Things seemed to go from bad to worse for Alexis, as only one day out from her scheduled flight to Saudi Arabia, the girl was severely unwell. She had a scarily high temperature, a headache so bad she could only cope with sitting in the dark, a blocked nose, sore throat, and body aches. She had done many COVID tests, and they all showed up negative. Alexis suspected it was the flu, because no cold had ever knocked her around like this before.
There was no way she could travel in this state, so she had to call Oscar to let him know she couldn't make it. He answered the phone fairly quickly, with a "Lex? What's up?"
"Hey." Alexis croaked out.
"Woah. You sound like shit."
"I know."
"What's wrong?" Oscar asked.
"I'm really sick. I can't come this weekend, Osc, I'm so sorry." Alexis felt silly for tearing up, but she felt so drained that her emotional capacity had been stripped bare.
"Alexis, it's fine. You don't need to get upset."
"I know! I don't even know why I'm crying."
"Wait, let me put Lily on." Oscar said before there was shuffling on his end, and Lily's sweet voice was heard on the other line. "Lex? Are you okay?"
"No!" Alexis cried out.
"Oscar said it's okay that you're not coming. You don't need to worry, he's not mad or upset."
"Okay." She sniffled.
"We're just worried about you." Lily said in a comforting tone, "Are you gonna be okay being alone while you're unwell? I can fly home and look after you."
"No, no! Don't. I'll be okay, I think." Truthfully, Alexis didn't know if what she was saying was true, but she already felt bad enough for missing Oscar's race, she couldn't take Lily away from it too.
"Okay. There's plenty of stuff in the medicine cabinet, painkillers and stuff like that. You call me or Oscar if you need anything, alright?"
"Yeah, okay. Thanks, Lily. I love you."
"We love you too, Lex. Rest up. I'll check on you later."
The phone call ended and Alexis hid herself under the covers of her bed, wanting the world to swallow her whole at this point. She had never felt so awful her whole life, not even when she'd had COVID, twice.
Summoning the little energy she had left, Alexis moved very slowly out into the kitchen, rummaging through the cupboard where the medicine was stored. She reached for a plethora of different tablets and syrups, figuring out which ones would help her symptoms the most, before she took them.
Making her way back to her bedroom, Alexis collapsed onto her bed in a heap, pulling the covers up and over her head, shivering but sweating at the same time, as she stared at the wall, willing for the medication to start working.
———🏎️———
Alexis didn't know what time it was or how long she'd been knocked out for, but she was grateful for it. Although she still felt like shit, at least she'd managed to sleep for a while.
What scared her was the dream she'd been having before she woke, mainly because it felt so real. Alexis and Lando had been out on a boat on the ocean in the middle of nowhere, and it was just them two. They were both wet - she assumed they'd been swimming, his curls were damp and perfectly draped against his forehead.
They were both on a sun lounger, tangled against one another, Alexis on her back as Lando laid next to her on his stomach. He lifted his head and began to lean in towards her, his lips inching dangerously close to hers, Alexis closing her eyes in anticipation. That was before a wave washed over the both of them, abruptly waking up Alexis from her slumber.
Damn fever dreams.
Reaching for her phone, she winced when the full brightness hit her. Alexis dimmed the brightness all the way down, checking her notifications; there were some from Facebook, Instagram and text messages from Lily amongst others. Lando had also been blowing up her phone. Judging by his messages, she'd been asleep for quite a while. Roughly about ten hours, to be exact. It was 2am in London, and after looking up the time difference in Saudi Arabia, she realised it would be 4am there.
Lando had tried to call her four times sporadically over the last ten hours, obviously each of those going unanswered. Then, there were the text messages.
Lan
Lily just told me
you're sick and
you're not coming
to Saudi
Lan
are you okay?
Lan
not gonna lie bit
worried that you're
not replying
Lan
are you alive?
Lan
hopefully you're just
asleep. text me when
you get these
Al
I'm alive
Lan
THANK FUCK
Lan
you honestly had
me so worked up
Al
What are you doing
awake? It's 4am there
Lan
I was waiting for you
to message me back
Al
Don't you have media
day in a few hours?
Lan
yeah, I don't give
a shit about that
Lan
I needed to know
you were okay
Lan
how are you
feeling?
Al
I feel really shit
Lan
Al I'm so sorry, that
sucks
Lan
wish I could be there
to look after you
Al
You have a race to focus
on, Norris
Al
You should get some sleep
Lan
alright fine
Lan
I'll text you later x
Al
Thank you, by the
way
Lan
for what?
Al
For caring
———🏎️———
Alexis took some more medication and fell back asleep after texting with Lando, waking up again at 8am. She was definitely feeling a lot more restful, albeit still very unwell.
Deciding to move from the bedroom to the lounge room, she wrapped her doona around her and trudged through the flat, before plonking down on the couch. Alexis switched the TV on, flicking it over to Netflix and turning on Brooklyn 99, needing something lighthearted and easy to watch.
She unlocked her phone, replying back to texts from Lily and Oscar, as well as her Mum, spotting another from Lando.
Lan
media day is so
shit
Al
Being sick is so
shit
Lan
yeah I guess I
shouldn't be
complaining
Al
You better not
be replying to
me during
interviews
Lan
what if I am?
Al
Your PR team is
gonna crack the
shits
Lan
oh well
Lan
just missed a
question because
I wasn't paying
attention whoops
Alexis chuckled, before putting her phone down and watching the show in front of her. After enduring a couple of episodes, she figured she should at least attempt eat something.
Making her way to the kitchen, she made toast and spread butter on it. Alexis didn't bother with any other condiments, because she wasn't sure if her stomach could even handle it. She filled her bottle with water, before resuming her position on the couch.
Alexis only made it halfway through her toast before she felt like she would throw up, but it was progress nonetheless. She finished her water and had to fill up her bottle again, pleased with herself that she was at least able to keep her fluids up.
She took some more painkillers as she started to feel herself going down hill again, before she passed out on the couch swaddled by her doona. However, Alexis was jolted awake sometime later by the Brooklyn 99 theme song ringing out loudly in the lounge room, cursing herself for not turning the volume down. She turned the TV off completely, before she laid back down and fell back asleep just as quickly as she'd woken up.
———🏎️———
Over the next couple of days, Alexis spent her time moving between her bedroom and the couch, either sleeping or watching TV. She hadn't showered and felt disgusting for it, but didn't trust herself to stay up standing long enough to wash herself.
She had watched all practice sessions and qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, cheering on Oscar and Lando from the couch. Their first two practices were fairly average, both of them in the middle or back end of the order, but the third practice session saw both drivers improve.
Qualifying, however, was fairly awful for Lando. He clipped a wall in one of his laps and was reporting steering damage, leaving him in P19 and not advancing out of Q1. Oscar, however, impressed with landing in P11. Alexis was thrilled for him; she knew he had it in him, and now he was going to prove everyone wrong. Oscar performed well in Q2, even going as far as Q3, before finishing up in P9.
Alexis was over the moon for her brother; the fact he was performing so well so early on, against all odds, made her so unbelievably proud. She'd seen the comments online he was getting; most of them fairly negative. Especially after the mess of him leaving Alpine and signing with McLaren had been so heavily reported in the media, Oscar was already going to have to work 10x harder to show he was worthy and had made the right decision. She surely thought that landing in P9 in his second race as a rookie would do enough to shut the haters up for now.
Alexis called Oscar later that night, when she was sure he would be done with his duties for the day, as he answered with a "Hey Lex."
"Hi, Osc! P9! Congratulations!"
Oscar chuckled, "You've been watching, have you?"
"Of course I have! I wouldn't miss any of your races, even if I am on my death bed."
"Are you feeling any better?" Lily's voice was heard in the background.
"You're on speaker, by the way." Oscar added.
"Hi, Lil! I'm a bit better, yeah. My fever has broken, but some other symptoms are still hanging around."
"We're so glad to hear! I'll make sure to let Lando know." Lily responded.
"Why do you need to let Lando know?" Oscar sounded extremely confused.
Alexis held her breath, worried that Oscar was catching on to what ever was happening between her and Lando. Her brother was fairly clueless, but it would only take so many hints for him to piece it together.
"Lando is a real germaphobe, y'know. He was worried that Alexis could have infected us, which meant he would've been exposed. But now I can let him know that it's nothing serious and he has nothing to worry about." Lily went on a wild and extreme rant, that Alexis would have never believed, not even for a second.
Oscar, however, was a fool to it all as he said, "Oh, right. Okay."
"Anyway!" Alexis cleared her throat, "You killed it in quali today, Osc."
"Thanks. It felt good to finally deliver some decent results. Plus, there's more good news."
"What's that?"
"Charles is being penalised for some engine change in his car, which means he's dropping down ten grid spots. So technically, I'll be P8 going into the race tomorrow."
"That's amazing, Osc! I mean, bad for Charles, but good for you, right?"
"Yeah, very good."
"I'm proud of you." Alexis couldn't fight the grin appearing onto her face.
"Thanks, Lex."
"I'll let you go now, alright? Good luck tomorrow. Go show 'em what you're made of."
"Will do. See ya." Oscar said.
"Bye, Lex!" Lily bid her farewell, before the call was ended.
———🏎️———
For the first time in three days, Alexis had finally showered. She realised she probably should have done it way earlier; after washing her hair and doing her full shower routine, she felt much fresher. Although she still had headaches, a stuffy nose and a cough, most symptoms were subsiding or easily managed with painkillers.
She set herself up on the couch, ready to watch the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which was due to start any minute. When Alexis saw Lando's car way down at the back end of the grid, her heart hurt just a little. She hoped he had a lot of fight in him to move up some spots throughout the race.
Soon they were away, Alexis wincing as Oscar and Lando had to pit in the early stages of the race, both needing front wing changes. Oscar's was a result of contact with Pierre Gasly and Lando had damaged his running over debris.
From there it was an extremely tough battle for the both of them; having lost a lot of pace with that front wing drama. Oscar finished in P15, with Lando in P17. She was disappointed for the both of them; it was circumstances way out of their control that had yet again contributed to their low positions.
Alexis shot off a text to Oscar, knowing he would be busy with post-race debriefs and media interviews and would respond to her later.
Lex 🤪
Proud of you mate,
keep pushing x
Sighing, she packed up the mess she'd made in the flat, making sure it was clean enough for Oscar and Lily's return the following day. Alexis retreated back to her bedroom, popping some more painkillers, before she let sleep take over, settling into a peaceful slumber.
———🏎️———
landonorris has posted!
Liked by mclaren, alexis_piastri and 251,501 others
landonorris: Toughhhhhh weekend, but they happen sometimes. Australia next 🫱
View comments...
user1: Amazing shot!
user2: 🧡🧡🧡
mclarenauto: Keep up the hard work, team
user3: We are all rooting for you!
user4: let's go Lando! 🧡
oscarpiastri just posted!
Liked by f1, lilyzneimer and 59,958 others
oscarpiastri: Shame to have to box so early. Was tough from then on but had some fun battles at the end. On to Melbourne we go 🧡
View comments...
user1: Great driving buddy, see you in Melbourne!
alexis_piastri: You got this Osc 🤍
user2: Keep it up! 🧡
user3: Can't wait to have you back home OP