I KNOW PLACES | George Russell

25. Lando

Monaco
Sunday

Ariella's pov

The monegasque crossed the finish line first, winning his home race for the first time.

I park in the p3 spot, Max finishing p2, quickly scrambling out of the car to congratulate Charles.

I hit the driver lightly on the leg, alerting him of my presence. He looks to me and jumps down from the nose of his car.

My arms go around him tightly and I can practically feel the joy radiating off of him. If emotions were an aura you could see around a person, this one would be a blazing golden color burning brighter than the sun.

I'm so happy for him I may actually cry. I know how good it feels to win your home race, it's a feeling I wish everyone could feel at least once in their lives.

I watch the red-suited driver as he blends in with his team, who are all congratulating him in their own ways. Helmet pats, hand holds, pats on the back.

I free myself from the extra layers around my head as I watch the scene ahead of me.

Max comes up to me and congratulates me on my p3, I do the same. He says something about Charles and I just nod as I smile at the joyous team.

After media I'm walking through the Paddock with George and Alex, passing time with them as I wait for a text from Max telling me he's ready to go. He's my drive back to his apartment, and currently he's meeting with a few of his mechanics.

"No! No way! I would definitely rather have invisibility than be able to fly!" The three of us got into a stupid argument over George's 'would you rather' question.

"But think! You could get around so much quicker if you could fly!" George tries to reason with me and Alex, who agree that invisibility is definitely better.

"Mate you drive a race car for a living. Do you really need to go fast on your off days?" I ask sarcastically as Alex doubled over in laugher

I don't get to hear his response because Lando interrupts us, asking the two if he could 'steal me for a moment.'

"Has something happened to Parker? She's super off today." I feel bad for the boy, just looking at him you can tell he's unbearably concerned.

I'm surprised she didn't tell him, though. I'm also surprised she's acting differently because of it, considering she was the one who decided to blow up on me.

I sigh, looking down at my nails and picking at the cuticles. "We got into a fight last night, that could be it." He doesn't look any calmer when I look up at him.

His hand is on the back of his neck. "Can I know what it's about?" He seems hesitant in asking the question. I understand why, Lando and I haven't really talked that much.

"I would, but I really can't." I shake my head, Lando sighs in defeat. "At least I know it wasn't my fault." He chuckles lightly and I do the same.

Technically it really wasn't entirely his fault, but he was apart of it I guess.

The Brit thanks me and begins to walk away. "Lando?" I call after him, the call comes out as a question. "Do you ever plan to make things official with her?" The words come out harsher than intended, and I hope he doesn't catch it. Truthfully I didn't mean for it to come out that way.

He kicks the ground with his shoes, his hands in his pockets. He takes a moment to answer. "I want to, but I'm not sure she wants to be official."

I shake my head. "Trust me, she does." I give him a smile. He thanks me once again, hitting my arm while doing so, before he jogs off to the McLaren hospitality.

With Lando, Alex, and George gone, I'm now standing alone in the paddock. That was until I saw Daniel heading in the direction of the motorhome, which is where I was intending to make my way towards anyways.

"Hey Danny." I stretch out the y in both the hey and his name. "Ari!" He brings a hand around my shoulders, taking me into a side hug. My arm goes around his middle. "How's my favorite woman driver?" I laugh shortly at the wording.

I pretend to fall asleep on his shoulder. "Tired." I say simply when I bring my head back up after a short moment. He hums a laugh. "Nothing new." He shrugs the words out.

My jaw drops slightly and I punch him in the arm. "Hey! I didn't mean it as a bad thing!" He defends his claim and I roll my eyes.

"Sure you didn't mate." I fight with him to unleash myself from his grip as we walk into the Red Bull hospitality.

"Be careful, someone might think you guys are flirting." The familiar Dutch accent makes its way to my ears. I stop my attempts when I realize it's Max. "Hey! Can we go home now? I want to sleep." I frown slightly at the blonde ahead of me. Daniel snorts a laugh.

"No. You know what? I don't like you." I manage to free myself from around Daniel this time and move to stand next to Max instead. A confused Max shakes his head at the scene that just unfolded before him.

"We're going to go then. See you Daniel." The blonde hits the Australian on the arm with the back of his hand on our way out, coincidentally in the same place I punched him earlier.

(948 words)
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A/N - extremely short chapter I'm in a slump rn that's my bad😭 I also feel like this is kind of all over the place so sorry for that

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