"I told you the car was shit." Lando huffs as he stomps into the room. Thankfully the door snapped closed before anybody could hear his words.
"It's not shit." He gives me a deadpan look. I'm a little thrown by his reaction, it really isn't that bad.
"Amber..." My name is grumbled.
"You came 15th, it's not the worst result ever. Definitely not the worst you've had." Lando seems to consider my words in his head. Wasn't it him ten days ago who told me they'd get the car going and it would all be fine? "At least you finished?" I try to sound optimistic but only get a frown in return. Clearly my attempts to comfort him aren't working and I need to think of a new job around here.
"I can't go around celebrating that I even finished the race!" Lando stresses and I roll my eyes. This is nothing I haven't heard repeated over the years.
"Some teams can." I shrug not meaning the comment to sound as bitchy as it did, but, now I've said it; some drivers...seem to have an infatuation with walls out on that track. Thankfully my brother is not one of those. I can only imagine his attitude if he was.
"Not me." Lando says with a shake of his head unzipping his race suit and pulling it down so its slung around his hips.
"Not you." I concede. If Lando had took simply finishing races as a positive he wouldn't be where he is now. It's his determination that allowed him to get this far. "I guess it's good that you can blame the car though, you haven't just got shit over break?" I suggest with a shrug, this time Lando gives me a smile. I smile back at him softly, feeling vindicated by his reaction.
We both knew he hadn't got shit over break with how well testing seemed to go. But, as an extra comfort Daniel came just 1 place ahead of Lando in 14th. At least there's the comfort that they both struggled to get the car inside the top ten and my brother wasn't just trailing behind, his skills worse than the rest of the field.
"Things can only get better from here." I try to keep the positive tone between us going.
"They could get worse." Lando points out and I slap him on the arm like our mum does to him when he gets whiny like this.
"Better." I correct rolling my eyes. I pull him in for a soft hug, tapping his back gently. It's only now that I remember the guys are worked out on that track, because he smells sickeningly like dried sweat. My face scrunches at the scent as we pull apart. "Go get showered, you stink." I instruct which makes Lando snort. I don't know what I expected, he'd been out there for almost two hours in a tight helmet, fireproof clothing and it was 25 degrees. It might be night but it doesn't mean it was overly cool.
"You know I could've got mum here if I wanted to be told what to do?" He asos unzipping his race suit and pushing it down to his hips.
"You love having me here, mum wouldn't join for more than two races." I point out and Lando nods at my words knowing they're right. Our mother loved home too much to ever live her life out of a suitcase like I seem to have signed up to do.
Next week marks our third week away and I can't say I'm hating it. It's quite exciting being somewhere different, and it's not like I'm living a hard life here. I think this is the most time I've had to relax since I was sixteen and finished my exams at school.
Lando shoo's me away so he can shower before going to finish press for the evening. Thankfully, I grab my phone and bottle of water before being pushed out the room. The only problem now being I didn't know what to do with myself. It's just after 6pm at home, Lilly will be eating. Mum already arranged to call Lando later when we're back at the hotel. The mission to pack up for heading to Saudi Arabia next week has already started which really gives me limited options in how to occupy myself.
I'm stood awkwardly on the balcony of the garage, tapping away on my phone, not sure where to put myself when I hear him. "Is Lando tired of you already?" The Australian voice could only possibly belong to one person around here. Daniel is coming up the stairs, a few others around him as he heads towards his drivers room. I smile awkwardly at his words shaking my head.
"He's just..." I gesture in the direction of his room and sigh. Daniel looks at me with interested eyes as he pushes open the door to his room. His friend shuffles into the room, laptop tucked under his arm as Daniel stays in his current spot.
"Wanna join?" His offer is soft. I immediately shake my head. Daniel nods his head at me almost dismissively as he opens the door to his room wider. "You can't stand out here by yourself. Come in." He instructs keeping his voice soft, as if I might run away if he's firmer. I take a deep breath, deciding it's easier to follow daniels instructions rather than argue with him in the hall.
"This is Michael, my trainer." Daniel introduces me to the dark haired man who entered the room before us. He's tapping away on the MacBook in front of him but pauses to look me over and offer me a small wave.
"I'm Amber." I introduce myself, sticking my hand out up for a wave immediately regretting the decision. Why was that so awkward?
"Amber is Lando's sister." Daniel explains for me. There's a slight edge to his voice, as though hinting at something to Michael. My thoughts are proven correct when Michael immediately pauses typing, his eyes jumping from the screen of his laptop to the two of us.
"Oh shit." Michael says laughing to himself a little. "From Monza." This time my eyes widen so wide they almost pop out of my head. I choke on my words trying to defend myself against Michaels knowing look but nothing works. "I knew I recognised you. I tried to tell Dan but he was determined to speak with you." He may aswell say'amongst other things'.
"Mike." Daniel says, his voice warning yet a little panicked. It's obvious his friend has been told about our night together.
"I've heard a lot about you." Michael says with a small smile, despite nearly giving me a heart attack he seems nice.
"More than I hoped by the sound of it." I try to joke, but it just feels awkward more than anything. It's wrong of me to be paranoid that people other than Daniel and myself know what happened around here. Michael can obviously be trusted.
"Probably." He concedes, looking at Daniel with a mischievous look on his face. "I heard a lot for about a month after Monza. And he picked up talking about you again this week." I raise my eyebrow in Daniel's direction as if to ask him if it's true.
"Alright!" Daniel cuts off clapping his hands together. He looks a little embarrassed by the outburst. "Thank you very much for that Michael. Amber you needed to know none of it, please forget you met this... man." He says, sounding less than thankful for michaels sharing of information.
"I think I'm gonna go and work somewhere else." Michael suddenly says, obviously aware of Daniels not so subtle glares in his direction for embarrassing him.
"Maybe that's for the best." Daniel says, there's a small edge to his tone and I have to bite down on my lip to stop myself from laughing. So I have come up in conversation. Within seconds Michael's out the door, letting it click closed behind him.
Without his presence Daniel seems to relax, probably because he knows no more of his secrets can be spilled without his friend here. He sets himself down on the white couch in the corner of the room, his legs stretching out lazily as he keeps his eyes on me. It's fairly intimidating actually. "Did you watch it?" Daniel asks me as soon as we're alone.
"Yeah, I watched it from the pit." I say with a small grin. It was quite exciting. "They gave me a headset and everything!" My enthusiasm is not lost on Daniel who's looking at me with warm eyes. Maybe he's not intimidating, it's just me getting myself all wound up in his presence.
I've been to a several races, but usually with my parents or siblings and they won't let us all camp out down there. Last time at Monza I was in the paddock club, receiving slightly disgusted looks when I was screaming and yelling in support of Lando.
"Did you enjoy?" Daniel asks, keeping his questions short as I lean against the wall of his room. It creaks a little at the contact, the temporary structure not built to withstand my weight.
"It was so fun!" I beam. "A little more tense than I'm used to, but I liked that I could hear your radios." I lift a hand to my ear as if I can still hear them all chatting to eachother.
"Sorry if you heard me complaining."
"Not too much." I say with a shake of my head. "I'm glad you're not too upset, Lando is being a bitch." I can't help the way my eyes roll.
"He's just disappointed." Dan says with a shake of his head dismissing my concerns. "He'll be fine, it's only the first race. And there's been worse." It's now that you can really tell the difference in maturity between Daniel and Lando. I don't know much about his racing history but I know he makes a much more gracious loser than my brother.
We fall into silence after this. I'm glad Daniel is able to see Lando's side more than I can, and maybe even provide better support than I can.
The room were in is almost identical in set up to Lando's, apart from there's a huge Australian flag pinned up on one of the walls. There's a koala teddy and a few photos of who I'm guessing are members of his family dotted around the room. It seems less bare than Lando's, more comforting.
Once he's settled in his seat his eyes jump to me, staring at me softly. "I like that you don't want me to be upset." His eyes are gentle and they're pulling me in more than they should for our current relationship status. I want to let him know that I like that he talked about me to his friend. Maybe a little too much. It made me excited that even when I'm not around he thought about me like I've thought about him. I don't tell him this though, I'm too embarrassed by the thought.
"That's what friends are for." I choke out, as though to remind us both that that's what this is. Friends. At the reminder Daniel nods slightly mumbling a 'yeah'.
"Are you sure about this?" Daniel asks breaking the silence, he seems comfortable in his spot and I can only stare at him tentatively as I think over his question. "The whole friends thing?" He clarifies and I shake my head, because honestly, no I'm not. Right now it just feels so uncomfortable.
"Why?" My question is cautious.
"Because you're...I..." Daniel struggles with his words. He's shaking his head in what can only be described as frustration as I wait for him to explain his answer to my question. "I'm just wanting to check." He finally concedes, and I know there's more to it than that but instead of probing further I take his answer for what he really wants to say.
"You forgot we even hooked up until I reminded you." I point out a smile on my voice and Daniel shakes his head. As much as I don't like it, he can't deny it. "I think friends is our best option, we don't have to be best friends, just not painfully awkward around eachother." I explain my thoughts better than he could. The conversation between us sometimes feels a little strained, but not all of them have. Once we got over ourselves our conversation four days ago was pleasant enough. We could even joke on. I think we just need to relax a little more, forget about what happened and take each day as it comes.
We fall back into silence, I feel lighter but Daniel is still clearly still running my words through his head. "I don't want Lando to miss me so..." I trail off pointing to the door and edging towards it from the middle of the room. Once again Daniel nods, not adding anything as his eyes take me in. "I'll go." I mumble, the words must be barely audible to Daniel at the other side of the room.
"Wait," Daniel calls, his voice sharper than it has been as my hand reaches for the handle of the door. "What if we grabbed dinner?" I can't fight the smile on my face.
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I can't believe we're almost at 1000 reads! Tysm
I will warn that this is gonna be a lil slow burn, a lot of touching and looks that shouldn't be there before they get their shit together but UGH I LOVE IT
Next part is short but I'll post tomorrow
❤️