the man- f1

two

dos

the man

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pre season

as lewis drove towards the factory, the rookie driver texted all her loved ones about her current whereabouts. ten minutes into the drive and a few songs later, lewis began a conversation, something tali was not good at and for which she was extremely grateful for.

"you're probably wondering how i knew when you landed." he began casually.

"yeah, kinda." she said, chuckling a little.

"charles told me the time you were meant to land, as well as the fact that you don't like asking for help." he said with a cheeky smile.

"well, in my defense, i've got none, but thank you." the girl said appreciatively after trying to defend herself and finding no excuse.

"any time, tali, and i mean that."

the rest of the drive was full of jokes and singing until they arrived at around 6:30, exactly half an hour before her seat fitting. giving her the opportunity to say hi to some workers she had met before.

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walking towards where she knew her fitting would be, she did not see someone walking towards her, lost in her phone just like the other person was, causing a collision and for both phones to slip out of their hands.

"i'm so sorry, i did not see where i was going." she said picking both phones up looking for any damage.

"it's fine, i wasn't either." the other voice said as she handed the phone to who she thought was another worker before looking at their face, making her freeze.

elias wolff was a mystery to tali. he was a year older than her and very quiet to the point where she had barely heard him talk, let alone smile. she had met him during her first visit to the factory and she knew close to nothing about him. just that he was home schooled, had no interest in driving but loved engineering and lastly, that he played football soccer and that he was really good. he was only talkative towards his dad, and he wasn't one to express his emotions, especially publicly.

what tali had observed with her teenage girl eyes though, was his extremely good looks and the deep thick accented voice he had. they were not close enough to be friends but they had talked before about different topics during the races she would attend by contract and he would attend as a companion to his father.

when they met back in 2021, she had a tiny crush on him that soon passed, and by 2022 she had a boyfriend back in mexico whom she adored before they broke up due to him not willing to do long distance, something that broke her heart badly but that she fully understood and helped her focus on the by then ongoing battle for the formula 2 title.

her thoughts were interrupted by a hand being waved in front of her, looking to wake her up from whatever trance she had gotten herself in.

"are you ok?" elias voice said slightly worried, an emotion that soon left his voice and face, almost as if it never existed.

"what? oh, i'm fine. sorry, the flight was exhausting and i've been zoning out a lot this last few hours, i wasn't paying attention to where i was going, which is a bad move on my part. are you ok? i really hope you are. is your phone ok? or did it break? or-" she was interrupted by a deep chuckle. a chuckle form the guy that stood in front of her. a guy that she had never heard laugh before. a laugh that was so pretty and soft one wouldn't think such a serious face would ever express. a laugh she was now going to try to bring out more often.

"i'm ok, my phone is ok, look." he said as he showed his screen unscathed, a screen that lit up to show a picture with his father after a soccer game. toto's face held a proud look, while elias' was serious, but with a victorious glint in his eyes. one arm around toto, the other holding a trophy while toto held the medal that hung around his son's neck.

"see, it's all fine, don't worry. i think they are looking for you though." he said looking behind her to see lewis walking to where they were standing, all while putting his phone back in his pocket, a few meters away from the room where she was supposed to be.

"elias, hi, hope you had a nice holiday." lewis said, nodding at the boy he had seen grow up, noticing how his serious persona had come out again when around someone who was not tali, fact tali was oblivious to and lewis had noticed months ago.

he knew for a fact he was a quiet boy, not talkative at all, even with his dad unless it was privately and without cameras, something that had been brought to toto's attention when tali started conversation a few races ago, conversation elias kept going, toto getting involved soon enough, internally loving his son coming out of his shell even a little bit.

"i did lewis, thanks, hope you did too." said the german boy while nodding back politely.

"i did, thank you. will you be joining us in the seat fitting? your dad is on his way here, says he wants to see this girl's fitting happen. claims it will be a historic moment and i have to agree." he said while putting his arms around their shoulders as they started walking inside the room.

and lewis was right. five minutes later, toto entered clapping his sons back with affection before doing the same to lewis, locking eyes with the girl he had chosen to take under his wing and offering a short but tight embrace. clapping his hands together as he said "let's do this" with a huge smile, smile tali shared and that elias secretly admired, not noticing the girl's teammate knowing look.

since the fitting was scheduled quite late, soon after both lewis and tali were free to go. lewis to his home, tali to the airbnb that tania would be joining her in in two days, catching a ride with lewis again seeing as it was on his way and he had her bags still in his car. after the eventful yet quiet day. tali was more than ready to sleep until the next day.

nini speaks !

hi. this is chapter two. hope you like it. finally on vacation so hopefully more writing. again, i really hope you like it.

don't forget to vote and comment.

lmk what you guys think so far and what you would like to or not to see.

check out my other stories !

mine- p. gavi

london boy- h. cavill (coming soon)

love, nini