Patience // Oscar Piastri

17

"I win." Willow exclaimed as she tapped her hand against the railing as she came to a stop by the beach.

"You cheated." Oscar replied as he arrived a few seconds behind her.

The pair were in Abu Dhabi for the last race weekend of the year and ultimately their F2 careers when they decided to go for a run.

Willow had decided when they saw the beach a few feet away that the last person to reach the railing paid for lunch before spiriting away from her teammate.

"Don't be such a sore loser." Willow told him as she stopped her run on her Apple Watch.

"So I'm paying for lunch then, am I?" Oscar wondered as he used the bottom of his t-shirt to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

"Yep. Let's go." Willow spoke as she linked her arm through Oscar's as they started to walk towards a nearby cafe.

"You are something, you know that." The Aussie told her as he looked around before placing a kiss on the side of Willow's head.

The pair were very serious about keeping whatever was going on between them a secret at least until the weekend was over. They didn't want anyone judging them as they battled for the championship.

"Don't act like you don't love me." Willow said with a smile.

Something about Willow's words brought butterflies into Oscar's stomach. The pair threw the word love around all the time as best friends but something about it felt different now.

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"God I am sweating." Willow complained as she walked around the track with her race and performance engineer while Oscar walked a few feet in front with his own team.

"Willow we've literally just left the pit lane." Marco rolled his eyes in reply of the American.

"Not my fault this country in so hot." The driver replied as she chugged half her water already.

The team continued their walk around the Yas Marina Circuit as they discussed the different corners and possible strategies.

"Alright Will?" A familiar voice called out as Willow turned her head to see Juri cycling passed her.

"Who give you a bike?" The American shouted after him.

"It's who ya know Willow." Juri winked before cycling away causing Willow to roll her eyes at the Estonian.

"Oscar." Willow called to her teammate a few feet in front of her.

"Don't even start." Oscar replied, knowing the American was going to ask him to give her a piggy back, causing the Prema team to laugh at the pair.

"You're mean." Willow said as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Come on Willow. We're nearly done." Paul spoke as he and Marco dragged her by her arms through the last couple of corners of the track walk.

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"Angelina." Oscar called out towards the Italian woman as the team sat in the motorhome.

"You can't call Angelina. I'm not actually touching you." Willow spoke with a smile on her face as she held her finger centimetres away from Oscar's face.

The pair were sat across from each other around a small table as they waited for their engineers and Rene to arrive for a pre qualifying meeting as they planned their strategies.

"You two need to shut up and grow up." Angelina replied from her spot in the corner of the room as she continued with editing some team content.

"Well tell Willow to stop touching me." Oscar said as he glanced at the American's finger.

"I'm not actually touching you so she can't tell me off for something I'm not actually doing so ha." Willow spoke with a satisfied smile on her face.

"I don't even want to know." Rene told them pair as he entered the room to see what was going on. "Let's start this meeting."

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"That's pole position Willow. Well done." The voice of Marco could her heard in Willow's ears via her radio.

"Yeh baby." The American screamed in excitement. That officially brought down her gap to Oscar to just three points. "Thanks guys. That was amazing. The car feels great."

"All you, Will. See you in the pit lane." Marco said before turning off the radio and allowing Willow to enjoy the drive back to the pit lane on what could very well be her last F2 qualifying session ever.

Willow got back to the pit lane and pulled up behind the huge number one sign for pole position with Oscar to one side of her and surprisingly, Jack Doohan, on the other side considering this was only his second F2 race after the step up from F3 where he lost out of the championship to Dennis.

The American got out of her chair and waved at the cheering crowd before running towards her team who all congratulated and cheered for her.

Willow removed her balaclava and gloves before shoving them inside her helmet and handed it over to Claire before she was summoned for post qualifying interviews.

She waited her turn as Jack had just finished up and it was now Oscar's turn. The brown haired girl watched him talk with a smile on her face and a feeling of butterflies in her stomach.

They both knew they were no longer just friends now but they also didn't know what exactly they were either.

"Hey." Oscar said with a smile as he finished a interview and walked towards his teammate. "Congrats."

"Thanks." Willow replied before she was summoned in front of the camera for her own interview.

"Willow, hi. Pole position, congratulations. Talk us through your last lap there." The interviewer spoke.

"Thanks. Yeh look I knew that I had to push with being down a few seconds before my final lap." The American started to explain her lap. As she did, she noticed a familiar face of Mario Andretti looking at her.

The former American F1 driver smiled at the young girl and gave her a nod and a thumbs up. Willow returned the smile and nod as she finished up her interview.

It was only then she noticed that Christian Horner was stood next to Mario as the two men spoke about something unknown to Willow after Mario turned away from looking at the American F2 driver.

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