Stay with me // Lando Norris [👨‍🦽]

Chapter one

Rin's pov

15th of February, the day that will be engraved in my brain forever. The day I got a call at 6pm, not just any call, it was a call from an assistant at the McLaren formula one team. The lady on the phone told me that the team had a job offer for me and if I was interested, they would put me on a flight on the 17th of February to fly down to Sakhir to meet the head of PR at McLaren. Of course I agreed. Yesterday was full of calls to friends, packing and also just freaking out.

At the moment it's 10am and I'm on the flight on my way to Sakhir but I still can't believe all of this is real. All the years in high school struggling to find something I liked to study, all those hours of sleep that I missed in college because I had to stay up studying till the morning, all of it finally paid off. I'm listening to cigarettes after sex as I slowly drift off to sleep on the plane.

Half an hour later I wake up from the plane shaking, we finally landed in Shakhir. I just got my lugage back when I see someone waiving at me. It's a woman who looks in her early 30s I smile at her as she starts talking. "Hiii, I'm Adriana, the one you spoke with on the phone two days ago. You must be Rin?" She says in a very friendly tone. "I am indeed" I give her an awkward smile, not knowing what to say next. "Good, I'm Paul Chadderton's assistant and I am supposed to bring you to his office and introduce you two so please follow me." She turns around and starts walking towards the exit.

I start walking next to her. "Who is Paul Chadderton if I may ask? Is he the head of PR that I am supposed to meet? I'm sorry due to all the chaos yesterday with packing I completely forgot to do my research." I say, yelling at myself inside of my head for being so unprepared. "That's okay, I would've forgotten too. And yes, he is the head of PR of the McLaren Formula 1 team. I'm going to bring you to his office for the meeting" She smiles at me.

By now we've reached the car. Adriana opens it and tells me to get in as she's putting my luggage in the trunk. It's a grey BMW M4. Her salary must be pretty good for her to afford this. And she's an assistant so that must mean my salary will be high as well.

When we've been driving for about 5 minutes Adriana starts talking again. "I can see you're nervous, you really shouldn't be. You're basically already hired at this point, you have no one to impress." She says, keeping her eyes on the road but sometimes glancing my way. "How did you even notice I was nervous? And what do you mean I'm already hired? Isn't this supposed to be the job interview?" I ask, surprised that she noticed me being nervous.

She chuckles lightly before she answers. "Well first off, I've seen a lot of newbies on their way to their first interview and not a single one wasn't nervous. Plus, I saw you biting your lip and shaking your leg which is something I tend to do as well when I'm nervous or stressed." She says in very understanding tone. She's so nice, I hope I see her around often while on the job. "Oh okay, and what about me being hired already?"

"Well Rin, there's a reason why we contacted you and not just any person who has their bachelor's degree in marketing. We noticed you on Instagram and saw your blog in your bio. You are clearly very ambitious and seem like a great fit for the team, so this isn't really a job interview, you're going to get an explanation for your job, and you'll have to sign the contract, that's all" she says as she's taking a turn into a street.

I've had that blog since I was 16 and posted on it almost weekly. I used it to process my heartbreak at the time, but after that it became a ritual of mine to write on there once a month. It became a way of mine to view the progress I made but I haven't written on there in two years because I simply didn't have the time anymore, I also didn't feel the need to write anymore.

"Oh, I forgot there was a link to that in my bio. I better delete that before other people find it. I don't write on there anymore anyways." I laugh a bit.

10 minutes later, Adriana stops the car on a parking lot in front of a building right next to the pit boxes of McLaren. "Are these the Pit boxes of Lando and Oscar?" I asked Adriana while were walking to the entrance of the building. She looks at me in surprise. "Yea they are, do you know a lot of f1? Most people who work here don't even know any of the drivers' names, except the ones working in the teams themselves of course." She says as she scans her id to open the door.

"Yeah, I know a thing or two about it. I know most of the drivers and I also know how the race weekends work etc. My younger brother is a hard-core Verstappen fan, and he always talks about formula one at the dinner table, so I learned quite a bit of information from him. I also did a tiny bit of research on the way to the airport if I'm being honest." I chuckle at my last sentence. Adriana looks very impressed at my answer.

We go up the stairs as she speaks up. "We need to be at floor 3, the top one. Also, it's very impressive that you know that much about f1, most people who work in PR just focus on their driver and their team but have zero interest in the rest of f1. This also is the reason why most of them didn't stay with us for over 7 months. Make sure to mention all of this to Mr. Chadderton, it will leave a very good impression.

5 minutes later were standing in front of an office door with the plate "Paul Chadderton" on it. Adriana knocks on the door and lets me inside.

"Mr. Chadderton this is Rin Johnsen, our new employee" she says still standing at the door, smiling at him. "Thank you, Adriana, nice to meet you Mrs Johnsen." He sticks his hand out to me as I hear the door close behind me. I smile at him as I shake his hand. "A pleasure to meet you as well sir."

"So, tell me about yourself Rin, your history in school, your talents, what you know about f1, etcetera." He says while walking to his chair. I take a seat on the opposite side of the desk as I start talking.

"In high school I studied modern languages, after that I got my bachelor's degree for marketing, and I have only graduated a month ago. I was still on the hunt for jobs but then Adriana called me 2 days ago. I'm very good at putting myself in other peoples' shoes, at looking how something might come across to another person or to the public. Which is the reason why I immediately agreed to this job. I know a lot of stuff about f1. My brother has always been a fan and he talked about it a lot, so I learned a thing or two from him. I also watch a few races with him here and there. I just know the basics though. I know the names of the drivers and I know how a race works. That's pretty much it." I smile at him after finishing my explanation.

He smiles at me, having a pleased look on his face. He goes on to ask me more questions about myself, after the questions, he tells me more about the job. "You will be working as a PR manager for Oscar Piastri. I must say you will get right to work tomorrow, seeing that the season is about to start there's a lot of interviews that need to be done and a lot of impressions to be made." He says as he hands me a contract. I read it very thoroughly and then sign at the bottom of the 3rd page.

"My assistant will give you a tour of the pit boxes, I'm very glad to have you as a member of McLaren, Rin I have high hopes for you." He smiles while opening the door for me. I already spot Adriana at her desk as I thank Paul and leave his office.

I can't stop smiling while walking towards Adriana. She sees me and immediately stands up. She leads me outside and then asks me how it went. We talk about the interview while walking towards the pit boxes. "I'm really happy for you Rin" She smiles as she opens the door to a room in the pit box of Oscar. Inside the room I see a young blonde man laying down on a cough, which is I think is Oscar. And next to him there's a tall, muscular man with dark brown curls. He shoots us an annoyed glare as we enter the room. He must be Lando Norris, Oscar's teammate at McLaren. He's a lot taller than he looks on TV.

"Boys, this is Rin Johnson, Oscar's new PR manager. Adriana says