My talk with Alexis made me feel like a weight had been lifted off of my chest. My best friend is an amazing listener, and even better at giving advice. Her advice for me- focus on the race for tomorrow, and deal with Lando later. I know she is right, but her encouragement really puts it into perspective. Formula 1 is my main focus at the moment, not some arrogant boy.
I decide to spend the rest of my night extremely focused, so I can effectively push my problems to the side and concentrate on the challenging weekend ahead.
After my long talk with Alexis, I look at the time to see that team dinner was only fifteen minutes away. I glance at my wall, where the mirror is, and gasp at my reflection. My eyes are swollen and puffy, my cheeks are extremely red, mascara is smeared under my eyes. I need to fix my appearance before I head down to dinner with my coworkers, and possibly see Lando and his girlfriend Saph.
I walk into the bathroom and splash cold water onto my face to reduce the swelling after crying for an hour. I wash the mascara off of my cheeks and wipe my entire face with a cloth. After effectively cleaning my face, I decide to slather my face in moisturizer and proceed to beat my face with a light foundation to alter the redness on my face. I set it with some powder, fix my eyebrows and eyelashes, and highlight my face accordingly. I place my hair into a long ponytail, change into a white Mercedes sweatshirt and grey leggings. Quickly, I look into the mirror once more, somewhat satisfied with my appearance, and run downstairs for dinner.
Mostly everyone is sitting at the table when I arrive, and I sit in the seat next to George, my usual spot. I start eating my food promptly, speaking to my strategists about the race the following day, the usual. The conversation ends after a while and I eat in silence next to George. We are always super talkative at dinner, but his admiration for Sapphire has thrown me off a bit. I decide to keep to myself for a while, before he speaks to me first.
"Can I ask you something, Hannah? In private, after dinner?" George asks, concern in his eyes. I don't really know what to expect from George, as he has never asked me anything in such a serious tone.
"Um, yeah? Why exactly?"
"Something about what happened in the lobby this afternoon" he whispers back into my ear.
I internally groan. I have already tried hard to push my thoughts about this afternoon to the back of my head. This conversation with George is bound to ruin my concentration, to my own disadvantage.
We eat the rest of dinner in silence, and after the meal has finished I head to George's room, following him closely. I enter the room across from mine, and laugh at the crazy state of it- George's clothing was everywhere, his suitcase left open and disorderly. His bathroom counter was cluttered, and his bed was not made. I decide to clean the bed off, and make it so I can lay down while George talks with me. As I hop on the bed, he smiles and plops into a loveseat in the corner.
"So, Russell, what do you want?"
George looks at me and grins while putting his hand through his cropped hair.
"You like Lando," he says, smirking.
I freeze, my cheeks warming up profusely.
"What did you say?" I ask, voice cracking.
"You heard me Steeler. You like Lando."
"What makes you say that?" I suspect, burying my head into his sheets, hiding my beet red face.
"Well, for one, Saph sees you as a threat," George says, getting up to sit on the edge of the large bed. I glance up at George through my long eyelashes.
"She hates me for no reason. I have seen her once, and I thought she was one of Lando's one night stands!" I exclaim, defensively. I have to prove to him that I don't like Lando or he will tease me forever.
"She hates you because Lando shows interest in you. He was totally infatuated with Saph before you."
"I could never understand why," I say dryly.
"She's nice to everyone except you, I swear"
"Sure, that really makes me feel better!" I roll onto my back, and groan. This conversation really sucks.
George laughs at my reaction. He rolls to his side to face me, head in his hand. "Listen, all I am trying to say is that Lando hasn't looked at any other girl since he met Saph. They've been on and off for a year, and he hasn't talked to anyone else..."
I interrupt George, confusedly. "Why exactly are they on and off?"
My teammate sighs. "As much as Saph is really nice, she doesn't treat Lando the best. She leads him on a lot, then goes and talks to other guys. Lando is much more infatuated than she is. Well, until he met you."
My heart flutters a little, despite my hatred for him. He acts like he cares, but then in reality demonstrates the complete opposite. But, I am fairly pleased to hear that I am the only girl to remove him from his infatuation with Sapphire.
"So Sapphire thinks I want to steal her boyfriend? The one she doesn't treat well? Why should she even care, IF I was? That doesn't make sense to me."
"Me neither Steeler. I think she sees Lando as her property in a way, she knows he is wrapped around her finger."
"George I promise, I do not like Norris. I would never see a co-worker that way."
"Um, you didn't make it seem that way to Saph."
My eyes pop open wide, and I turn to look at George. "How so?" I ask, clenching my jaw slightly.
"Co-workers don't order breakfast for each other, or go on a coffee date, Hannah"
"I would do that for you George!" I exclaim loudly, abruptly sitting up on the bed. I swing my legs over the edge to sit next to him.
"Yeah, because you are a kind person, all of the time! Again, Lando isn't kind to any girl, except Saph!"
Oh boy. I have gotten myself into a mess here.
"In my defense, he never told me about her,"
"Was he obligated to?" George asks. I bury my head into his shoulder, and he puts his strong arm around me.
"I guess not. Are him and Sapphire okay at least? I don't want him to be distracted for tomorrow, because of my stupid actions." I ask carefully, my face covered in his clean t-shirt.
"I wouldn't say that exactly. They got into a big argument right in front of me, and Saph left. I was there to comfort Lando at least. But to be honest, he was not as upset about Saph as I thought he would be. He was more worried about you." he says softly, removing his hand from my shoulder. I lift my head up as my heart starts beating rapidly.
"Why?" I croak.
"You left in quite a huff. That's why I think you like him, you were so upset." he said, smirking. I stand up from the bed, heading straight to the door.
"I do not like him at all George!" I yell, as I reach the door. I twist the door open.
"Well, Steeler, he likes you! I just know it, he is my best friend," he yells back. I stop as I open the door, and look back to George hopefully. I see his smirk, and snap out of my trance quickly, slamming the door behind me.
I head to my room, jump on the bed, and scream into my sheets. Lando likes me, as I had thought before. But it's different now. I got in between him and Saph. This is no longer just a fun thing to think about sometimes, it's a serious issue. A serious issue that I really don't need right now. My only focus should be Formula 1, yet Lando is part of that too. I can never escape him.
It takes me a while to calm down from my conversation with George. I decide to wind down with calming music, and soon I begin to motion through the race for tomorrow. I look through papers that I collected at our post-qualifying meeting, memorizing our strategy and areas of focus. I focus on the race for a couple of hours, until I need to head to bed. I set an alarm for six and drift off to sleep slowly, thinking about the race ahead.
"Hannah, ready to go?" says George, as I walk up to him and jingle a key chain around my finger. I had a typical morning before the race, going on a morning jog and eating breakfast with the team. I wear the same pink lipstick as last weekend, hair already in tight braids. I laugh as I walk up to George in our identical team uniforms.
"Actually, I want to drive myself today. I have a car, and I used to do it all of the time in F2. I hope you don't mind, but silence keeps me focused," I explain to my teammate. I like driving calmly to the track, as it was tradition for me before I reached Formula 1.
"I see, that's fine. I will see you at the track I guess," he says as he stands up and follows Liz out of the sliding doors to the car waiting for them.
I walk up to my rental car, a Mercedes of course, and sit inside. I plug my phone into the AUX, and play my pump up music as I drive to the track calmly. I have liked Arctic Monkeys lately, so I blast the music loud to help me focus.
I get to the track in no time, and step out, taking a large deep breath. The next time I get into this car, I will either be the winner or the loser in my eyes. I have confidence that it will be the first one.
"Lights out, and away we go!" I hear in my head as the lights go out. My extreme focus from my warm up with Rhia helps me have a brilliant start, and I feel myself gaining on George who I am closely following behind. We go around the first corner, and my car is acting normal again- I personally thank the mechanics in my head as I reach the apex and speed out.
I hold my position in the first lap, leaving Max with space behind me as I reach George down the straight. It is obvious that I am driving quicker than him, but I stay behind him for the first laps respecting his position.
George and I are miles ahead of everyone after the first half of the race, as it is expected from Mercedes. I have no competition from anyone behind me, and my only focus is George, who is only trudging along in front of me. With my fresher tyres, I speed up as I have DRS on my teammate, and successfully overtake him. I let out a breath of relief as I held my position, all the way until the end of the race.
I see the checkered flag, George trailing me slightly, and yelp in surprise when I realize the long stressful race has finished.
"P1, P1 again Hannah! Incredible!" I hear my strategist say, and I laugh out of relief.
"Aw, thank you guys! You all worked so hard on the car this weekend, it was absolutely incredible, you made it perfect. Sure was stressful, but we did it," I say over the radio to my team. I am super happy with my performance, and relieved that I have my second win in a row- another record, I have to add.
I put my steel coloured car into the first place position in the pit lane, and hop out excitedly. I run into my cheering team, and jump into their open and loving arms. When I exit the embrace, I look to George who is now out of his own car. I run to him, and reach out my hand for a shake. Instead of just shaking my hand, he pulls my arm in for a quick hug. That's another good thing about my teammate- he is a great sport. We both take off our helmets to talk to each other clearer.
"Good overtake, Steeler. Your car was massively better after yesterday," he says, shaking his sweaty hair out of his helmet.
"And you drove beautifully Georgie. My mechanics are such angels, I am the luckiest." I respond, fixing my hair as well. We continue to discuss the race, and head to interviews. I am ecstatic, winning the race. My focus proved to be successful, and now it is time to celebrate.
After my interviews, podium presentation, and race debriefs, I take my time to appreciate my surroundings and successes. I sit at the track, looking out over the entire circuit, acknowledging the moment I am in. It's good to appreciate these times, as I really do not know if I will experience this again in my life- a wonderful P1 in Formula 1. Anything can change in an instant, and I know that.
I am one of the last to leave the track, as the sun had just set over the circuit. I head over to my car in the empty parking lot, when I hear a familiar voice.
"Steeler, Steeler, wait!" I hear Lando say, behind me. He runs up to me as I turn around, slightly in shock. I glare at him slightly, yet I feel the butterflies start dancing as he looks at me intensely.
"Um, Daniel left me by accident, he thought I was getting a ride from someone else." he says looking down at his feet, hands behind his back.
"Oh, you mean he thought you were going with the girlfriend you failed to mention to me? Oh yes, that is really too bad," I tell him, as I turn back to walk towards my car.
"I was wondering if you could give me a lift back to the hotel. Please?" he asks. I turn back, and his blue eyes are pleading with me.
"Why should I?" I question him. I have never had to owe him anything, so I don't exactly need to give him a ride back to the hotel.
"I got you coffee. And I really do not want to walk back," he says, walking towards me. There is only a small gap between us when he stops. "And maybe I can explain what has been happening, just please, listen to me". He reaches his hand out towards me. I look down at it, yearning to hold it.
I resent the urge and turn to open the door of my car. Starting the engine, I scream "Are you getting in, Norris?". He smiles at me gratefully, and slowly enters my car. We close the doors, and I slowly pull away from the circuit.
OH MY THANK YOU 1K! YOU ALL ARE SO AMAZING :)))