Race day.
Yesterday had been the most important qualifying of the season and today was the race. Monaco was a circuit where overtaking was substantially difficult which meant strategy was key and maintaining positions on track was easier.
Emilia felt better than she had done when she woke up yesterday maybe because pretty much most of the work had been done for her by her decent qualifying. George had predictably beaten her but by no more than a tenth of a second. Though with her teammate so close to her, she had to avoid contact going into turn one that would end or impair either of their races and if she did so, it would not make her very popular back in the garage.
She'd left Alex's early while he was still up but awake and tried to make it look like she had slept in her bed rather than Lando's. He was still asleep when she got up but she saw Lando prior to her leaving. No one seemed to know that she had shared a bed with the McLaren driver thankfully. She walked through an bustling Monaco back to her hotel where she got ready.
"Emilia, hurry your arse up here." Aurelia called while Emilia was sorting her hair out in the bathroom. She wanted, for no particular reason, to put a bit more effort into her appearance by adding a touch of makeup just to see whether it would stay on while she raced. "You look like your about to go on a fucking runway not race in a car." Aurelia burst in and commented on Emilia's appearance.
"I'll take that as a compliment but I just decided to try makeup this morning. I don't know whether it will stay on, but it will be fun to try." Emilia responded picking up her bag before she left her room.
"The cockpit of that car is hot, I'm not sure it will stay on but you look gorgeous. If only you got a podium today." Aurelia replied. Emilia laughed at the unlikely event and gave her a wink as she shut the door behind them. They travelled to the circuit with Christine as well in a boat which was a new experience for all of them. "This is so cool!" She squealed.
"Nah, I'm not liking this." Christine shook her head clearly feeling a bit sick as they bumped along the Mediterranean.
"It won't be for much longer, we're almost there." Emilia assured. Unlike her trainer, she was enjoying the different mode of transport to the track which was definitely an upgrade to the usual car.
Mostly dry, they arrived at the track earlier than Aurelia had anticipated leaving them a few minutes to walk around before having to be in meetings and elsewhere. It was the only stress-free period Emilia got ahead of getting out to the grid where she walked up to the front for the national anthems. Charles and Carlos were already there and Emilia joined their conversation.
"Morning." She smiled.
"Ah, but it is afternoon." Charles corrected.
"You are right, it is." Emilia nodded rubbing her forehead. She had no idea why she still thought it was morning. Maybe it was because time had flown incredibly fast since she had got to the track which made her think it was earlier than it was even though she knew lights out was at three.
"Out late last night?" Carlos chuckled.
"Nah, we were at Alex's for the most of it and no alcohol involved." Emilia responded.
"Was Lando there?" Carlos questioned with a smirk on his face. Emilia bit her lip trying to hide her smile but didn't do a very good job at it. "Did he teach you Spanish?" Emilia knew exactly what he was referring to.
"Oh my God, you and Lando are together." Charles exclaimed. Emilia had no idea how he had worked that out from Carlos asking whether Lando was there but he could have already known.
"How did you know that?" Brilliant Emilia brilliant. Instead of covering it up, confirmed it. What an idiot she told herself.
"The way your face lit up at the mention of his name." Charles explained. Emilia didn't realise her face lit up when Lando's name was mentioned. In fact, she didn't realise she reacted to Lando's name being brought up at all let alone give it away that she likes him. Emilia's face suddenly felt a lot hotter.
"Yeah, he talks about you a lot to me. You are a lovely person but it does get annoying sometimes." Carlos laughed. Emilia was flattered that Lando spoke to others about her.
"Yeah I'm sorry about that. His Spanish yesterday was adorable though." Emilia gushed to the two drivers in red racing suits.
"What Spanish? Carlos you taught him Spanish? Honestly, I am your teammate now you need to be teaching me not him." Charles laughed. He didn't seem to be mad that Carlos still preferred his ex-teammate but then, their bond was unbreakable even if they were in separate teams.
"He asked for what little duck was in Spanish so I told him, I presume he wanted a cute nickname for Emilia." Carlos grinned at the kindness of his best friend. Emilia blushed again at the mention of Lando without him being here. She quickly glanced around for him but couldn't see him.
"Aw that is so sweet." Charles admired. Emilia suddenly had an idea.
"Yeah don't tell anyone there's anything going on yet though because nothing's official yet and we don't want everyone knowing. Also, you speak French right?" Emilia queried and Charles nodded in response. "Can you teach me a bit?" Emilia requested with a smile.
It seemed like no time at all before Emilia had to be back in the car after the national anthem. She put her helmet on and prepared herself for the start of the race moving her steering wheel as if she was driving around the track but without pressing the accelerator. John gave her the warning that the formation lap was about to commence so she slid her visor down and got her head in the zone. The light switched off and formation lap began with Emilia weaving her way round the tight circuit.
"You're starting P5 today. Keep it clean; no dive bombing into turn one, it won't help you at all. Stay cautious of crashing into George, he's being told the same." John informed as Emilia whipped through the tunnel.
"Copy." Emilia briefly replied fully focusing on getting round the Nouvelle chicane without clipping the barriers. She completed the rest of the lap as smoothly as it started with no issues. Twenty cars were parked up on the grid so the light sequence began. They all turned on and then off again signalling that the race was underway.
Emilia had a better start than George and caught up with him by the time they had gotten to turn one. From the late breaking, her tyre locked up and caused a plume of smoke to appear from her right front. It allowed George to slide in front of her and Emilia was now under pressure from the McLaren of probably Daniel Ricciardo.
Luckily for Emilia, Monaco was a track that rarely fitted two cars side by side so she would be safe for the most part. DRS wouldn't be enabled until lap three either meaning she would have time to extend the gap.
While considering her tyres, Emilia pushed to extend the gap to longer than a second which she succeeded and was within DRS of George but the straight just wasn't long enough to catch him. She got inside three tenths but lost six tenths in the dirty air of the corners. It was a constant battle with George holding the position and Emilia being a comfortable distance away from Daniel or whoever else was behind her.
As Emilia started on the softs, the pit window would open around lap thirty but lap forty was the aim providing she didn't wear out her tyres too much. Her tyres felt fine but by lap thirty the flat spot was causing vibrations that began to give Emilia a headache. She requested to pit and they told her it would have to be a bit longer so she could be fed back out into a good gap. Eventually she was called in and pitted for hards as mediums definitely wouldn't last until the end.
The pit stop went smoothly and she came back out in eleventh due to her early pitting. It offered her the chance of the undercut that might put her ahead of the other cars. They would have to see if it worked out but it might initially though her tyres could drop off towards the end of the race so she would get overtaken and it wouldn't work out.
"Tyre temps are low warm them up a bit." John instructed as Emilia began to weave around trying to increase the temperature. She didn't understand why they were so low as they'd only just come out of the blankets.
Quickly, she was caught up by the train of about four cars behind her maybe more but Emilia couldn't see much in her mirrors because of the corners and buildings that blocked the cars. She reached the tunnel with the cars right up her rear wing and struggled to get round the chicane with the tyres being seriously cold so she had to fly straight over letting the Alpine of Fernando Alonso past.
"Why aren't they warm yet?" Emilia frustratingly questioned.
"We're trying to find out why." John replied calmly. It was just what Emilia needed. Tyre warming issues on a unovertakeable circuit was just what she needed. Although, she may be able to pull it off because the cars in front still hadn't pitted. She survived the rest of the lap without letting any other cars past and was right behind Fernando though her tyres still worried her.
Emilia opened her DRS and slipped out from behind to go down the outside of the first corner but her tyres weren't ready for the late break. She locked up both her fronts and slowly hit the barrier in the runoff which chewed off her front wing. Fuck.
Hurriedly, she put the car into reverse and had to wait for a few cars to pass before there was a safe gap. That train she was at the beginning of starting the lap, had all past her which left her at the back of it.
"Fuck I'm sorry. I've got damage, I need to come in."
"Copy." John bluntly responded. It meant Emilia would have to crawl the whole way round without a front wing and have to pit again, which she had just done. Changing tyres wouldn't be useful so she would lose another twenty seconds and overtake to make up for it which would be a lot of work.
Emilia managed to get all the way round and accomplished a pass on the Haas of Alex Albon after the tunnel showing her tyres had warmed up a bit. Emilia got past the other Haas as Mick went wide by the swimming pool chicane and almost got ahead of Ocon at Rascasse but the move didn't quite pull off.
"Great lap." John praised as she headed for the pits. The front wing change was smooth but obviously a bit longer than she would have wanted. "Safety car out, Giovinazzi broke down. Great benefit for you."
"That's something good then." Emilia breathed as she got out of the pitlane.
"Exactly, focus on the positives. You've come out fourteenth but we're guessing a lot of pitting will happen this lap. Just to give you a race update, George is in second and just pitted giving him an advantage over Bottas in first. Most cars are following into pits but George is in a really good place for the win." John explained. Emilia was excited for George as the team would possibly have one good result following her contact with the barrier.
"Let's hope he gets it." Emilia responded. At least this safety car gave her time to warm her tyres without losing time or track position. As predicted, many cars pitted so Emilia moved up the order however, she would be even higher if she hadn't had to pit twice. It was an awful time to need a new front wing; she had just been in the pits and then had to go in again. Yeah sure, perhaps she shouldn't have tried to reovertake Alonso when she wasn't 100% sure her tyres were warm enough but still there was a gap, she had to go for it.
"Safety car in this lap." John announced getting Emilia refocused. "You are not one of the lapped cars but not my much."
"So I stay where I am?" Emilia queried slightly confused.
"Yes. You are P9, aim is P7 and you have Vettel in front." P7 wouldn't normally have been so hard but on a track which it is difficult to gain places and being behind a four-time world champion it didn't look very promising. It would just have to take a lot of willpower and a bit of luck even though Emilia didn't like relying on luck.
The safety car went ahead with George deciding when to go after a slow pit stop from Bottas that handed George the lead. She was elated for her teammate who was up for his first win providing he didn't ruin the opportunity like Emilia did. George waited for a few seconds before sprinting off down the straight.
Emilia knew she had to switch her focus to her own race which she did and smoothly sailed past Vettel going into turn one as he misjudged Saint Devote completely. He took the inside line of the corner which was not within the track so he had to hand the position to Emilia.
"P8, well done. Keep pressuring and forcing the mistakes. Stroll in front three tenths." John notified. Emilia was accomplishing overtakes on this track with two in one lap and going for another on Stroll into the Grand Hotel hairpin. She slammed on the brakes and snuck into a little gap Lance had left leaving the Aston Martin driver cursing for leaving a space. Emilia managed to get out ahead by Mirabeau Bas but Lance was biting back at Porteir.
Both cars went down the tunnel side by side and neither of them yielding the position. Emilia would have the inside line going into the Nouvelle chicane. The British driver pushed herself to brake as late as possible and broke far later than her brain told her to. But that was the point. If she was going to overtake in Monaco, she had to pull out something special and brake later than the rest of the drivers.
How, Emilia didn't know, but she kept the car in control as she passed Lance gaining P7 which was her target for the end of the race. She even impressed herself there with her closeness to the wall and braking as late as she could while still going round the chicane.
"That was brilliant there Emilia. Sainz next; two seconds. Conserve tyres and watch fuel levels." John said. Emilia was completely concentrated which you had to be around Monaco otherwise the metal barriers would eat you up and end your race. Just the tiniest clip of a wall could send you flying into another and there was a feasible chance of taking another car with you which would leave an unhappy driver – that would not be fun.
The race progressed and Emilia was being hastened to get the pass done on Carlos whom she had been following for about fifteen laps but not having the chance to get past. He was doing great to not make a mistake which Emilia could capitalise on.
"Ten laps to go, let's get up to sixth." John encouraged. For saying Emilia had been in P14 at one point she was doing exceptionally well. She was also likely to be the only person to have pitted twice unless anyone else had done the same as her.
Finally, an opening appeared when Carlos missed the swimming pool chicane flying straight over it and amazingly kept it out the barriers but it wasn't a good enough recovery to not let Emilia zip past. She let out a deep breath as the cars had been close but she didn't let her concentration slide.
"Norris ahead 1.4 seconds should catch him with three laps to go." John immediately alerted suggesting they required her to get a wriggle on. Emilia became all of a sudden nervous to come close with Lando. Worry began to fill her as she didn't want to crash or harm him in any way. She also wanted the best for him which didn't really help either as she would be the one to take that away from her. How was it they couldn't get through a race without encountering each other?
"Copy."
"How are the tyres feeling?"
"Good, no concerns here." Emilia responded trying to sound more confident as her first reply was faintly shaky yet she was pretty certain it wasn't noticeable.
"Neither." John replied confirming no issues from the pitlane allowing Emilia to direct her attention back on driving. She began to see the McLaren that was sporting a beautiful, new, one-off livery. She knew Lando was in that car.
"Okay you can do this, it's just another car." Emilia quietly said to herself though she double checked that her radio was off so the rest of her team didn't hear her talking to herself. Slowly, the gaps closed but Lando left no room for Emilia to overtake.
"Three laps to go." John said reminding her that she needed to get past the McLaren. It wasn't as if she didn't know that as she passed the pitlane every time the board with the gap and lap peeked out for long enough for her to read.
Emilia was putting a lot of pressure on Lando trying to force the mistake but he wasn't cracking. She knew it wasn't best to rely on him making slip-ups but on a track like Monaco it was difficult not to. It required ludicrous quantities of concentration that had to be maintained the entire duration of the race. Emilia was managing it shockingly well seeing as she never had a full-length race here like this before. The F2 races were always shorter so it was easier to keep the focus there.
"Two laps to go, let's get this overtake done." John pushed. It was beginning to irritate Emilia as she was trying desperately to not make an error and send her car into the barriers.
"Yeah I know. Can I have quiet on the radio please?" Emilia asked with a tone of annoyance. She could apologise later but right now she needed to gain fifth.
The last lap began with Emilia having DRS on the blue McLaren. She zoomed down the straight braking hard into Sainte Devote so she could close the gap. How her tyres didn't lock up she didn't know but it was lucky she didn't collide with the barriers coming out of the corner as she struggled for traction. She was closer than she had been as they travelled up the hill towards Beau Rivage and then flicking the gears down going into Massenet.
They continued down to the Grand Hotel Hairpin where Emilia attempted a move round the outside of Lando but she didn't come out ahead of him. She was practically on top of his rear wing and had to break early at Mirabeau Bas in order to not do a Red Bull in Baku 2018. Emilia must have accelerated faster out of Portier as they went side by side down the tunnel.
Fear began to fill Emilia more than it should have as she didn't want to crash into Lando. She was more concerned about his safety than her entire race. They were going at such a rapid speed as well it worried her than he would end up in the barriers. That certainly would give her a penalty but Lando getting out the car unharmed would be her main priority if it were to happen. Emilia knew that she had to go for it as she couldn't back out of it going into the chicane.
They both were late on the breaks and Emilia locked up both her fronts that were just exhausted after having to endure extra laps due to Emilia's early pit stop. She flew straight over the chicane instead of going round it but getting in front of Lando. However, that meant she had to give the position back to him. She slowed down allowing him back past but pressured him as soon as he went further on.
Emilia was determined to get this position even if it was more two more points. Both of the drivers cleared the Swimming Pool Chicane fine by just brushing the barrier as that had sent many people into the walls but not these two this time.
There were only three corners left and Emilia began to lose hope but she told herself she couldn't. She continued filling Lando's rear which actually paid off as he went marginally wider than he would have desired to around the penultimate corner. Emilia took advantage of this as they went two wide into the final corner making her hold her breath and they both exited in one piece going wheel to wheel on the straight with neither of them knowing who came out on top.
"P5 Emilia excellent job today." John exclaimed after a few seconds giving Emilia the news she wanted to hear.
"Thanks guys. Guess I made up for the mistake then." She laughed. "Where did George finish?"
"George was P1, P1." John replied. Emilia's jaw dropped in astonishment.
"NO WAY! Why was I not updated on his race?" Emilia questioned.
"You have your own race Emilia." John pointed out.
"Yeah but still that's amazing for him!" Emilia responded.
"If you hurry up back to the pits you can congratulate him yourself." John laughed.
"Yeah sorry my bad I'll hurry up." Emilia pressed the throttle harder so she could get back quicker as she had slowed down whilst talking to John. She managed to catch up with George before pitting as he was taking a leisurelier in-lap probably drinking in his first victory and in Monaco – what a place to get it in. Emilia lifted her hand of the steering wheel to give him a thumbs up and he did the same then driving off and leading her back to the pits.
Emilia was instructed to park her car where in a space which she did so hurriedly meaning she could get to George faster. She was ecstatic for her teammate who thoroughly deserved his victory. He had been, as every driver had, dreaming of his first win and Monaco was such a special place to get it in.
There was no room in the pitlane for the winning cars so they were parked on the track meaning Emilia couldn't get to George. Aurelia demanded she went and got changed first before she saw the winner because apparently, she stunk from sweat. Emilia didn't see how she could have because her racing overalls were fire-proof so surely, they would be odour-proof as well?
"Emilia Miller if you do not hurry your arse up, I will post drunk videos of you on your Instagram tonight." Aurelia warned. Emilia immediately quickened her walking pace as she knew her manager would carry through with her threat if she did not obey.
It was the fastest the driver had ever switched clothes slipping off her racing suit and putting on her teamwear clothes. She practically ran back out to the paddock worrying about media duties later. She just caught George getting out the car that had driven him from the track to the pitlane so he could descend the stairs and claim his trophy.
"George!" Emilia called catching the beaming man's attention who somehow managed to make his smile wider when he saw her. She flew into his arms with such a force it almost knocked George over. "You fucking did it."
"Yeah, I know." George breathed out a sigh of relief but Emilia couldn't imagine the grin dropping from his face even though she couldn't see it as she had her head buried in his shoulder.
"That was a fucking incredible drive from you!" Emilia praised.
"You didn't even see it." George chuckled. That was a good point but Emilia knew he would have had to pull off an outstanding race to beat the Red Bulls and Mercs.
"True but still." Emilia smiled and George released her from the hug. He stood there with his hands on his hips still beaming.
"How was your race?" George queried.
"I got P5 which is alright considering I crashed on the lap after the one I pitted in." Emilia laughed despite the fact that it wasn't much of a laughing matter.
"No way!" George covered his hand over his mouth to stop a laugh escaping.
"Yeah I ruined my front wing going into turn one." Emilia admitted.
"George, we need to go." George's PR interrupted and he gave his teammate another hug lifting her up off the ground causing a squeal to come out as it was unexpected. She gave him a thumbs up as he headed up the stairs.
"He's happy." Aurelia noted.
"You think?" Emilia giggled as they turned away and headed to where the rest of the team would watch the podium. They watched a bubbly George receive his trophy and had the national anthem play that he sung loudly too.
There was no ounce of jealousy in Emilia's body for George winning. Sure, she would love to be on the top step of the podium but today, she didn't deserve to be. The sport of course, was cruel at times and relentless on issuing bad luck around the paddock meaning some drivers ended up higher than they should have done though today George had pulled out a brilliant performance from what Emilia had gathered. She would get to admire it in the meeting in around half an hour which would be enjoyable except everyone would see her interaction with the barriers. Oh well, she was in too good of a mood to do anything about.
In Williams 750th race as well, what a race to get their first win in quite a few years. George, if he stayed with the team, hopefully would go onto be considered a legend within the team along with names such as Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost that were familiar to everyone. However, the likelihood of George staying when he was wanted by Mercedes would be extremely slim as Williams were just not progressing fast enough for him.
George came back down the stairs and celebrated with his team still gleaming from his maiden win. He hugged the pit crew and all other Williams staff before coming to Emilia. She was happy watching the celebrations from the back but George demanded she be at the centre of the photo with him. The group photo was taken and then the chatting continued until the drivers had to run off to their media duties.
"How are you feeling about the race?" One interviewer asked Emilia who had Aurelia close by her side recording what she said.
"Yeah obviously very happy for George and I feel like I did well today with overtaking and all that minus the crash into the barriers." Emilia chuckled.
"Talk to us about how you ended up losing your front wing."
"I had struggled getting my tyre temps up we're not sure whether there was an issue with the blankets but they weren't warm when I tried to overtake Alonso so there was no traction and I went straight into the barriers." Emilia explained. "My fault of course, nothing to do with the team." She added that bit on the end as she thought it came out like she was blaming the pit crew for not having the tyres warm.
"Are you jealous of George for his win?"
"Absolutely not. I didn't see his race but from what I've heard it sounds like he deserved to win. I'm super happy for him. " Emilia responded.
"How did I do?" Emilia asked Aurelia when they were walking back to the garage. She thought she had handled the gender questions quite well again and tried to show that they didn't make her internally rage because it would only make the critics ask them more often.
"Yeah, all good." Aurelia answered.
"But?" Emilia felt like there was something coming as Aurelia's reply was short.
"You've been rumoured with another driver." Aurelia replied.
"What? Who now?" Emilia groaned.
"Carlos." Aurelia admitted.
"How did they manage that? Lando is more likely to get with Carlos than I am. He has a girlfriend as well like what are they thinking?" Emilia complained. "Is it affecting my reputation?"
"I mean it's probably not helping it. It would be better if you confirmed your relationship status whether it's with Lando or not you should probably say something." Aurelia advised. Emilia didn't want to do either, she could have people keep speculating but it wasn't good for her reputation.
"Fine I'll say I'm single. How do I do that?" Emilia queried. She would save it until next week because she didn't want to take away George's victory.
"Just an Instagram post with something in the caption that says your single." Aurelia suggested. She didn't really want to do this but her reputation was important for sponsors and sponsors were important for money and money was important for the team. It was fairly straightforward why she needed a good status. Though, there would always be hate from the media unfortunately.
The team debrief was short and sweet luckily with more of the focus on George's positives than Emilia's negatives but George did let out a laugh when he saw her crash. She still didn't find it amusing and apparently no one else did apart from George who was howling at Emilia's error.
The winner of the race decided to organise a night out just to a nightclub which Emilia was invited to. Some of the other drivers and some F2 drivers, as there had been races the same weekend, were invited as well. Emilia was hoping that Lando would be there and she could spend the evening with him but acting as friends obviously.
As she knew what Monaco was like, Emilia had packed multiple going out dresses but decided on a green one. The material was soft and wouldn't stick to her if she got sweaty as she imagined she would.
Unsurprisingly, Emilia was the last one to join the group but in her defence, she had to hair and makeup whereas as the men had only had to do one. Even then, they didn't do much to their hair. George complimented her before they all headed out onto the streets of Monaco.
It wasn't hard to find a nightclub and they were all admitted but Lando was the only one who was asked for ID which didn't impress him too much. He was teased about it all night long which Emilia found quite entertaining.
Drinks were on George who kindly offered to pay for everyone's which was probably stupid but he had just won his first GP, hopefully would be the first of many, so he was in a good mood. This meant Emilia kept going knocking back a rainbow of different drinks.
"Em, you need to slow down." Lando recommended with a serious tone. Emilia chose to ignore him and continued drinking. She had spent most of the evening with Lando but not all of it as she didn't want to make it too suspicious that there was anything going on. "Emilia look at me." She complied with his instructions.
"What?" She questioned when Lando did nothing. They were sitting in a corner where no one could see them really.
"What's wrong?" Lando had picked up on the fact that Emilia was purposely trying to get herself drunk.
"Shit." Emilia mumbled being caught out on her abnormal behaviour. "Nothing." She replied with a smile.
"Emilia, talk to me." Lando prompted and Emilia sighed.
"I was jealous of George today." Emilia quickly said.
"That's okay to be jealous of him winning." Lando rubbed her knee and Emilia shook her head.
"It wasn't because of him winning. It was because he had his parents by his side to celebrate his win with him." Emilia found her throat dry and her cheeks wet. She never usually cried in front of people, she hated it but her being completely wasted heightened her emotions.
"Hey hey Emi it's okay." Lando wiped her cheeks gently.
"Oh and I have to either confirm or deny dating anyone on Instagram because I've been rumoured with another driver." Emilia stated. She wiped her eyes and downed her drink.
"Whatever you do I don't care as long as you're happy." Lando smiled. Emilia forced a smile back to the McLaren driver. She realised she probably shouldn't have opened up but it was the alcohol talking.
"I need more to drink." Emilia announced so the conversation couldn't continue and got up with Lando chasing her telling her not to drink anymore. It continued for the rest of the night with Lando telling Emilia to stop drinking otherwise she'll be sick and he was right. The Williams driver threw up in a drain outside with Lando courteously holding her hair back. Lando had also persisted for a while offering his help if she wanted to open up more but she didn't want to so Lando left the matter for another time.
"I think we better go home." Lando decided once Emilia had thrown up pretty much all of the food she had eaten that day. There were no protests from Emilia who waited outside in the cold while Lando went back inside to say goodbye to George. He was only a minute and walked Emilia back to her hotel. Several times, he offered her his jacket but she continually said no. Emilia was anxious about people seeing her and taking photos though Lando had her arm round her to make sure she was walking in a straight line.
Emilia guided Lando to which room she was in in the hotel and they headed into the lift. He took this opportunity to give the Williams driver a hug and she gladly accepted it. She sighed into his shoulder and closed her eyes until the ping that signalled her floor. Lando guided her down the corridor until they reached her room where she immediately flopped onto her bed.
"Are you going to be sick again?" Lando enquired. Emilia just groaned in response with her face in the duvet. "You can't go to sleep in your dress."
"Then undress me." Emilia responded her voice muffled by the fact that her face was in the duvet. Lando was caught off guard by Emilia's suggestion.
"Absolutely not." Lando said. He hadn't even kissed her yet so there was no way he was going to take her clothes off. She wouldn't be able to make a sensible decision either and he didn't want to take advantage of her intoxicated state.
"Ugh fine." Emilia rolled off the bed onto the floor and dragged herself and her pyjamas into the bathroom. Lando was glad Emilia didn't persist as he didn't want her to do anything she regretted in the morning.
"Emilia, you okay in there?" Lando asked after a long period of time passed for her getting changed. When there was no response, he got up and knocked on the bathroom door. Emilia opened it for him and he saw her sitting on the floor. "What are you doing down there?"
"Thinking." Emilia quietly said.
"About what?" Lando sat down on the floor with her and she lent her head into his shoulder.
"What if I tell everyone we're together?" Emilia tilted her head so she met Lando's eyes.
"Emilia, you've had a lot to drink." Lando sighed. "I don't think you should but we can talk about it in the morning." He added. Without a doubt, he wanted to be able to hold hands with Emilia in public but he was worried about her reputation and all the hate that she would get for it. "Come on, let's go to bed." Lando stood up and offered his hands to a groggy Emilia who took them allowing Lando to pull her up.
"Stay with me?" Emilia asked. He didn't plan on leaving her anyway.
"Of course." Lando nodded. He tucked Emilia in bed and went into the bathroom to take off his clothes so only his boxers remained and hung Emilia's dress back up in her wardrobe. "Are you okay with me sleeping in just my pants?"
"More than happy." Emilia smiled making Lando roll his eyes. "Has anyone ever told you how good you look?"
"Not as good as you." Lando replied smiling as he got into bed and wrapped his arms around the Williams driver.
Love the first half of the chapter, despise the second half ugh. I like doing the interview bits so you can have an insight into what Emilia's thinking but let me know if you guys want me to stop doing that.
Emilia also doesn't have a rival on track really should I give her one? Just to spice things up in the paddock and on track a bit. I mean I haven't planned for one but if you guys think it's a good idea then I'll work one in.
As always, remember to take care of yourselves, I love you and have an amazing day <3