Home. (L.N.)

17. Porto

"Chill out" I hear my sister laugh from my phone. It is leaned against the window from my hotelroom. I give her an angry look "Just tell me. White or black." "White", she laughs and looks at me while I slip into the white blazer. My hair is in a highponytail and my cheeks red of being in a hurry. Maybe I also still have a sunburn. It was two days ago that Daniel and I were on that boat together and fell asleep. His australien skin didn't even care, but mine was burned. Not that bad but it still hurts. He just laughed at me when waking up and saw my red skin. I smile remember that day, it was a good one. But I also remember the still unopened message from Lando on Instagram.
When arriving in Porto yesterday I needed time to relax after all that drama and excitement with Daniel on his yetski. So it was just a day of walking around the city of Porto, taking in the atmosphere and eating good food. It was good to have a bit of alone time. I could relax and forget all the troubles and famous people in my life. It was just me for a whole day. But now I am stressed again, I was about to meet the people from Mason. I played cool when he told me but actually I have no bloody idea what I got myself into. I figured I should wear something a bit more serious then just a summerdress so I jumped in a black jumpsuit and the white blazer. For moral support I FaceTimed my sister. But she is quiet useless and just makes fun of me. I check again my look in the mirror. "Can I go like that?" "Yees Anna... Gosh you look amazing" she is clearly annoyed. I show her my middlefinger but feeling instantly bad, so a kiss in her direction follows. She just smiles and looks behind her. "Marc darlin, it's Anna." Her on and off boyfriend appears behind her waving at me. I wave back "How was the business trip? " "Not to bad actually. How are you?" He is always on trips and works hard. That's the biggest issue in their relationship. Liv is more family oriented and would love to start her own little family soon. It is a struggle for them to figure out how to actually make both of them happy. But one thing is absolutely vertain: They are madly in love. Marc places a quick kiss on his girlfriends head while waiting for my answer. "Doing good. Been back at the track which was exciting. Now I am in Porto before coming back home to London." she explains. "Yeah I heard. I heard. Good for you! Enjoy your time I need to head off it's quiet late." he looks at his watch and I risk a look at the clock on the wall as well. I need to go. "Cheers I need to leave as well. Goodbye you two." I throw kisses at them before hanging up. I quickly put a bit of perfume on and head out. More like rushing out, I am a little behind time.

"Lovely to meet you, I am Anna" I fistbump the three people in front of me. I legit have no idea who they are. Mason at least could've give me a warning or did he? "Hey Anna, I'm Michelle. I work for Chelsea FC as a communication manager."a lovely lady response. She is probably mid 30s with short brown hair and a friendly smile on her face. The other one looked more like a nerd he surely had the best grades in school and uni, besides that he also wears a smile on his face." I am Kevin and legal advisor for Chelsea" he introduces himself. A legal advisor? What the heck is going on? My eyebrow raises in the air hearing his jobttitle. "Don't worry you are not in trouble. It's just routine. I am Ben and the manager of Mason" the last guy fistbumps me. I nod at him with a smile. He seemed the least intimidating. "Please take a seat." Michelle points at a chair. We are in a posh hotel in Central Porto. It is very fancy. I felt weird walking in and ask for the conference room. It felt like I am very important but clearly I am not and just have no clue what I am doing here. I take the appointed seat and lean back. Let's see what this will be.
"This here is all policy Anna. Please take nothing personal whatever it is." My eyebrows raise again in confusion. What is this. Michelle continues "Mason informed us, that you are new in his life and the two of you have been spotted publicly." "Yeah but they don't know it is me" I interrupt. She nods "Exactly, which this is more like a prevention for when they actually find out. We try to have this kind of a conversation with everyone who is in close contact with one of the players. You have experienced the public before haven't you?" "Yes. I worked for sky news and then become friends with a driver. The public eye was more on him then on me to be honest." I explain, still confused in which direction this is going. The three are taking notes. "We do know this already." Ben now says. He switches on the screen. On it a picture of me and Mick laughing in a restaurant. It was from more then a year ago. I look at it in shook. "See this is what we found when we did the background check on you." "You did a background check on me?" I gasp out. This is outrages. Kevin the legal guy now leans forward "Anna, we do this on all the people surrounding the players. It is our duty to protect them Of course we do not do anything illegal, we just search the web look into your social media and all that kinda stuff." I am speechless. "We did find nothing negative whatsoever" Michelle smiles. "What a shocker."I spit out. My heart is racing I am fuming inside."If you get involved with Mason we need to know if something in your past happened that could reflect on him. If bad or good is both relevant for us. " Ben tries to explain to me. "So why don't you just ask?" I laugh out. "Why make such a fuss about it, show me pictures from years ago." I shake my head and cross my arms in front of my chest. "We want to show you what other people can find when they dig deep enough. When you and Mason decide to go public. Or even when the press finds out your identity, all your past could be uncovered. And all your future actions will be in the public eye. More then ever. You gain thousands of followers, more then you just got when the formula one drivers followed you. Actually we need to talk about this in a minute as well. But back to social media. You will get hate. Lots of it. People will judge you on everything they can find. It will not be easy. " Michelle smiles, trying to warn me about things that I am already aware of."Are we finished? I would like to go. " it was rude to ask but I didn't care. This is ridiculous. "Actually no: Have you been media trained before." Kevin asks looking closely for my reaction. I remember the training I got from Sabine, Micks manager years ago and a few months again. "I am not gonna answer it" I say with a straight face. The legal dude nods with a smile and takes notes. "What is your connection to formula one?" Ben asks, taking the switch for the screen and presses a button. A new picture appears. It is myself in a Haas Jacket but also Screenshots of my followers showing the drivers who follow me on Instagram. I shake my head, this is enough. The chair makes a squeaking sound when I shuffle it back, I stand up with a red head. I am fuming "I will tell you three something. I never choosed to be in the public eye. It happened that a friend of mine is and now Mason as well. But I refuse to speak about them publicly. It is their life and I am happy to support them. If I can use this situation to make people smile or educate about certain things, even better. But I will not get into the spotlight. My place is besides them and to have them backs. Now excuse me, this meeting is over. I am highly disappointed by this. It is outrages what ever you tryed to teach me here. I will leave now. Have a good day." I don't even wait for a response, I just grab my bag and leave.

I head out of the hotel on the street and need to take deep breaths. What the fuck was that. With my hands on my head I turn around. Where should I go? I am highly confused about this whole thing. In the need for good advice I dial a number.

M:What's up? How was it?
A: Mick, I am fuming.

I rush down the road not sure where to go but I need just to move as far away from this place as possible.

M: What happened?
A: Actually I still don't know. They showed me pictures from last year, I think they tried to warn me about the social media attention and press attention. They even did a background check on me.

Mick on the other end chuckles: For what?
A: Buddy, I do not know. They asked if I am media trained.
M: You kinda are.
A: Yeah well I know that, but they don't need to. There where three people. A communication manager, masons personal manager and a legal advisor.
M: A legal advisor?

His voice cracks on the other side off the line in amusement. Myself on the other hand rush through my hair. I am stressed out.

A: Exactly my reaction mate. They asked me about F1 as well. This when I left. It felt like a interrogation.

I really need to hold it together to not swear right now. This is when I get another call. It's Mason. Great.

A: Mason is calling. Probably saying we can't see each other anymore. I will call you back.
I spit out while rolling my eyes.
M: Stay positive!

I hang up and take the other call.

M: What have you done?

I hear Mason. My heart sinks. I fucked it up real bad but then the anger hits me.

A: Well actually Mason this was absolut bullshit. It was like an interagation. I felt like a criminal needing to answer every single question. They even did a bloody background check.

M:Stop

He interrupts midway in my rangespeech.

M: They love you.
A: What?

I ask confused.

M: They love you. Ben just texted me that. I don't know what you did but they have absolutely no worries whatsoever. They don't even want you to mediatrain, and that is actually policy.
A: I don't understand, I basically screamed at then.
M: Whatever you did Anna, it was fantastic. This makes everything so much easier.

I can hear him smirking through the phone and my anger slowly lifts off my chest. Whatever stupid test this was, I passed it. I didn't fucked up with Mason more the opposite: We have the support of his management and the club. Couldn't be better but then the still unopened message jumps back in my head. Should I read it or just delete it right away...

M: So what do you want to do?

He brings me back to reality.

A:Hm?
M:Do you want to go public?
A: We're not a couple?
M: I know * laughs* but we have the freedom to do whatever we want.
A: So they might find out who I am?
M:We don't need to... I don't mind at all.. If you not ready
A:No let's do it. We shouldn't have to hide. I will wear your kit tomorrow.
M: Alright then.

I can hear him smile. And a smile grows on my face again. This is the right next step. And it also will show Lando I didn't just made it all up. He will see that I am seeing someone. I didn't just rejected him because I am scared. And my thoughts wonder back to his message. I should read it.