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The Australian Grand Prix had winners and losers, the winners were those who scored the points and the losers were those outside of the points window. Teena didn't mind that her favourite team, which just so happened to be McLaren, had failed to score points in the first race of the season because she knew the drivers were just trying to get comfortable with the new car.
Teena had woken up on the morning of the Bahrain Raceday with a dilemma, and that dilemma was her hair. No matter how hard she tried it wouldn't curl and it wouldn't straighten either, so she was stuck with it in a ponytail for the remainder of the day.
She made sure to dress appropriately for the weather considering it was already 23 degrees and it was only 11 am, knowing if she wore jeans or joggers she'd get too warm and end up feeling sick. She made sure her curtain bangs were sitting properly around her face before she left her hotel room and made her way down to the lobby, getting in her courtesy Aston Martin, given to her by one of the managers at Red Bull.
When she arrived at the circuit, she slipped her Media pass over her head and let it sit on her neck, covering her 'V' necklace slightly. She rubbed her eyes as she walked through the paddock, the girl putting her sunglasses on to try and hide the fact she'd had barely any sleep and looked like a zombie.
"Valentinaaaaa." She hears someone prolong her name, the girl turning around a little to see another one of her best friends walking towards her.
"Tom!" She grins, the brunette hugging her raven haired boy best friend tightly when he gets to her.
"How'd you get here?" She asks.
"Well I got this in the mail and it said it was from you, but if you don't know why I'm here then I don't think you sent it to me." Tom replies, watching her furrow her eyebrows.
"You've got a secret admirer somewhere." Teena shrugs.
"Well now you have me annoying you so." Tom smiles.
"Teena? Tom?" The two of them hear, both looking at one another before looking around.
"The OG trio reunites." Tom grins as Silver races over and embraces them both softly.
She met both Silver and Tom in different circumstances, but introduced the pair of them and became the 'OG trio', as Silver calls them. Tom was from France and Silver was from England, so Teena didn't get to see either of them that much, but here they were in Bahrain, both with paddock passes and dressed in their best outfits for the day.
"See, you guys look good, I look like shit 'cause I've not slept." Teena rolls her eyes as she looks down at her outfit.
"Well, let's sneak out, go to your hotel, get yourself lookin' fine, make Hamilton jealous and make some driver fall in love with you." Silver grins.
"You say that but it's against the rules, I'd get sacked." Teena rolls her eyes.
"We didn't ask, let's go." Tom rolls his eyes in response, grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the paddock alongside Silver.
Lando was about to approach them before she was dragged away, hoping he could say good morning to her and see how she was, but it was a little too late. Carlos watched him as he watched her walk away, the raven-haired driver prepared to tease Lando when he walked into the motorhome.
"Hey, you've got heart shaped eyes." Carlos grins teasingly.
"I do not." Lando shakes his head.
"You keep telling yourself that, but in about 4 or 5 races time, I can guarantee you'll be agreeing with me." Carlos smirks, making Lando roll his eyes.
It's not that Lando didn't find her attractive, because to him, she was the most gorgeous girl on the planet, but he knew absolutely nothing about her, he didn't even know when her birthday was.
She was closed off to a lot of people, the only drivers who knew the most about her would be Charles and Pierre, but only because Charles is her cousin and she's known Pierre for a long time.
He wanted to know more about her, he wanted to get to know her and find out the things she enjoyed and the things she didn't, but with how busy she was and how busy he was himself, it seemed nearly impossible to get time alone with her.
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"You look like you're going for a night out." Tom laughs as she looks at herself in the mirror.
"You guys could be like my fairy godparents." Teena laughs softly, moving her hair out of her face.
"Alright we need to get her back right now otherwise she'll be late for the race." Silver calls, the three of them leaving her hotel room and going to the car.
When they arrived back at the circuit, both of her friends made their way to the stands to watch the race whilst Teena made her way to the Media Staffroom to collect her cameras and her other things. When she walked inside, Kym was already standing there prepared to go out on track to get some photos.
"My apologies, I got a little distracted." Teena smiles a little, the girl collecting all of her equipment before she and Kym disappeared out of the staffroom.
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Lando was walking through the paddock after doing his post-race interview feeling good about himself, having scored his first 8 points for McLaren within the first 2 races of the season. A smile was present on his face as he ran a hand through his curly brown hair, his eyes catching Teena's as she walks through the paddock alone with no equipment and her phone in her hand,
"Hey, are you alright?" Lando stops her.
"Yeah, I'm just tired." Teena replies.
"Oh, can you not leave yet?" Lando asks, watching her shake her head.
"I'm being forced to go out with those two people you saw standing with me earlier, Lewis is having a party in some bar 'cause he won." Teena shrugs.
"Oh, that's good." Lando smiles a little.
"Not when you're running on 4 hours of sleep and you don't drink alcohol. Are you going?" She asks.
"I wasn't going to because I didn't think anyone else didn't drink but I know you don't know." Lando grins, watching her shake her head at him.
"Looks like we'll be sticking together then, huh? I'll let you go get yourself sorted, see you tonight." She smiles, the Monegasque scratching her arm softly before she walks away,
"Who's that?" Tom wiggles his eyebrows as she walks over.
"Lando Norris, drives for McLaren." Teena replies.
"And you like him." Silver rolls her eyes.
"Do not." Teena scoffs, watching both of her friends roll their eyes.
"Yeah yeah, give it a few weeks and you'll be leaving the FIA for him." Silver laughs.
"She didn't do it for Hamilton, why would she do it for him?" Tom butts in.
"Please, Hamilton is the biggest asshole in the universe." Teena rolls her eyes, knowing that he was only a few metres behind them. Both Silver and Tom burst into laughter as she moves her hair out of her face, the girl feeling more accomplished that she'd pissed of Lewis considering he gave her a dirty look when she turned around to look at him.
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"Teena can we talk?" Lewis asks quietly.
"Only my friends call me Teena." She replies, watching him roll his eyes.
"Valentina-" He goes to speak.
"I don't want to talk to you, nor will I ever wanna talk to you again. Can't believe I almost left the FIA for a cheating asshole like you." She looks at him, the girl rolling her eyes before she walks away from him.
Truth is, she and Lewis were quite close in 2017 and had dated from October that year and into the next, but because their relationship had to be kept a secret from literally everyone, they had to be super careful. The drivers and the girl were out one evening in a bar when she went to find tell him about her leaving the FIA, but she found him snogging another girl up against the wall outside, and she was furious.
She revoked her 2 week notice from the FIA and kept working for them, knowing that her being around him would fill him with guilt and make him feel awful for doing it to her. Lewis still felt awful about it to this day, but she wasn't going to let him tear down her walls and let him get to her again, never again, and she promised herself that.
"To new beginnings." Silver raises her glass.
"To the apartment in London." Tom raises his glass too.
"To leaving Monte Carlo!" Teena shouts, clinking their glasses together before she watches the pair of her friends drink the alcohol, Teena drinking a pink lemonade mocktail to feel somewhat included.
"Your new boyfriend is here." Tom nudges her.
"Lando! Hey!" She calls him over, the boy greeting a few of the drivers before he makes his way to the three friends. Lewis watched him as he walked over, the girl embracing the McLaren driver softly, which made the Mercedes driver more annoyed and jealous than ever.
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"Why was Hamilton staring at you all night? Do you hate one another?" Lando asks as he walks alongside Teena in the night air of Sakhir.
"Well... I hate him. It's a long story." Teena shrugs.
"I've got time, the hotel is forever away." Lando smiles, the girl smiling to herself as she looks at her feet.
"We dated, uh, for just about a year. October 2017 was when we got together, but 'cause it's literally against the rules of my job, we had to be really careful. I think it was last year, September after the season started again and he'd won at Monza, he threw a party to celebrate." Teena begins, moving her hair behind her ear.
"I went to find him to tell him I'd handed in my 2 weeks notice to the FIA so we didn't have to be a secret anymore, but when I found him, he had some other girl pushed up against the wall and was kissing her, so I revoked my 2 weeks notice, broke up with him and carried on with my season like nothing happened." Teena continues.
"Every race since he's always tried to ask me to talk or ambushed me, so I've just told him I don't wanna talk to him. He did it earlier on before you arrived 'cause he just assumes he can apologise and I'll forgive him 'cause 'I'm just a kid'." She rolls her eyes, doing air quotations when she said 'I'm just a kid'.
"I mean, he's not the greatest of people is he?" Lando asks.
"Just 'cause he's world champion means absolutely nothing. His personality is dry and he's absolutely vile." Teena rolls her eyes.
"Does anyone else know?" Lando questions.
"No they don't, and I beg that you please don't tell anyone 'cause I enjoy my job." Teena looks at him with desperation.
"Your secret is safe with me, angel eyes." Lando smiles.
"Angel eyes? How cute, pretty boy." She smiles in return.
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