Fake It - OP

Chapter 16

I froze after the few steps I had made into the small room. Oscar moved quickly to slam the door closed behind us.

"I saw the rumours, Oscar, I pay attention. Twitter blew up in a matter of seconds after you entered the paddock. You two have not been dating for a week! Let alone since last summer!" Lando's voice was loud, he wasn't necessarily angry, but he wasn't happy either. Something in me doubted the walls in this room were very thick. 

"Keep your damn mouth shut." Oscar hissed.

Lando shook his head. "No, tell me what's going on Oscar and don't you dare fucking lie to me," Lando remained standing in the middle of the small room but Oscar moved to sit on the bench that flanked one of the walls. He let out a deep sigh and brought his hands to his hair, running his fingers through it and ruffling up the messy strands. I don't think I have heard Lando swear before. For some reason, it threw me off and I didn't know what to say. 

"Keep your voice down Lando, the last thing we need is anyone else hearing this conversation, I told you we'd talk about it later," I whispered. 

I don't make a move toward Oscar, opting instead to stay by the door. "We planned from the beginning to tell you what's going on because we wanted to avoid, well, this." I motion to him and thankfully Lando's shoulders relax a fraction. 

"Okay, then what's going on?" Lando's voice was still stressed, but not loud anymore. I prayed that I was wrong about the thickness of the walls anyway.

"We're faking it," Oscar bluntly said, raising his head from his hands. I looked at him shocked but then smiled lightly. I suppose it's best to just rip off the bandaid. 

Lando paused. Blinking a few times slowly. "You're what."

"Faking a relationship," I added.

There was a long awkward silence in the room and Lando tried and failed to say something, his jaw opening and closing a few times. He looked at me then at Oscar, then back a few more times. He landed on Oscar and turned to face him. 

"Do you realize how idiotic this is?" Lando's voice remains quiet but his tone is strict. "What if you two get caught, what if this goes sideways? Oscar. You'll be gone in a matter of hours, never mind making it to the end of the year, Zak will buy you out of your contract before you can even begin to apologize or explain!"

"You seriously don't think I considered that?" Oscar said as he got up. "You said it to me yourself, I am gone the moment I underperform and look uncommitted to this team. You set me up with Blake in the first place, you know all this."

"I didn't mean for you to set something like this up!"

"It's going to work Lan. I'll look committed to someone until I can prove to Zak I can be just as committed to this team."

Lando scoffs and steps back from Oscar, rubbing the space between his brows with his right hand. "If he finds out Oscar, you're done"

"He won't"

"But."

"He won't"

There was more silence that filled the room as the two teammates stared at each other. We all let the silence take over for a few moments and then I spoke up.

"We've talked about how we are going to handle things, Lando. How we are going to make things look to the media. We know that there are certain people we can't convince because it won't make sense. Like Carlos, Alex, Daniel, Max, Lily and Isa for example, since they knew of your genius plan of setting us up in Bahrain. But that's only a handful of people." 

Lando looks back at me, his eyes softer, the anger gone in them. "All of which think me being in a relationship is what I need to convince Zak I want to stay here," Oscar finishes. 

Lando moves to sit down on the small stool in the corner of the room. He looked deep in thought and neither Oscar nor I interrupted him. 

"What about dinner tonight?" He speaks up. "You'll have to meet Zak and a bunch of the team Blake."

I look down at my shoes. "I know, we talked about it already," I say, referring to Oscar and I's text conversation a few days ago. "It will be okay. He won't be expecting anything other than us sitting together at the table."

"Are you sure?" Lando raises a brow. I wasn't sure at all, but it's not like even a normal couple shows off their relationship at a dinner with one of their boss. "When did you guys meet?" Lando asks. 

I looked up confused. "Last summer break," Oscar said. 

Lando nods, a playful smirk on his face. Somehow the mischievous look scares me more than his confrontation minutes ago. "First date?"

"Summer break as well," Oscar said.

"He took me on a picnic," I continue.

"Because she doesn't like extravagant dates."

Lando laughs. "Why didn't you come with him to the paddock before Blake?"

"Oscar didn't want me getting hated on by the media."

"She's always thought she could handle it, but it was new anyway. I didn't want to put her at risk if it didn't end up working out."

"When did I find out you were dating?"

I answered this one before Oscar could. "In Bahrain, we kept our relationship from everyone. You were shocked, you thought Oscar was even more single than you are." It was my little comment seeking revenge for almost busting us on the first real day we were trying to prove this thing.

"Ouch." Lando laughed. Oscar looked at me, pride in his eyes. Thankfully the mood in the room seemed to lighten and a smile spread on the three of our faces. Lando seemed happy to keep quizzing us but that just about covered the basic questions Zak might ask tonight. But I still didn't trust the mysterious look in his eye.

"What?" I said to Lando slowly, the word somewhere between a statement and a question.

He smirked. "When was your first kiss?" Breath caught in my throat, neither Oscar nor I spoke. The whole 'kiss' subject we both managed to avoid. Lando laughed. "I realize that's not going to be something Zak asks at dinner tonight, but what about everyone else? If you're coming to a bunch of races Blake, it's going to be weird if the public doesn't see the two of you kiss a few times, let alone the grid that isn't in the loop of you guys faking things when we are out partying after a race."

Oscar cleared his throat. "I think it's probably best we take things a bit day by day."

Lando shrugged. "All right, but don't say I didn't warn you."

"We'll be okay we just have to stick with what we planned out. And as Oscar said, take things day by day."

Lando looked at both Oscar and me for a long second. "I'll help you guys sell your relationship."

Oscar perked up. "No, Lando, as you said if this thing goes sideways Zak won't hesitate, I can't have you risking your career over this."

"And as you guys said, he won't find out." Oscar didn't look convinced, I wasn't either. "If someone else, other than the two of you can vouch for your relationship, there will be less doubt if it ever gets to that."

I agree with Lando, if anyone ever seriously questioned if Oscar and I were dating Lando could always pitch in to help sell the story. "All right," I said. "Then Oscar told you about me and told you to keep it a secret. Some kind of team bonding over the winter, you were sharing secrets at a training camp."

They both gave me weird looks as if to say they weren't for gossip. I didn't know about Oscar, but Lando was one for drama. Dramaqueen smirked. 

"How do you come up with these ideas?" Lando questioned jokingly. Oscar looked down at his watch and then made a move towards the door, probably late for his meeting.

"She reads romance books."