[ DISCLAIMER: Before reading this chapter, if you have not yet checked the changes I made to chapter 10, please consider that if you don't you might be a bit confused here!! — That sounds threatening. Do whatever you want pookies *mwah* 🥰 ]
[POV: Narrator]
"Oscar, you can't ignore us forever!" Lando drudged his way along the pit-lane, yelling after his friend, or ex-friend, who'd just gone an entire flight and taxi trip without speaking to him. "You can ignore Carlos! That's fine! You don't really ever talk to him anyway, so it doesn't matter that much, and I'm sure he won't mind. But you can't ignore me!" He whined, holding a hand to his heart as if he was in some Shakespearean love tragedy.
Maybe Lando did feel bad, or maybe he didn't; it didn't matter to Oscar.
The plane ride had been excruciatingly painful, as Lando, who was sat one seat away from Oscar, kept staring at him and giving him that puppy-eyed look. Trying his very best not to laugh and maintain his silence, Oscar waited until the boy was asleep to finally take a picture of the massive watsit-stain Lando had on his hoodie.
He wasn't going to ignore Lando forever. He knew that would be practically impossible, since, as far as Oscar was aware, Lando was the most difficult person to ignore ever.
But, Oscar also knew that he was pissed off. That blind date had been the most insufferable, unbearable experience and - as far as Oscar was concerned - Lando and Carlos had planned it to be that way. He was sure that they chose the girl on purpose — to have a laugh, to point and joke (which they did. The whole time.) because she was the farthest away from him in terms of similarities. Normally, Piastri didn't mind differences. In fact, he welcomed them most of the time, to make things a bit more interesting since nobody wants to be with someone exactly like themselves; he always thought that was a bit off-putting.
But... Jesus, himself and his date were so different, that he wondered if Lando and Carlos had looked up "opposite of Oscar" and chose the first girl to come up.
"I mean, for starters, she isn't even into F1. When I mentioned it, she actually said "What's that?". I'm not against people who don't like the sport, but come. on. She even told me she "disliked" Australian accents five minutes before the date was over! No, actually, what she actually said was: "I don't know about Australia. I've always disliked their accents; too slow and nasal. But Spanish, gosh, that's an accent I can get behind." I mean, it's clear she didn't come for me. And, quite frankly, that's a huge relief!" Was the last thing Oscar said to Lando before his stand of silence. All Lando had asked was: "How was it?", so it's safe to say he was a little stunned. Carlos however, was glad to hear that the girl liked Spanish accents.
From that night, to the moment they got to the F1 paddock in Australia, Lando had been bombarding Oscar with apologies. 1000+ message notifications, yelling from one vehicle to another when passing. He even went as far as sending a hand-written letter to Oscar's apartment. That surprised Piastri to say the least, and it did make him almost contact Lando. That was, until he read the back of the card.
'P.S. she wants a second date.'
Previously, the two had made arrangements for Lando to stay with Oscar while they were over in Australia. But, when Lando came to the door with his 8 suitcases and travel pillow, he received no welcome. So, having known that that was a possibility, he was forced to commence plan B.
*
"No. Nope. Sorry! Not happening." Andreanne went to shut her hotel room door, only to be stopped forcibly by a very red hand, presumably due to lugging 8 suitcases up 10 flights of stairs. There was a perfectly functioning lift, but Andi decided to skip that piece of information for now.
"Andi, I'm begging you, please! Pretty please! Pretty please with a cherry on top!" Lando pleaded, dropping his travel pillow in order to make a point, gesturing his hands in a prayer. Andi merely blinked, unchanged in expression. "I am basically homeless! I'll have nowhere to go! I'll— I'll have to live on the streets! You wouldn't want your best friend to live on the streets, would you?!"
Andi found the "best friend" comment debatable. But, once again, she said nothing because Lando was giving his best shot at the puppy-eyes, and if they didn't work on Oscar, they definitely wouldn't work on Andi.
"Lando, you're a multimillionaire and you brag about it constantly. Please find somewhere else, you know I like staying by mys—"
"Ple-eeee-ase!!" He lowered his head, basically bowing to the girl.
She didn't feel bad for his situation, per-say. She knew he was more than capable of finding his own place to stay, and that the reason for his "homelessness" was probably justified, as she didn't pin Oscar as the type to kick someone one without any reason. It didn't click instantly, but Lando coming to her door after being turned away by Oscar could only mean one thing; he'd crossed a line. Which, subsequently would mean it's possible the blind date didn't go well. This made Andi hopeful. Well, as hopeful as she could be in a situation involving Lando living with her.
But, Andi had previously been at the receiving end of a seemingly never-ending stream of one-way conversation involving Lando's excitement about 'getting to stay with his teammate in Australia.' She knew he was looking forward to it, and that he probably regretted his actions very much by now if he didn't already.
She sighed a long sigh, holding her head up to the sky and wondering if she'd packed any aspirin.
"Fine." She said and Lando's eyed brightened. "But you're sleeping on the couch."
"Yes! Thankyou-thankyou-thankyou!" He cheered, scrambling into the hotel room without his bags, leaving Andi to do it.
She then braced for what would be a very gruelling week.
*
Once Lando had "settled" — which was really just him trying to figure out where to store his suitcases since he hadn't realised just how cramped the hotel room was until Andi got impatient and did it for him — the two decided upon a place to go for dinner. Lando, who firstly opted for a high-end place (which Oscar had suggested before being pissed off) heard Andi's much cheaper option of fast food and hastily agreed.
The boy then hopped up from the couch, grabbing the car keys from the coffee-table and turned his back on Andi. "I'll drive!" He insisted, "No need to—"
"No." She said, having anticipated it.
The boy grunted, facing her with downturned eyes. He might as well have stomped his foot like a five year old. "You told me I could!"
"I did no such thing and you know it! What I said was, you—"
"Yes, yea, I know what you said." Lando cut her off, not wanting to hear the sentence again. The first time he'd heard it, he spent an entire week with his airpods in whenever he was in Andi's presence, to show his discontent. "No need to remind me." He said, head hung low. He then begrudgingly shuffled back to the couch, handing Andi her keys back.
"We can order in." She informed, making him roll his eyes.
She almost felt bad.
She began ordering their food, not needing to ask Lando what he wanted since they'd eaten out together countless times over the years. "Eating out", meaning that the two would often say they were going to have something 'nice' before ending up either at McDonald's or ordering it.
"So..." Andi mumbled, feeling the tension rising as Lando began to give her the cold shoulder. "What exactly happened? With the whole Oscar thing?" She asked, continuing her order nonchalantly as if she hadn't been waiting to ask that question since he'd arrived.
"Oh, you know—" He began, evidently trying to make it sound like it wasn't all a very big deal in an effort to make Oscar seem overdramatic, probably due to his growing resentment. "Me and Carlos were bored, so we thought: Hey! Let's make our friend Oscar's life a little brighter and set him up with someone nice!" He explained. "And she was nice."
Andi stopped tapping on her phone. "Oh yeah? Where'd you find her? A friend of yours?"
Lando took a while to answer, which wasn't a good sign, subsequently making Andi give him the 'oh god, what did you do' look.
"...Tinder."
"Lando!" She said, facing him fully. She smiled in astonishment at her friend's stupidity.
"What?!" He began laughing. "Carlos said she looked normal... ish."
"Normal-ish?! So you didn't even know her? Whatsoever?"Andi repeated, hitting the cushions around her as she laughed.
"Uh... Well, I didn't. But Carlos said he'd beeb chatting to her for a while."
"Oh," Andi scoffed. "As long as Carlos 'chatted' to her, then I'm sure she was normal." The girl teased. "No wonder he's locked you out." She said, finally ordering their meal. She got up from the couch, still amused, and took a canned drink from the mini fridge. Lando's laughter slowly died down too.
"Honestly, I think it was just Carlos looking for someone for himself." He said, making Andi scoff and shake her head, knowing he was probably right.
"So... You don't think it'll work?" Andi asking, almost joking.
Lando chuckled. "Hell no. I think I was blocked when I told him she wanted a second date."
"Hm." She responded, amused.
She began pouring her drink, convinced (to the best of her abilities) that this blind date wouldn't amount to anything. From what Lando said, it was evident Oscar had been screwed over, and that he probably wouldn't accept the second date he'd been offered.
Lando began tapping his foot. Loudly. As Andi came back over to hand him his drink, she was almost knocked off-balance due to the force in which he got up from the couch.
"Jeez, Lando! Watch it, these aren't my glasses!" She scolded, watching as the boy sped over to the desk beside Andi's bed. He grabbed a pen and opened the complementary notepad that had been left neatly, but had now been attacked, it looked like. "What are you doing?"
He didn't answer. Instead, he started scribbling all over the first page. The action and the hastiness of it reminded her of herself days before now, coming up with her 3 phase plan that, it seemed, would commence after all.
The girl placed the glasses on the coffee table before sneaking behind Lando to peek over his shoulder. Too concentrated to notice her presence, Andi managed to read what he was writing.
'Dear Oscar,
Please let me into your house.
I'm sorry that I tried to get you a girlfriend, I just thought you looked a bit lonely. (But then I realized you had me!)
You don't have to go on a second date with her because Carlos said he'd take her instead. What a nice guy!
Please don't let your best friend go hungry on the streets of Melbourne, it would look bad for your image.
Once again, very very sorry.
Sincerely, your best friend, Lando.'
'So I guess he just hands out the title best friend to anyone, huh.' Andi thought.
"God, Lando." She said, startling him and resulting in an immediate push away from the desk. "Why didn't you just date him?"
She was shunned for two days after that comment. (Which was nice. No need for aspirin.)
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Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!!! 🥳