heartbeat ➙ ollie bearman

due

"your smile's like a dark cloud, can't wait for the fallout."

northern italy, twenty-twenty three

sat in the crisp, nearly empty media room, hannah mentally prepared herself for a long morning of having to film with frederik and oliver. nothing was out of place, the white table was perfectly clean along with the chairs that accompanied it. judging by oliver's behaviour the previous day, hannah assumed that he could be one to nit-pick and she did not have the mental strength to deal with anymore criticism on merely her second day at prema so she took every precaution to avoid annoying oliver.

as angelina was busy dealing with the logistical side of prema's media and marketing leading up to the twenty-twenty three formula two season, hannah was left nearly on her own to film, having only the support of alexander the cameraman - whom she was told was a man of few words - to help.

looking down at the watch on her wrist, the time read nine fifty-seven. frederik and oliver had been instructed to arrive at the production room for ten o'clock by angelina, who they didn't dare disrespect.

just as hannah was finishing laying out the question sheet on her own workspace, the room's door creaked open and frederik walked in.

"hi, i'm sorry i'm late."

nine fifty-nine.

"don't worry frederik, you aren't late. besides oliver isn't here yet eith.." hannah began before oliver barged into the room, a foul expression plastered on his face.

"good morning to you both." she smiled, awkwardly turning around to pick up her pre-prepared question sheet.

the teammates took a seat in the chairs they rightfully assumed to be theirs as hannah lightly debriefed them on the video's structure and what they would be doing.

"so it's just a 'q and a'?" oliver questioned, looking at hannah with a distasteful gaze.

"in a nutshell, yes."

"just say that then, cut the bullshit." oliver snapped, slouching back into his chair.

"ollie please. she's just doing her job." fred pleaded with him, flashing hannah an apologetic smile as he lightly scolded his teammate.

"don't worry frederik, you don't have to apologise for the behaviour of your teammate." hannah quiped, returning oliver with an equally as disgusted glare before carrying on with the task in hand.

oliver smiled. hannah didn't seem the type to bite back but his preconception was clearly incorrect. he quickly returned his exterior to that of the harsh frown he was previously wearing.

alexander began to adjust the camera as frederik and oliver chatted amongst themselves. hannah once again glanced over her fan asked questions, deciding which to ask the drivers and which to leave out.

"so oliver, i need you to do a slight introduction as this is your first year in formula two, we need fans to be up to speed."

he lazily nodded as alexander began to roll the camera.

"hi, i'm ollie bearman and i'll be driving for prema in formula two for the twenty-twenty three season."

-

as the session progressed, hannah's worst fears were at bay, as oliver was pleasant. well, as pleasant as he could be by the seems of it.

"and finally, what do you find the most difficult about being a racing driver?" hannah asked, happy with the content she'd collected from the session.

oliver went to speak, hannah was excited. usually he would wait for fred to answer first and answer something fractionally different, letting fred do all the work. maybe he was finally warming up to the session.

"i'd definitely say dealing with doing unbearable media sessions with apprentices who don't know what they're doing." oliver smiled, making direct, unfaltering eye contact with hannah.

her heart felt so heavy. it was so nearly perfect, why would he say that? what had she done wrong? she knew what she was doing, right?

alexander the cameraman took that as a sign to stop recording, glaring at oliver.

"watch yourself bearman, angelina will not be happy when she hears about your behaviour." alexander grumbled, packing away his filming equipment as oliver shrugged nonchalantly, ignoring the man's words.

fred just looked at his teammate in disbelief. from the interactions he'd had with oliver, he'd been a lovely, normal guy and everybody that had worked with oliver previously backed this up. oliver was a nice guy normally, what had gotten into him?

hannah tidied up slightly, "you two are free to go."

oliver left without another word, disregarding everyone.

"thank you hannah, alexander." fred smiled as he left, closing the door gently behind him.

hannah sighed as she began to pack away the table and chairs, cleaning them before she stored them away.

"don't let him get to you." alexander explained, breaking hannah out of her thoughts.

"i'm trying." she smiled.

"i can't believe you two are the same age. you're so mature and he's such an egotistical dick." alexander moaned. "but a lot of them are, i guess. they're young lads who have everything they've ever wanted."

hannah contemplated alexanders words for a minute, he was right. she shouldn't take it personally. oliver just seemed like a general dick.

"i'll see you later alexander." hannah smiled as she went to leave the media room.

"yeah." he nodded.

-

hannah had some how managed to make it to her lunch break. she was planning on going to the same lovely café that fred had shown her the previous day. making her way out of the communal offices, hannah walked towards the reception, nearing the carpark where her adorable pastel yellow two-thousand-and-eight fiat panda was parked.

as she made it to reception, hannah locked eyes with none other than paul aron.

"hi hannah. how are you?" he asked casually, inducing a smile on hannah's face. it was nice to have a genuine, friendly conversation with one of the drivers - it was extremely refreshing.

paul was so cool and calm, it felt as if hannah had known him a while despite only having met him the previous day. conversation with him was easy and relaxed.

"yeah, i'm good thanks. just about to go on my lunch break."

"that's funny, so am i." he smiled, looking at hannah through his beautiful blue eyes. "i heard that you went with vesti for lunch yesterday." he stated, raising his eyebrows.

"it wasn't like that. fred didn't stop talking about his girlfriend, she sounds lovely, they're a perfect match."

"is that so?" he smirked.

"what are you getting at, aron?" she smiled.

"well i was thinking, maybe we could get lunch together." he proposed, a cheeky sparkle gleaming through his eyes.

"sounds like a plan."