I look both ways as I get out of Jona's room. No one is there. Great.
I take out my room key and swipe it past the door, when I'm startled by a familiar Australian voice. "Walk of shame!" He quietly yells.
I can feel my cheeks heating up. "Shut up." I tell Daniel as I enter my room en close the door behind me. I do not care about him right now.
I undress myself until I'm only in my boxers and take a seat on my bed. Adrenaline still rushing through my veins.
Daniel being in the hallway definitely did not help that.
I take some deep breaths, I've got to get my head together. Tomorrow I've got stuff to do, track walk, some media things.
After I've calmed my body down a bit, I take out my phone and decide to text one of my best friend Max Fewtrell.
Lando
I cannot believe I did this max...
Max
...
What did you do now?
Lando
I kissed her
Max
You kissed who?
The intern?
Lando
Yep
Max
You are a fucking idiot.
Lando
I know..
Max just doesn't answer after that. Letting me sulk in my own stupidity. I definitely don't regret kissing Jona. I've wanted to do that since I first saw her. But I know very well that this might be a one time thing and I've blown my chances for the future. She is focused on getting the internship, which I will absolutely try to help her get. She's not ready for a relationship. Heck, we've never even spoken about relationships. For all I know she's not even single.
Calm down Norris.
Go talk to her tomorrow. Sort it all out. Don't jump to any conclusions you have no idea if they are even true.
***
It's 9 in the morning when I am woken by someone knocking on my door. I quickly grab the McLaren shirt hanging over the chair and a pair of joggers.
"I'm coming!" I yell to the person waiting on the other side of the door as I try to put on the joggers.
"Jona." I say surprised as I open the door to reveal the girl I had a fun night with yesterday.
"Lando." She greets me, "May I come in?"
"Sure," I tell her opening the door and motioning her to come in. "Just take a seat. Somewhere" I chuckle.
She smiles a bit, taking seat in one of the chairs.
"We need to talk." We then say in unison. Suprise written all over her face.
"You go first." I tell her, already pretty convinced that it's probably all about the same topic.
"Okay, so what happened last night. That can not happen again." I just nod, letting her continue. "I think I like you, to be honest. But I'd like to have a career some time too. And in order for me to achieve what I want to achieve, I really need this internship. I can't be dating someone who has a big influence on me getting that internship. Heck I can't be dating someone that'll probably be grading me at the end of it. We both need to be impartial to do that, and I don't think I can do that when I'm in some sort of a romantic relationship with you. Even if it's just casual."
She's completely in her right to say that. But all that actually stuck with me through her monologue is that she actually likes me. Or at least she thinks she does.
"I understand." I tell her.
"So from now on I'd like our relationship to be professional. I need it to be to get the internship. So I won't be coming to any more parties this weekend."
"So we can't even be friends then?" I ask her, disappointment very clear in my voice. I was hoping to keep her close even though she did not want anything do with me romantically.
"We could be, just not this weekend," she says after a bit of silence.
I just nod. "Okay." I agree, as she stands up and walks to the door.
"Oh and Lando?" She says, before exiting my room. "Daniel did catch us, didn't he?"
***
I don't like Thursdays. You're already excited for the racing to happen this weekend, you're on the track the whole day, but there's just no racing happening.
It's just trackwalks and media circus. I have to admit I barely saw Jona today, as she was helping our marketing department with setting up some video ideas.
It wasn't until halfway into the afternoon, when I was expected in our hospitality center to film some videos, that I saw her again.
I could just feel it wasn't really the same as it was before yesterday night, or even this morning. But I don't know if others could sense it too.
"Okay Lando, so we are gonna do this or that, but first we want you to answer all questions the way Daniel would answer them. After that we want you to finish them the way you would yourself. Jona here is gonna ask the questions. " Josh, one of our on site marketeers explains. "You ready?"
"Yes, let's do this." I say positioning myself in front of the camera, Jona behind it, looking straight at me.
"You don't have to look like you are gonna piss yourself," Jona says right before we start. "Loosen up a bit, you seem tense."
You would be too, if the girl you kissed last night, now only wants to be friends. I shake my arms and legs out a bit, so I can relax my posture a bit.
"That's better." Jona says, as I retake my position in front of the camera.
***
I don't think there has been a time I was so distracted while filming different kinds of content for McLaren.
My mind and eyes kept going back to Jona. Only a blind person would not have noticed that.
Scratch that, even a blind person would have. I'm like a love sick puppy.
"Are you okay?" Jona asks as we wrapped up filming? "You seemed kinda out of it."
"I'm fine." I tell her, be even she can catch that lie immediately. But she doesn't ask about it any more. We just bid our goodbyes and both go our own ways.
I really have to get my things together, or it will be a very hard weekend.
***
FP1 definitely did not go as plan. I did not manage to get any higher than a fifteenth place. Leaving me a little bit disappointed it myself.
I have to keep my head together though, because we have a qualifying coming up. Brazil is a sprint weekend so thing go a little different.
During the media moments both Charlotte and Jona helped me move around between the different tv stations. Jona already moving around the paddock as if she's been there for much longer.
"So we were thinking, after qualifying, Jona would take my place and I will shadow her." Charlotte says as we walk back the paddock for lunch.
"Sure," I say mindlessly. Until I realize that I will actually have to interact with her again.
"And you two, I don't know what happened but please loosen up again." Charlotte says, leaving both me and Jona standing there, stunned.
"So I guess we're not that good in just professional." She laughs. A genuine laugh.
"I guess not." I laugh. "So what do you say, friends then?"
"Lando." Jona sighs. There we go again.
"Just here me out." I tell her before she can start a whole speech about how she cannot be friends. "McLaren feels like a family to me, we're all just really close. And I want to be that with you. Just on a platonic level, don't worry. But I wouldn't be happy if someone I have to work with most of the time and I did not connect on that level. And I know we do, but this distancing will just not work for me. I respect you want to keep things professional, but it can be friendly and professional. And I know you said we could be friends after this weekend, but why can't we be right now?"
She just stands there, stunned. And then she does something I did not expect.
She hugs me.
"Thank you Lando." She says, "friends sounds great, even now. I might have been wrong this morning. " Jona admits.
***
The rest of the weekend actually felt a bit more comfortable. I managed to get 7th place in qualifying and made my way to sixth place during the sprint race.
The race however went a bit less than that. Finishing only in tenth place, but content that I could het at least one point for the team.
Jona and I seemed to be more friendly towards each other. Even Charlotte complimented me on it on Sunday morning.
And that is how I find myself in a meeting room on Monday morning with everyone who worked with Jona over the weekend.
Charlotte took me and Daniel apart even earlier this morning, to hear our opinions. Of course I was positive about Jona, and also Daniel seemed content with what she did.
Being in this room, people in general seemed to be positive. Josh, one of our marketeers, however makes sure to tell everyone how I seemed a little awkward interacting with Jona on Thursday. It even started a discussion wether it would be good for team spirit if things between us stayed awkward.
"Well, I'll take all your input into consideration. I'm sure it will be a positive outcome though." Charlotte says ending the meeting.
That was an exhilarating weekend. Let's go and finish this season.
———————
One more chapter today! Thanks for the 500 reads everyone ❤️ I just started writing this to feel better, but the love you are giving is so amazing and making me feel so much better as well ❤️