diez
the man
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thursday/ media day/ jeddah
tali rodríguez was on a mission. find logan sargeant and oscar piastri before the media pen.
she wanted to have a cup of coffee before they were all whisked away to their duties during the weekend.
she found oscar first so she walked towards him and grabbed his arm before she kept walking, scaring a usually calm oscar.
the australian felt a hand wrap around his arm and before he knew it he had to start walking or he'd fall.
"tali?" he asked when he saw who had dragged him. "what are you doing?"
"i really hope you weren't busy or on the way to being busy, because you're not going anywhere." she said without looking at him once.
"it's not that i don't mind going with you somewhere, tali, but some warning next time would be nice." he said when tali let him go to keep walking by himself.
"ok." she said, knowing damn well she wouldn't warn him. his startled expression was funny.
"where are we going?" the australian asked.
"we're gonna look for logie." tali stated simply.
"ok. why?" the mclaren driver asked curiously as he nodded.
"i miss you both and i need some coffee. i'll kill two birds with one stone." the girl shrugged coolly, but in reality she blushed lightly.
oscar smiled sweetly and threw an arm around her shoulder to keep her close in a warm side hug.
kym was taking pictures around and the adorable post this one would make made him smile lightly. he was very cautious to not make them uncomfortable so he kept his distance, but he knew people liked to see how the drivers got along.
the girl had become oscar's honorary little sister since their prema days.
"aww, tali. you really love me." he said teasingly.
"shut up. i like logan more now." she said, picking at him while shaking her head with a smile.
"no you don't." the brunette man said with a frown.
the ongoing battle between logan and oscar to see who tali's favorite was could easily rival lewis and max's championship in 2021.
"with your teasing he might." the girl said teasingly.
truth be told, she could never choose between them. they were sharing a flat in her heart with cute furniture and a chore schedule.
once they reached the williams motorhome they knocked and a worker opened. he didn't have to ask once he saw the pair by the steps of the entrance.
a few minutes later, logan came out with a smile.
"hey guys, what's up?" he asked, frowning slightly but still smiling.
tali didn't answer, she took his arm and just like with oscar, she scared the fuck out of him with the sudden force she dragged him with.
"just go with it!" oscar told him, shouting a little since he was a bit behind.
"ok! but why?!" the american screamed back, not really fighting the pull from the mexican-french but still severely confused.
"please?" tali halted to turn to him with puppy eyes he clearly couldn't say no to.
"of course." the blonde nodded quickly and walked by her side while oscar walked by her other one.
as tali looked forward and walked towards the nearest hospitality, both men looked at each other with a look in their eyes that said 'we're wrapped around her finger.'
------
"are you excited for australia?" logan asked oscar as he took his coffee to his lips.
"very, but i'm scared too. i want to have a good race there." he replied, stirring his own drink.
"and you will, oscar. i'm sure of it." tali said with a comforting smile.
"let's hope for the best." he said, nodding.
"how's lily?" tali asked excitedly. she loved lily, oscar's girlfriend.
"great, she'll come to some races this year." he said, watching the girl's smile widen at that.
"i have a feeling you might like her more than us." logan said suspiciously.
"oh no, logan!" the mercedes driver said, shaking her head, making the guys sigh in relief.
"it's not a matter of might. she's above you two by far. you don't get it." she said, sipping coffee calmly, turning to face their expressions of disbelief.
"did you expect me to sugarcoat it?" she asked mockingly.
"yes!" they chorused loudly, making the girl laugh loudly, both guys joining her shortly after.
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the media pen was less stressful than the press conference from last week. she was more relaxed but that might have also been the fact that she was getting used to everything.
she was currently sitting down in the outside area of the mercedes motorhome eating a salad while scrolling through her phone when she felt someone sitting next to her.
"mind if i join you?" it was her boss.
toto cared deeply about his drivers and constantly worked in having a good and stable as well as communicative relationship with them.
"of course not! what's up boss?" tali said sweetly as she turned off her phone.
"same as always." he said, reaching for his own lunch and taking a bite of his own salad. "how did last week feel for you?" he asked once he swallowed his bite.
"well, i was terrified, honestly. i think it was obvious, but i pushed through." she began after thinking about her answer briefly.
"i loved it, though. if i was already in love with the sport this only increased it by far." she said smiling before reaching for her own plate.
"that's good to hear. how did you feel the car?" he asked with great interest.
"well, i said it in the debrief on sunday." she began.
"it's not the easiest car to drive and the rear worries me a little. i struggled a couple of laps with the steering as well, but all in all, i worked it out. that might have been me though. i'll keep a close eye on it during the practices to figure out if it was a car problem or a me problem." she said, staring at nothing, deep in thought.
toto appreciated that about tali. she was honest about the car but also could admit her wrongdoings and flaws to help increase the quality of the car and her own mentality and ability as a driver.
"i appreciate your honesty about the car, tali. i can promise there are people here and at the factory working on improvements." he said earnestly.
"and i believe you." she replied with a nod.
"well, i didn't come here to talk only about work, this is lunch. did you already see who will join you for other races? " toto said, dropping the topic but sneakily researching in his son's place.
"i did, actually." she laughed lightly. "only for some races though, my friends are joining me during summer, i already sent their info to ella." ella was in charge of arranging the trips for the whole team and their guests.
"no boyfriend?" he asked, not noticing how weird it was of her boss to ask her teenage employee about her love life.
tali tilted her head with a squint. she wanted to laugh.
"i don't have one." she said softly.
"not even prospects?" he asked.
ok. what the fuck?
tali was about to burst out laughing.
"i don't know." she chuckled.
"well, i look forward to meeting your friends." he nodded with a smile. "when is luca joining you?" he asked. her brother was in college and he was very smart, and toto knew he was studying mechanical engineering and that he loved formula 1.
"miami, monaco, and after the break netherlands, texas, mexico, and las vegas." she said from memory. "my mom is joining me in singapore, qatar, mexico as well, and brazil." she continued.
"no one in japan?" he asked cautiously. he knew of the fragility of the topic so he treated it cautiously.
"nope. i can't have my family join me there, it's a tough weekend as it is, them being there will make it worse for my mental health." she said looking down.
"i have some weekends with no guests in case my dad changes his mind." she said sadly.
toto looked at her with slight pity, she was hopeful her dad would be there for a race weekend and he couldn't help but hope he would as well.
"if you need any extra guests let us know. you have up to five guests per race." he said, eating the last bite of his meal.
"yeah thanks, i'll probably tell my brother to invite his friends. they're big fans." she said thinking about her brother. she really loved him despite their constant bickering.
"that's a great idea." he said.
"or... and just hear me out." she began, her facing lighting up as an idea came to mind.
toto nodded.
"sometimes fans gain a lot of attention from the bleachers, one of those weekends we can look for passionate mercedes fans and offer a pair of passes for race day from my garage since i will have available spaces." she said tentatively.
"i will run that by pr, tali. it sounds like an amazing idea." he smiled.
"well, i have a meeting. it was nice talking to you, tali. if you need anything let me know." he clapped her on the shoulder and headed inside.
after a while of catching up on social media and replying to some texts from her loved ones, she walked back inside, and just as she was entering she bumped into someone.
this would have been fine if there weren't a few stairs to get inside from the tables outside.
she felt herself tripping as she went back, but someone grabbed her arm and stabilized her by dragging her inside.
"i'm sorry, i didn't see you. you ok?" elias asked after closing the door behind her.
"it's fine. i was ready for the bruises but i'm fine." tali said walking towards the exit of the motorhome to head to her camper to pick her sunglasses for the track walk which was her last thing to do for the day. "see you around." she waved with a smile.
"yeah. see ya." he said he said once she left his eyesight.
------
she was in the middle of the track walk when her phone went crazy. she had social media notifications off so that had to be whatsapp.
her friends were spamming her with question marks and videos.
she halted, making tania stop with her and turned to her phone. her friends had sent her screen recordings from their own social media.
videos of the incident were everywhere. the problem was, the video wasn't complete, so nobody knew she was about to fall. the video consisted of someone dragging her inside from an arm with their hand and the other one holding her from her waist.
she didn't notice that before. more focused on not falling than the hand placement from the guy she was crushing on.
everyone was wondering who the mystery man was. people were already thinking it was a boyfriend of sorts or something. the only thing visible was a mop of hair and the arms.
tali freaked out.
the last thing she needed were rumors and things that could bring her bad press. not that elias could. at least not purposefully.
tania was quick to ask what was wrong, once she saw the conversation with her friends she told her to keep walking and proceeded to call will to begin asking how it was going to be dealt with.
on one side, she could ignore it. on the other hand, she didn't feel comfortable over people speculating about her love life on social media.
after the track walk she went to look for will. he was quick to reassure her no one was angry and the situation would be dealt with as she wished.
"i don't care about what people say, but i do feel uncomfortable with people speculating about what's none of their business." she said clearly as she threw herself to the opposite couch. "i'm contradicting myself aren't i?" she said, closing her eyes.
"i'm not sure, but i do understand you." will replied softly. "how about you make a statement giving context on twitter?" he suggested. "don't give every detail but explain the situation and how people are making it out to be."
"great idea. i'll keep names out of it though. elias is around my age and that won't help. plus, what if he doesn't want to be involved." and with that she took out her phone to type it down.
after redacting it with will's help and with the rest of pr's approval she agreed to post it later.
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@talirodriguez
i just came here to give some context about the alleged 'mystery man'. i was entering the mercedes motorhome just as someone was about to come out and we bumped into each other. since there's steps to get inside i was about to fall and possibly hurt myself so he grabbed me however+
@talirodriguez
+he could to avoid me getting hurt, which was sweet of him. don't make things seem like what they're not guys, if i have a boyfriend that's my business and if i'm willing to share it i'll do it if i feel like it. don't dig for a story where there's none.
@eliaswolff19
it was me.
well, if there was any possibility of people stopping that was as good as forgotten, but if tali was honest, now that elias posted that, proving he didn't mind the public as much as she thought, she didn't feel as awful. she'd have to ask about that though.
she had been scared other angles would come out of the same video that was circulating. videos where his face was visible and with which he would be uncomfortable with being around her during the race weekends. she didn't want rumors to take him away from her.
she would thank him tomorrow though. he didn't have to go out and say it and she knew he wasn't the most active person on social media, but he tried to help in his own way and that meant a lot to tali.
he was sweet and he cared about her. apparently he knew her more than she thought as well. he paid attention.
she couldn't help but think how if he was like that as a friend how he would be as a boyfriend.
closing her hotel room door behind her, she started to undress and got in the shower.
once she got ready for bed, she grabbed her phone as she laid down, noticing a text from an unregistered number.
i hope you didn't mind my reply to your tweet.
elias had her number.
elias had her number and had texted her.
hold on.
how did he get it?
how'd you get my number?
and no, i didn't mind.
mick gave it to me, is that ok?
that was more than ok. it was perfect, amazing and any positive adjective you could think of in tali's mind, but of course she didn't answer that way.
yeah, it's cool.
i just thought you didn't like being very public?
it's not that i don't like it. i'm just more
of an introvert so i'm not as smooth on camera,
but i don't mind them or the pictures they take.
you know how i'm often with my dad on the pictures
on the team's ig and stuff, plus i'm often on
frame when they film my dad.
my life is public, i'm just not the one publishing it.
and you don't mind that?
not really. it's fine as long as i'm
with the people i love, like my dad.
or you, he thought. though love was a strong word that he wouldn't use just yet.
but all in all, if he ever had the honor and pleasure of being tali's wag he would probably become an all time influencer just to show the world he was lucky enough to be with the girl of his dreams and post a daily 'i love my girlfriend' tweet.
that's sweet.
well, i have to order dinner so i have to go,
but i do want to thank you for helping me out on twitter.
now people will either believe it or think we're dating,
but at least the facts are out there and
you're the reason there's a full context.
i didn't want to involve you in case
you weren't comfortable but you did
even when you didn't have to,
so thank you, elias.
of course, tali, anything for you.
good night.
good night.
they were blushing in their respective rooms. the teenagers had feelings that were getting stronger by the moment and they could only wish for a sign that the other felt the same way.
the funny thing is, there was more than enough proof but their shared fear of rejection blinded them.
nini speaks !
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xoxo