Wolff

The Lights of Saudi

The dark blue of the early night sky was filled with specks of sparkling white light, the moon a full circle. Nala starred up at it as she walked out of the hospitality to go to the garages, Ollie by her side.

"Beautiful night for a race, don't you think", Ollie says. Nala looks over at him, who is also admiring the sky.
"Yes, it is, isn't it", she replied, and the two smiled at eachother. His beautiful brown eyes stared into hers, warm and caring, but Nala quickly looked away when she felt the tension slightly building.

They quickly walked into garages, where everyone was rushing around, loud noise filling their ears. They were just in time to see their cars getting wheeled away by some engineers, being taken to the grid.
Nala went over to her side of the garage, where everything of hers was waiting. Helmet, neck brace, ear pieces, gloves and fire proof head sock. She gathered them all, mostly putting them into her upside down helmet and going out into the pits. The lights blinded her eyes as she emerged from the shadow of the garages. The crowd cheered when they saw her, so she smiled widely and waved.

"They seem to love you already, Nals", an angelic voice came from behind, one Nala was instantly able to recognise. She turned around to see Jaidyn smiling her gorgeous smile. Nala brought her in for a hug, breathing in the familiar coconut scent of Jaidyn's hair before pulling away.
"Well I hope so. Let's hope our work has done some wonders", Nala said, taking Jaidyn by the arm and walking off down to the grid entrance.

The girls arrived on the grid with around 25 minutes until lights out. The deafening sound of the fans cheering lightened up Nala and Jaidyns faces tremendously. They walked over to where Nalas car was, 6th on the grid, meeting the engineers and Marley there.
"Wow, I never realised you had so many fans, Nala", Marley joked, looking around at the thousands of fans watching down on them.
"Ha, your funny aren't you, Marley...But yea, I didn't realise either", she breathed, the lights of Saudi shining down onto her face.

Nala went and sat down on the side of the track, leaning against the barrier as she closed her eyes, her leg tapping anxiously in front of her.
"I find that if I have the right breathing pattern, it soothes me", a male voice says. Nala opens her eyes to see Ollie sitting down beside her, resting his head back. They smiled at eachother warmly, and noticing her physical nerves, Ollie placed his hand on her knee. "Just know I'm always here, Nala", he adds after a moment. A warm, cozy feeling wells in Nala's heart when she places her hand on his, which was still resting on her knee, and she rubbed the back of it with her thumb.
"Thank you, Ollie. Your so kind", she smiles.

"THE ANTHEM WILL COMMENCE IN 3 MINUTES. DRIVERS, START TO MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE FRONT OF THE GRID", the announcement came through the speakers of the track, loud and blaring. Ollie looked at Nala, flicking his head to the side to gesture to her that they should go. As Nala nodded, Ollie quickly jumped up, holding his hand out to her. She graciously accepted, taking his hand and letting him help her up. They walked down the grid, shoulder to shoulder, not really talking.

But then Lando Norris sidled in beside Nala with his usual adoring smile. Nala sensed Ollie tense up on the other side of her, but she tried her best to ignore it as Lando started to talk to her.
"Good luck today, Cameron", he said confidently with his British accent.
"Thank you, but do you think your ready to be shown up by a rookie, Norris?", she replied, pouting her lip, Lando's smile getting cheeky.
"We will see about that one", Lando says as they get to the front of the grid. After, he walks over to where Carlos, Charles and Daniel were standing, and Nala and Ollie go to find their own place to stand.

They stand by eachother as the Saudi Arabian anthem starts playing through the speakers of the track. For the period that the song was playing, you could hear nothing but the music, everything else silent. It showed great respect to the country, and that was something Nala loved about Formula 1, where ever you went, there was respect and pride shown.