ZIA sat on the sofa in George's driver's room, breathing heavily, holding her head in her hands.
What had she just done?
There was no way that's how she felt about George. She couldn't possible want that. He was arrogant and rude, and a fucking prick who ruined the most important races of her life.
But god, did she really want to kiss him in that moment.
She rubbed her eyes, in an attempt to wake herself up, getting rid of the emotions she was conflicted by. She stood up, and carefully sneaked out of his driver's room, and out of the garage into the paddock.
She was thankful no body saw her coming out of the William's garage, as so many questions would be raised.
She decided if anyone had seen her, her excuse would be that she was trying to find Alex and Alice after the race, and assumed they might be in the Williams garage, considering Alex was taking George's seat when he moved to Mercedes.
She ran a hand through her hair as she walked, trying to think of anything but George. But for some reason, she began to realise she couldn't really think of anything else.
"Zia hey! Z wait!"
She looked up startled, and saw that she nearly ran into Carlos. "Hey, sorry mate I wasn't looking-"
"No no don't worry. Look I was coming to find you anyways- Mattia wants a word." he said, gesturing over to the large bright red building behind them.
George completely vanished from Zia's mind. "Oh god. Okay, uh thanks Carlos." as she began to walk away towards the Ferrari building.
"No worries. Hey have you seen George at all?" Carlos asked as a second thought. "I need to find Lando, and he's not with Daniel so I'd assume they'd be together."
Zia turned around as she walked. "No. Why would I have seen G- Russell? I avoid him every chance I get. No I haven't, probably never will again." she blurted out before she jogged into the Ferrari hospitality.
Carlos frowned. "British people are weird." he said, before walking off to try and find Lando.
"ZIA please come in." Mattia said as Zia poked her head through his office door. Zia walked in, and sat in the chair opposite Mattia's desk, and began to play with her rings nervously.
"Listen, I'm sorry about your qualifying. That's not something you'd want on your last qualifying session with Red Bull." he started.
Zia chuckled sadly. "Yeah wasn't the best.Last quali session ever too." she joked feebly, looking down at her lap.
"Not quite." Mattia said, as he leant forward in his chair slightly.
Zia looked back up, shocked. "I'm sorry."
"This information is classified, so it stays in this office, is that clear?" Mattia told her, waiting for her to nod before he continued. "Carlos has decided to go back to McLaren with Ricciardo moving back to Red Bull, so there is a seat free here."
Zia widened her eyes like she had when George told her, not wanting to get him into trouble for knowing.
"We've assessed your entire career over the past few weeks, and despite your few outbursts, we've found you are the perfect candidate for the second seat."
Zia let out a noise of disbelief, and went to speak, before Mattia continued. "However... you're qualifying session today, and through no fault of your own, wasn't great. Of course, I believe you could have had pole if you wanted to later in the session, but the Gods haven't favoured you at all this year."
Zia's shoulders dropped in acknowledgment.
Mattia gave her a small smile. "You've always been a brilliant over taker, so I propose a deal. You get on the podium tomorrow from P11, even if you have to overtake a Ferrari driver, and that seat is yours."
Zia was silent for a moment. "Are you serious?"
Mattia nodded. "Deadly."
Zia took a deep breath. "Thank you. Thank you so much." she said, as they both stood up.
Mattia shook her hand before she left. "Don't thank me yet, you've got a podium to get to." he said, smiling at her.
GEORGE lay on his sofa in his hotel room, taking a a moment away from everything that had happened that day.
Qualifying.
Zia.
He was conflicted about how he felt about the girl. She was annoying, and something he couldn't get rid of, and she blamed him for every little detail.
But god did he want to kiss her.
He ran a hand down his face as his door knocked. He reluctantly got up from the sofa, and walked over to the door, opening it.
His eyes widened when he saw Zia stood in his doorway, an excited expression on her face. "You didn't ruin my career." she said, breathlessly.
George frowned. "I didn't?"
Zia smiled. "No. Binotto said if I get on the podium tomorrow I get the seat."
George let out a sigh of relief. "That's amazing Zia. I'm happy for you."
They stood like that for a few seconds, before Zia shrugged. "That's all I really wanted to say. So, I'm gonna' go back down my end of the corridor now." she said.
Zia turned, and began to walk back down her end of the hotel corridor, before George called her back. She turned around, looking at him, as he stood, half out of his door.
He gestured his head into his room. "We gotta' talk."
Zia sighed. She was dreading this.
She walked back towards George, who moved out of her way as she walked into his room, and he closed the door behind her.
They both sat on the sofa, in an awkward silence.
"We shouldn't ha-"
"That was a -"
They both laughed awkwardly at each other, before George told Zia to go first. "We shouldn't have done that." she said, defiantly. "We can't do that. It's- I mean we- it just can't."
George stared at her as she tried to explain why they shouldn't have kissed, but she couldn't really find a logical explanation apart from "we just can't."
George took a deep breath, before he leaned down, placing a hand on her cheek, and placing his lips on hers.
When he pulled away, he placed his hand on the back of her neck, as she played with the hem of his shirt, looking down at the sofa.
"Look, you annoy the crap out of me-" George began, and Zia looked back up at him with a disapproving look, "You do, that's the truth. But Zia, I don't what it is, or why, but when we kissed..." he paused looking into her eyes. "I felt like I should have done it before."
"George we ca-"
"Give me one good reason why we can't." he said, letting go of her and leaning back slightly, as if allowing her room to think.
Zia opens her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. She did this three times, before she finally spoke. "Our career."
"You were with Bryant back in Formula Two, and sorry to bring that up, but I don't see how that's any different." George countered her argument.
"It just is George okay? It's different." Zia said as she ran a hand down her face.
George held his hands up. "How is it any different."
"Because you're not him, I don't feel the same way about you like I did with him okay?" She snapped, letting out a shaky breath.
"In a good way or a bad way." George asked, not really knowing if he wanted to know the answer or not.
"I don't know." Zia answered feebly, shrugging. "You're a prick, and you're annoying and you're a fucking race ruiner." she said, "But you're... you."
She shook her head. "I can't do this." she said, before standing up, and walking towards the door.
George got up, and grabbed her wrist before she could tech the door, spinning her back into his chest. He placed one of his hands on her waist, and the other to the back of her neck again, tilting her head up, kissing her.
Zia melted. She lifted her hands up and settled them at the back of his neck, playing with his hair.
When they pulled away for breath, George rested his head on hers. "Just think about it."
He reached around her, opening the door.
She let go of him, and she turned away, and out into the corridor.
She began to bite her lip as she walked back to her room, wondering why the fuck she wanted to turn back around.
SHES CONFLICTED
quick word from me, just from the last chapter.
i had a lot of comments that were just "update" at the end of the chapter, and i just wanted to ask for you to please not do this in the future.
it's incredibly un motivating and just puts me further into a writing slump.
i have many other books that i've published that i'm currently working on, and other chapters that i need to write.
there are books that i haven't written in in months, probably even since before the new year because i've been trying to write for, and if people are telling me update a specific book it does make me question whether to keep some of my books anymore.
it's my fault for not telling anyone before, but just for reference, please try not to do this.
thank you and again, i am sorry i didn't mention it sooner <3