Faking it || Lando Norris LN

16

Olivia Reyes

Friday. Austin Grand Prix.

I stood in the middle of the Austin hotel, bent over while I grabbed my knees, breathing in as I felt the world regain its composure. The walls started erecting themselves back to their towering height above me. The fresh breeze and chirping of the birds welcomed me back from wherever the fuck I went every time the walls started crumbling.

Even though the walls were no longer collapsing on me, I couldn't help but feel like a caged bird. Nothing could shake the feeling off. It felt like I was inside of a hole and falling even further from the surface.

I kept trying to meditate and tell myself to suck it up. I was still racing in Formula 1, I was still traveling around the world and getting to drive one of the fastest cars on Earth, and to the world, I was still dating the reigning Formula 1 World Champion.

Why are you whining so much about this? I kept asking myself, but the thought would never last long.

A golden cage was still a cage.

Yes, I was racing in Formula 1, but the lingering thought of losing my seat would never go away. Yes, I was traveling around the world, but my every move was being watched, analyzed, and controlled by the marketing team through every country we stepped on.

I watched ahead and breathed in, drying my sweaty palms against my clothes. The hotel had three white towers of rooms that stood next to each other in a half-moon shape and a couple of other small buildings scattered around the huge complex, all of them connected with grass, sidewalks, and palm trees. I stood on the grass right in the middle of the half-moon, my back turned to the buildings with my eyes glued to the sky as I took in the view of the rising sun over the horizon.

The sky was painted a gorgeous pink and golden hue that spilled all over the hotel's grass and white towering buildings around me. A couple of moments ago, it made them look like the entire world was on fire —which in addition to the crumbling walls had made me run even faster, scared of the blazes reaching my feet if I didn't run quick enough.

And yes, I was "dating" the Formula 1 World Champion, but... No. Just, no. There were so many things wrong with it. To the world, I was dating Lando Norris, but I didn't like Lando Norris. I didn't even trust him.

Keeping things about myself from the media wasn't an easy job, but I managed to do it anyway. It was necessary. However, keeping things from the one person who has to get to know you, and with who you've been spending a lot of time together was a completely different challenge. And yet, a more urgent one.

I allowed my eyes to leave the hypnotizing sunrise as I took in the open space with the hotel and the fresh breeze. My eyes roamed every spot the peeking sunlight touched.

What had once looked like blazes around me now looked like I had been thrown into the middle of a beautiful oil painting, as if everything around me was made of brushstrokes. I turned around to look at the imposing trinity of white towers in front of me, my hands over my hips while I stared at the way all of the windows reflected a piece of the sunrise on them, as though all of them were pieces of a beautiful puzzle.

And then I saw him.

Standing on his room's balcony, leaning against the handrail and letting out smoke from the cigarette still between his lips, Lando Norris.

Distanced by the dozen stories, our eyes met. Framed by the reflection of the sunrise on the window behind him, Lando was glowing in shades of pink and golden. We held each other's gaze for a second, and I managed to see him let out another cloud of smoke as I turned around and walked away.