I KNOW PLACES | George Russell

15. 𝘐 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶

Australia
Friday (a week after gp)

Ariella

George and I haven't talked since last week at the bar. He was acting kind of like an ass then so I decided to leave him be. Let him figure that out by himself.

I don't know what I did wrong that night but he was unnecessarily cold to me the first time he talked to me. I get it, we are supposed to be putting on a facade, but no one was even around us and everyone was too busy dancing or too many drinks in to notice anyways.

Realistically, I know I shouldn't be upset. It's what we were told to do, how we were told to act towards each other. But the way he said that word 'congrats' that night felt like a stab right to the heart. It made me feel like he didn't care. Yeah, he joined the group hug after the race that day but maybe he didn't know what it was for. It's a possibility. I'm only 168cm tall, it's not like I'm easy to spot in a group of people.

I force my mind away from the thoughts. Overthinking is just going to do more harm than good.

I pull a shirt from the rack and show it to Luke. "How about this one?" He tilts his head, examining it before shaking his head. I throw the shirt down to my side in defeat. "Dude that was the fifth shirt I've shown you. You're running out of options." The guys have a show in Sydney today and asked Parker and I if we wanted to help them get ready. We stupidly accepted. Now I'm stuck backstage trying to help Luke decide what to wear.

"I like that one." He points to the green and yellow sweater I'm currently wearing. I look at him, trying to decipher if he's joking or not. I huff out a sigh of defeat. "Whatever." I shrug, taking one of his t-shirts from the wrack to change into.

"I'm doing your makeup before you put that on." I gesture for him to sit while I pull up a chair in front of him.

Changing into the t-shirt exposed my arms to the cool air backstage, causing goosebumps to arise on my arms. "Do you have a jacket I could borrow?" I ask, backing away from his face as he opens his eyes, pointing to a leather jacket on the rack I pulled this shirt from. I offer him a smile before throwing it on.

As I'm finishing Luke's eyeshadow, Parker comes into the room. "Hey Ashton is wondering where you are. Sound check." Both Luke and I turn to her. "That's fine I was done anyways." I shake my head while saying the words. Luke quickly changes from his current shirt into my sweater. "Thank you." Luke hugs me and ruffles my hair before jogging off to the main stage.

Parker bites back a laugh and I know exactly why. "Parker, not every guy I interact with is going to be my future husband." I roll my eyes at her, jokingly. She scoffs. "Well obviously! You interact with your brother and it would be really weird if you two got married." She laughs at her own joke.

"You're lucky I don't hit you." The threat isn't serious, obviously. I throw myself down on the couch, leaning my head against the back to stare at the industrial style ceiling.

"How many people do you think have had sex on that couch?" Parker asks me seriously. I jump up from my seat, the thought not crossing my mind before sitting down on it. "Parker, why would you say that?" I scold her like a mother would. She throws her hands up.

Parker and I sit on the concrete floor, talking and listening to the guys soundcheck.

After a lot of bugging, I finally got her to spill what is going on between her and Lando. In her words it's "nothing serious, we're just seeing each other. We have no label on it." The way she describes the situation makes me slightly uneasy, but she assures me all is well. I'm not so sure. I trust Parker and I trust her judgment I just don't want her getting hurt.