All I know - Lando Norris

Chapter 14

The next morning, I looked forward to sleeping in once. I went to bed pretty early and only set an alarm for 9:30 in the morning, so I would have enough time before the stylists would enter my room. Even though I was convinced that I wouldn't sleep that long, it gave me some security about not sleeping in too late.

I couldn't remember the last day I was able to sleep in. Probably sometime before graduation. All the other days since then, I had to wake up early, for interviews, photoshoots, appointments or something else. I wasn't complaining, but in cases like these, you realise how valuable simple things like this could be. Since the race wasn't until 3 in the afternoon, I wanted to use the opportunity to catch up on some well-deserved rest. But that chance was taken from me when someone was basically trying to break down the hotel room door with their knocking. 

Grunting, I blinked my eyes a few times to get used to the sudden incidence of light. I lifted my head from the pillow and pushed my upper body up on my lower arms. With one closed eye, I clicked onto my phone to check the time. 6:34 in the morning. That's it about wanting to sleep in I guess. I knew once I was awake, I couldn't get back to sleep. It just didn't work for me. The person standing in front of my door knocked again, this time even more aggressive. I finally sat up and rubbed my eyes with the back of my hands. 

The knocking stopped and I heard a pair of muffled voices talking behind the door. I couldn't catch what they were talking about though. The door and walls were a little too solid for that. I stood up and walked into the bathroom, putting my retainer back into its light pink box. There was knocking again and I rushed my way to the door. Without looking through the spy and without caring about answering the door in my pyjamas, I whacked the door open. I faced a frustrated and mad Julian, whose head shut from facing the floor in my direction and glazing directly into my eyes. What the hell did I do now?

"Tia, what the hell.", he just stated as I stood in front of him. He was already dressed and ready for the day. His arms and torso were covered by a neatly ironed beige button-down, which he combined with simple jeans. His black shoes were shiny and looked like they were brand new. His hair was slicked back with a lot of gel. 

"Good morning.", I responded calmly, but the look he gave me made me panic internally. Shit. I was in trouble, once again. 

"What were you thinking?", he asked me loudly and I checked both sides of the corridor to see if there was somebody else present. 

"Do you maybe want to come in first?", I asked him. I didn't want to cause a scene and I also didn't want to wake up the entire hotel. With the voice he was using right now, it really could become reality. Julian, the human alarm for every other hotel guest here. 

"No, you need to tell me what the hell you were thinking!" His eyes were fixed on me and made me slump down a little. 

"What are you talking about?", I asked back panicking. 

"You haven't checked social media?", he asked me and I shook my head. 

"As you can see, you've just woken me up, so no. I haven't checked social media.", I replied, now a little annoyed he just didn't tell me what was making him so mad. Somebody walking along the corridor grabbed my attention and I turned my head to the right. I saw Lando and Carlos Sainz walking next to each other towards the elevator. Lando's eyes were watching the scene Julian and I were involved in. A confused look was on his face. His eyebrows were narrowed. Carlos was talking to him, but I could only imagine that Lando was ignoring him completely. Without being able to give him non-verbal communication, I turned back to Julian.

"Yes, well. Take a look at this." My manager hold up his phone into my face and in the corner of my eye, I saw Lando and Carlos take a right around a corner and disappearing. I focused my eyes on the screen in front of me and scanned over a photo that was posted by McLaren on their Instagram. Firstly, it looked like a normal photo of a race weekend. It showed Lando in his race suit and helmet, climbing into the car. The photo was taken from the front of the car, so in the background, the entire garage was noticeable. Even though it was focused on Lando, the background was still razor-sharp. That's when I saw what Julian was so mad about. My eyes went back to his.