew.
YN: "ditto."

This time we came in colliding hard as I jumped on top of him. His cool fingers ran up and down my back before the shirt I had on had suddenly become to much distance. We wanted to be as close to each other as possible. Articles of clothing went flying and the pace quickened, our breathing becoming heavier, I felt it as his kisses moved lower and lower.

The feeling in my stomach became to avid now to ignore. He brought his face to mine with questioning eyes which I met with a nod. We were so content with each other, blissfully happy, I wanted nothing more to be as close to him as possible and apparently he felt the same way.
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The whole plane ride to Portugal I was still riding cloud nine. For the past few years I had been so alone, too focused on my career to make friends and too far from home to fall back on my family. But lando was able to fill the void in me I didn't even know was there.
CS: "why are you smiling, I swear you haven't stopped since we arrived at the airport."
I glanced over her shoulder to see lando grinning.
YN: "I don't know char, just happy. No particular reason."
She looked over her shoulder to follow my eye path. Lando immediately put up the magazine he hadn't touched once to hide his face. Char turned around, eyebrows raised.
CS: "ah I see."
She smirked to herself and continued to read her book.
CS: "so is he good or..." she whispered.
I cringed hard.
YN: "nope that's okay we don't need to go there."
CS: "tsk so prude. It's alright the answers obvious."
I shook my head and continued to scroll aimlessly through my phone. Char and I had picked up our friendship right where it left off.
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As soon as we got to the paddock I flipped the switch and got stuck in to work. Practice started of rocky, it was rainy which had never been my strong suit but the next day it cleared up and come qualifying I was starting P12. Lando however had the alternate sequence in events, delivering strong form up until Q3 where he almost qualified P3 but ended P7 when his time got deleted. I didn't even get the chance to talk to him before the wave of press came flying.
R: "YN we have to compliment you on your strong driving so far. Starting P12 can we expect to see you gain your first points?"
YN: "that is the ultimate goal. I think I'm savoring starting P12 to begin with but yes I would like to move up throughout the race. The team deserve it
R: "how do you think you will try to overtake Yuki and George to get those points?"
YN: "ahaha Yuki I know all to well shouldn't be a problem." I joked around, avoiding disclosing any tactics we had in place.
R: "and what are your thoughts on landos time being deleted."
YN: "no disagreement there, I mean the rules pretty black and white. I guess it just sucks cause that one inch that caused the penalty didn't really give him a time advantage, he deserved to start P3."

When we debrief qualifying it was clear lando was devastated so I gave him space to wallow. My own shed looked at how I could approach corners differently and pointed out weaknesses of the drivers starting around me in the grid to make a concise plan for tomorrow.

That plan didn't make it easy worked pretty well. The start wasn't the cleanest, gasly overtook me but we had contingencies for everything. I also had to wait to make any moves cause in the second lap there was a yellow flag from bottas and Charles. I first picked off gasly in the corners, he played a safe game so an aggressive move down the inside worked nicely. Over 10 laps I made back time to a 1.5 second margin from Yuki who was closely trailing George.
M: "okay YN let's enable DRS coming down the straight, can confirm the alphatauri will not have it enabled."
YN: "what speed do I need to get up to overtake him?"
M: "he is only hitting about 295."
YN: "ah only." I said sarcastically.
M: "also might be debris on track from before when bottas spun out so be mindful."
YN: "copy."
With DRS enabled I knew I would reach at least 310km/hr. Something I practiced heavily over the week. Against my speed Yuki was useless, with 15 laps to go I needed to really work now to overtake George.
Like his personality he was a proud driver, he hated people overtaking him. Therefore defensive moves was the best arsenal he had.
M: "okay so you have time, I'll let you know when the gap gets to one second and then I want you to go for scenario eight through sector 2. Get this down within the next 10 laps."
YN: "I'll try my best for you. We worked hard for this."
Come on yn I kept chanting, come on.
George ultimately didn't have the pace, I closed the considerable gap in about six laps. He blocked many of the lines I needed to take to overtake him, which is why the outside became our best option. But scenario eight accounted for him anticipating this. The first two corners I did what I like to call preliminary moves. Making it look like I was trying to take the outside. Then it came down to waiting for him to take the bait. Turn 3 he went to go for the outside and I took the inside. Clearly he didn't like that, so he tried to elbow his way back but ended loosing control into the gravel.
YN: "fuck yeahhhhhhh!!!!!"
M: "that's what we like to see YN amazing!!"
YN: "the prick tried to fight back but just shot himself in the foot."
M: "standing your ground like that takes guts."
YN: "big balls mike big balls."
He laughed into the comms. In three laps I crossed the line to gain my first points ever. It was a scream fest across the radio, compliments flying every which direction. Pulling up to stop the car I was even more ecstatic to see an orange car sitting in the P3 spot. As I hopped out of the car lando bolted over and threw my in the air.
LN: "I got podium!"
Agh I wanted to kiss him so bad.
YN: "oh my god! That's amazing holy shit! Lando I am so freaking proud."
I hugged him hard because in front of cameras that was all I really could offer.
LN: "and you got your first formula one points with P10!!! I heard the team saying how amazing you did, your overtakes rival mine apparently."
YN: "oh yeah before you know it I'll be up there with you on the podium."
After sharing our own little moment and being cleared by the marshals we bolted over to the sea of orange. We had all worked so hard to go from no points to total of 17. It was all worth it.