"how's it going?" jules says, finally coming back with my smoothie. i look down at the clock on my laptop, and it had been an hour since he had left.
"eh we are getting through it." i reply before thanking him for the smoothie.
"that's good, don't forget that you have to go to the fan zone with the aston martin drivers." jules reminds me.
"who else will it be?"
"you, both aston martin drivers and the 2 red bull drivers."
"sounds fun, what do we do there?"
"say hi to some fans, then go onto the stage."
"so the normal stuff?"
"yeah basically." jules says, before talking to the engineers about the cars.
3 hours later, i was meeting up with the four formula 1 driver before going into the fan zone. it's probably my favourite part of the race weekends, other then racing of course.
but honestly, i was just thankful to stop analysising data. most boring thing let me tell you.
"do you know what we are doing on the stage?" i ask max (verstappen) as we walking beside each other.
"no, no idea. maybe just talking." he says.
"you've got to admit though the challenges are fun."
"yeah, very fun. except when i don't win."
"come on max, you have to lose at something." i say laughing a little.
30 minutes later we were finally going onto the stage. max and checo had already been called on, and now me, lance and fernando were being called on.
after answering some questions about the race, we were told we had a challenge. we were going to be given quotes, and we had to decide whether it was a taylor swift lyric or a quote from shakespeare.
"i'm gonna win i already know it." i say.
and of course, it was aston martin against red bull. i know quite a lot of taylor swift songs, so i should be pretty good with this.
"our first lyric of the challenge is: your touch brought forth an incandescent glow, tarnished but so grand." the interviewer says.
"i say that's shakespeare." lance says.
"yes, it a lot of fancy words." fernando says.
"it's got to be shakespeare." i say, confident in my choice.
max and checo also choose shakespeare, but to all of our surprise, it was taylor swift.
"what! no, how do you sing that?" max complains.
"alright, next one: now you hang from my lips like the gardens of babylon."
"that's got to be shakespeare, right?" checo says. it was so funny seeing him so confused.
i whisper to lance before whispering the same to fernando. we all put a very serious looking face on as a joke.
"so whose going first?" the interviewer asks.
"you go." me and max say at the same time.
"no you." i say immediately after, straightening my face from the former smile.
"shakespeare, 100%" max says after bickering back and forth about who would go first.
"taylor swift!" i say.
"and taylor swift is correct!" the interviewer says, and max's jaw drops. and i mean physically.
"seriously? how?" he says in shock.
after a few more rounds of the game, me, lance and fernando win the game. finally something that the red bulls don't win.
before leaving the fan zone, we go up to the fans watching and take some photos with them.
whilst leaving, i spot the unmissable red ferrari shirts. ollie. and after deciding to not ignore him anymore, he signals for me to come over.
"oh my god, are you ollie bearman? can i get a photo." i say, smiling up at him.
"ollie bearman? whose that?" he replies, smiling.
"oh y'know he's this terrible british driver." i say as a joke obviously.
"i heard he's the best driver ever, way better then lewis hamilton." he says.
"wow."
"how are you feeling about your race?" ollie asks.
"pretty nervous but i'm hoping it isn't going to rain. i mean it hasn't... yet." i say as i feel a drizzle of rain on my head.
"never mind." i add.
"im sure your gonna be fine." he reassures me.
"maybe. but how are you feeling? it's your first f1 race!"
"oh god i'm so nervous. my dad is back in the garage and i don't want to let him down."
"your not going to let him down, okay? everyone else on the grid has many more races of experience then you. i mean a few days ago you were preparing yourself for an f2 race. and the difference between f2 and f1 is huge." i say, whilst putting up an umbrella.
ollie takes the umbrella from my hand and holds it above us both.
"who knew you could be so motivational? but thank you angel. i will try not to let you down later."
"you could never let me down ollie."
"i should probably get to the fan zone soon, but your friend in the ferrari garage is looking for you."
"ah thank you, i'll go find him now." i say before saying goodbye and walking away from ollie.
i take my phone out and call nick, it isn't too long until he answers.
(italian)
"hey nick, where are you?"
"why are you ignoring me?"
"w-what do you mean?"
"don't lie, i know your still talking to that bear guy."
"you can't- can we talk about this somewhere private? not whilst im in the middle of the paddock surrounded by people?"
"fine, come to ferrari."
i go to speak and reply to him, but the call had already ended. i get there and he was already stood outside doing something on his phone.
he looked handsome. but a lot of people do, like ollie. no fuck, i can't think about him like that.
"hey." i say approaching him and smiling at him, noticing the anger in his eyes.
"where should we talk?" he says, looking down at me.
"we can go to my driver room." i say.
"lead the way." he says, clenching his jaw and following me.
i open the door, thankfully zac wasn't inside, and lock it behind nick. i take a deep breath before turning around.
"nick-" i start saying, but he interrupts me.
"i get that your friends or whatever with that guy, but im your boyfriend and i don't want you around guys who clearly like you and don't know your mine. so you can either stay away from him, or we tell people about us." he says.
"b-but what about kimi?" i ask.
"i have plenty of other friends angel." he replies. yes, he might have other friends. but i don't have another brother.
"and if we go public?" i ask.
"you can talk to that guy, but i swear to god i find out your alone with him you will regret it."
"then we don't have to hide anymore." i say. i can't keep going on like this, lying to everyone. i know this is going to affect me even worse, but it's better than the guilt of lying to everyone.
"you made the right choice." nick says, taking a step towards me.
"but im not done with you yet, what the fuck are you doing lying to me?" he says, grabbing my arm and pulling me closer. we were mere centimetres away from each others face.
"w-what?" i stutter.
"you know full well what i mean. first of all you wee talki no to that guy behind me back, knowing that i dont like him! and then you tell me you were working last night?"
" i was." i lie. it isn't a full lie though, i was meant to go back to the track.
"don't lie to me and make this worse for yourself. what. did. you. do. last. night?" he says, tightening the grip on my arms. fuck it hurts.
"i went out on a track run, a-and i was gonna go to the track but i went this morning." i say, trying to hide the fact i was scared. scared of him.
"with?"
"just two other drivers."
"fuck sake angel! who with?"
"l-logan and oscar." i say, stuttering my words.
"so your a whore?" he says, spitting out the last word.
"w-what? no, no. they are just friends."
"and you expect me to believe you?"
"yes!" i say, slightly raising my voice.
"yes." i repeat, whispering.
he shakes his head before letting go of my arm. i look down to see my skin returning to its normal colour. no doubt it would bruise though.
"you don't make this easy for me y'know." nick says, turning back around.
"i'm sorry?" i ask, not understanding what he means.
"your meant to do what i tell you! not go behind my back and do the opposite. your lucky you have me, no-one else would stand for this shit! at first, i was surprised to hear you hadn't had a boyfriend before, but now i can see why! your a bitch!"
"nicky, i'm sorry okay? what else do you want me to say?"
"how are you not getting it? i don't want you to say anything." he says, taking a step towards me. in response, i step back but he just takes another. it wasn't long before i was cornered to the wall.
"please, im begging you. i'm sorry." i say, looking up into his cold eyes whilst mine were full of sorrow.
"i know you are." he whispers, before tilting my face up and kissing me.
|| authors note ~ hope you enjoy 🫶🏼
whose part of the nick haters club??