{STOPPED} So. Not. Real. -Lando Norris

2. Your merch till I die...

"Hello sunshine!" Daniel hugged me right when he'd seen me. "What's with that grumpy face?"

"Let's get some starbucks or maccies first okay?" We got into his blue Mclaren 720 and drove closer to the centre of downtown LA.

We talked a bit about our day, he told me he had a talk with Zak which surprisingly made him a bit more optimistic than I would've thought.

"So can you tell me what he told you, or is it a top secret? Like above 10 years of friendship type of a secret?" he laughed while getting our order at Mcdonald's.

"He told me that there was one team that has been interested in me for a while now, but they themselves weren't expecting having to drop me, so that why there weren't any talks ever. Now I guess I have a green light to negociate with them."

"Oh Danny, that's great right? What's the team?"

"It's Aplha Tauri." I automatically smiled "Maybe it's not Redbull directly, but I mean it's kind of like a cousin of theirs right?" I shook my head.

We parked at an empty parking lot of Target and started eating.

"So Redbull also said that they would've loved to have you back, but?"

"They're not gonna let Checo go, he's doing good this season, plus all the biggest sponsors from america love him since he's been getting so much support here. Also they know that I wouldn't be comfortable with always being the second driver and he likes that. Helping Max whenever he can is making him look good, but I have bigger aspirations than always being second."

"I get that and that's one of the things I love most about you, you can not give up Danny. I know that Alpha Tauri might not be at a level you wish to be, but i mean it's a good start right? Checo won't be with them forever and I'm sure that Christian will fight to get you back when he can"

"Yea I guess so. I don't know Oli, it's hard because every team wants to play some sort of games and all I want to do is drive a good car and fight for wins. I'm not made for sneaky negotiations and acting like everything's perfect at Mclaren at the moment." I patted him on the back, because i truly felt sorry for him.

I've never met anyone that was as kind as him. He never played any games with people, never intentionally hurt anyone, always tried to get on well with people, even if those people didn't have his best interest in mind.

"I can't wait for the moment those news are public. Really, as much as it hurts it's getting really hard for me to not be suspicious in interviews. Few days ago I was doing a GQ interview and they asked me if Mclaren is my home and the place i see myself retiring at in like 20 years."

"What a shitty situation. I can't believe that Zak claims to love and value you so much and still won't try to help you."

"I mean I would love to see him try and fight for me like I've been fighting for them these past two years, but I also get that there's not much he can do. It's all sponsors and big guys' decisions here. They want a rookie, they get a rookie. "

"This whole thing is too much for me, I really don't know how you can handle all that."

"Mental strength of a true athlete KI KI..."

"Yea, nope." I covered his mouth with my hand "We are not gonna go there" I laughed a bit.

"Okay miss we're not gonna go there, now explain to me why did you WENT THERE and got with some stupid football duche?"

"Hey! Don't look at me like that, everyone makes mistakes!"

"And was your mistake big? Like big enough to be worth this whole scandal?" He was smirking while saying it, but bursted out laughing, when he saw the face I made when I realized what he meant.

I felt my cheeks turn red, so I covered them with my hands.

"Danny please..." I could still feel his look on me "Okay yea, it was good, but definitely not worth the articles. Next time you see me with some guy, please just throw something at me."

"Oh trust me I will do that. Jokes aside I'm so sorry that that's how this shitty media world works. You did nothing wrong in this situation and you're getting shitted on so much."

"It's okay, I feel like I've gotten used to it by now. The only thing is that my PR is literally on the floor, like literally one more scandal and all I'll be able to model is maybe like a chewing gum or cheerios."

"Excuse me, what's wrong with cheerios?!"

"A lot of things, they're literally tasteless but that's besides the point, I just want to do big things, model for brands that I've loved since I was a kid and I thought I was finally getting there, but then..."

"But then you came across some stupid blocks Olivia, which is not your fault okay? Everyone can date in their twenties, I would be concerned if you wouldn't be. You just were unlucky and got burned a few to many times."

"Exactly, a few too many, which means I don't learn from my mistakes. But let's leave the topic of how shitty my love life is, there's something important I wanted to tell you."

He urged me to talk with his hand and gave me one of his biggest and most comforting smiles.

"Maria told me that she has contacted Mclaren a few months ago and tried to get them to hire me and model with you. She just knew how much I missed you, racing and the paddock."

"Okay, that's nice of her. Even though can you actually imagine us doing a photo shoot together? It would be a total mess!" He giggled a little which made me smile.

"Well I guess they want to find out if that's true, cause they want me." He gave me a bit of a concerned look. "They responded today saying that they want me to model your last collection and do a few gigs with you out on track, so that people will finally understand that we're just best friends and nothing more."

There was a few minutes of silence in the car, me being too scared to speak first, while Danny had his thinking face on.

"You know what? I think that that's a good idea. Yeah, you will get some good as photos with me next to you and also it's a great way for us to be able to see each other more. Plus as much as I love you, I feel like vomiting every time I see people suspecting we're together."

"I'm going to ignore the last part, since I agree, but also ouch? But really? You're okay with me joining them?"

"Of course I am! It's your career Oli, no matter how things are looking right now between me and them I want you to take it and make the most out of it. There's not a log of girls that model on track or with the drivers in general"

"I guess that means that we're going to be spending more time together!" We hugged and talked a little bit more about this years schedule. It looks like I'm going to be traveling a lot more than I would've like to. 

"But Danny please promise me that we will be honest with each other every step of the way. If there's even a slight second that you feel uncomfortable with me working with them, just let me know okay?"

"Olivia, there's no bad blood between me and the designers of the merch, I would even confidently say that mine's the coolest one on the grid purely thanks to them."

"You know I am not talking about them."

"Listen, me and Zak are okay, probably even more okay than anyone would think so. And I absolutely adore the rest of the workers in Mclaren. I would only get mad or uncomfy if you would tell me that you're starting to work with like the investors or if you've said that Landos merch was cuter."

"Oh don't you ever worry about that. Your merch till I die Danny"