ria had to sort her self out and face oscar for the first time since their little break up in the restaurant, and no matter how much she tried to, she couldn't.
now, she sat on the phone to alex and carla in her hotel room, crying on a wednesday night. the two girlfriends were in the same hotel, as they were hosted by the ferrari company, but mclaren had been set up in a separate hotel for this race to keep with their sponsors.
"i don't know, i just can't face him. i feel like shit whenever i see photos of him or anything, knowing i broke his heart, and mine. i know i did it to myself, but i just can't look him in the eye. i won't be able to." she overthought.
"alright, calm down. it won't be that bad. what, it's like ten, fifteen minutes of filming? then you get to leave him alone for the rest of the weekend. you'll be fine, i promise." the older brunette consoled.
"stop crying, my love. it hurts to see you cry. you can't let this get you down. you're so much stronger than this, i know you are. you can do it." carla encouraged.
"thank you. i love you both. so much. i have to sleep, but if either of you need anything, call me. i'll pick up." she told the pair.
"i know you will. you always do." alex smiled.
ria said another round of goodbyes, and let the other girls go to sleep.
***
she walked into the paddock on thursday for her normal media duties. press conference, then filming. it couldn't be that bad, could it?
she wore her mclaren shirt with pride, paired with her flared dark blue jeans and signature white and pink airforce ones. the spanish heat blistered the ground, and before she knew it, she began to regret the dark jeans, as a sweat broke out over her body.
the press conference was relatively boring, as no one dared to bring up the photos of oscar and ria from after monaco, knowing they would be shut down immediately. she had some questions about her crash, and that was it. the main focus was on the spanish drivers, alonso and sainz, so the pressure had been taken off her back for once.
ria made her way to the mclaren hospitality, meeting dionne as she entered. she gave the older woman a warm hug, before they walked to their little studio together.
ria got hooked up with her mic and once she had sat down, oscar turned up, and didn't say a word to her once he took his seat.
"hey guys, it's oscar and ria, today we're playing would you rather. soz dionne's gonna ask us a would you rather question and we're gonna answer. pretty simple." she explained.
"i'm not sure if anyone needed an explanation for that, but thanks ria. first question. would you rather meet taylor swift or madonna?" dionne started off simple.
"taylor. easily. mother is mothering so hard right now with the eras tour and all. i'm gagged. i'm going to the last show in la in august, im so excited. can't wait to see her perform folklore and evermore, i will actually ascend to heaven when i hear illicit affairs. and gold rush, if she does it, and vigilante shit. sorry, im getting overexcited." ria rambled.
"no, no, it's fine. we love to hear your passion for taylor. what about you, oscar?" dionne turned to him.
"probably taylor? she's the biggest star right now, she seems really cool too. i have listened to her here and there, courtesy of miss ria here, and she's pretty good. i'm not as revised on her discography as she is, but i like some of the stuff off the new album. glitch is a personal favourite, and i like mastermind." he said, looking to ria as he mentioned her.
ria smirked, knowing she hadn't got him to listen to mastermind. he went out of his way to listen to taylor for her. it slightly warmed her heart, but she quickly returned to her nonchalant expression once again.
"did not see you as a taylor swift fan, oscar. that's something new. next one. would you rather have everyone you know be able to read your mind or see your internet history?"
"god, no one's seeing my history. that's for me only. it's not what you guys think, it's like really weird, you guys would definitely tell my therapist what you saw there. but, my mind, it's kinda the same. nevermind, my mind is worse. see my internet history, for sure." ria explained.
"same. my internet history isn't that bad, a little embarassing, but i would actually die if someone read my mind. you guys would not like it." he chuckled a bit at the end.
"alright, that got a bit deep. next question. would you rather find your true love right now, or have one day with your celebrity crush?"
"i'm sorry to whoever it is, but you are not more important than christian bale. sorry, love is temporary, christian bale is forever." she slightly joked.
"no, i disagree. i'd rather have someone that loves me for my whole life, than just one day with someone i don't know well enough to want to be around for that long." oscar disagreed.
"opposing feelings there. both of you are right, i get both sides, definitely." dionne tried to keep the peace. " next question, would you rather be on a private island forever with only your teammate or your best friend?"
"ok, see, i'd love to be with tania or arthur for the rest of my life, but they're both in relationships, and i don't want to pull them from their forever partners. i told carla that her and arthur are not allowed to break up, so i couldn't do it. and tania's boyfriend's lovely too, the guy really likes her, so for him to be without her would be so deep. so, probably oscar. i think we would get along better if we weren't always in the public eye, y'know?" she explained.
"at first, i was thinking logan, but you're really right on that one. i'd feel bad if i took him from his girlfriend forever. you're not that bad, sometimes, but i'm not sure if i could deal with you 24/7 for the rest of my life. if i had to, i would deal with it." he poked fun at the brunette girl.
"mate, you're not funny. charge it. i don't care if you don't like me. it won't stop the world turning." she jabbed.
"alright, well, i think we're gonna finish off there. do the outro, oscar."
"bye from me and the rest of the mclaren team, we'll be back next race weekend, same time, i think, on our youtube channel. like, subscribe, have fun, bye." he said, sounding kind of bored.
"cut!"
ria had never tried to get out of a room that fast before. she almost tripped on her way out, and she still wasn't fast enough to outrun oscar. he didn't say anything this time, just walking slightly behind her as they took the same path to their driver's rooms.
"hey, guys?" she heard dionne's voice behind them. they both turned to face the older woman together. "whatever you do away from the media is not my problem, but keep it down next time, will you? i could hear you from down the corridor last weekend." she said exasperatedly.
ria's jaw dropped as dionne spoke, knowing exactly what she was talking about. she shut her mouth, clenching her jaw as she made eye contact with oscar, turning on her heel. she huffed as she started walking, full of rage. how could he have managed to make her that susceptible to him? why did she let him do that to her? her mind was clouded as she slammed the door to her room, groaning as she sat down.
***
the rest of the weekend, mclaren looked on track to a top three spot in the constructor's. the pace on friday and saturday was incredible, the car handled all the chicanes perfectly. both drivers got through to q3, a normality at the papaya team by now, with a second row lockout.
ria started merely feet in front of oscar on sunday, and her reaction time allowed her to keep the further spot for the rest of the race. by the end, neither had moved, with ria taking yet another 15 points and a podium for the team.
***
i'm plotting for the british gp so hard rn u guys r gna love it
