the austrian grand prix was one that ria prided herself in on the f1 simulator. she always held the faster lap between her and oscar, and when she had tried against lando, max and lewis' lap times, she fared incredibly. she had a shot at doing really well this race.
video time! she didn't really enjoy the awkwardness at the start of every video, but once they got more comfortable, they had more fun. especially after last week, where they actually spoke to each other after the video was over.
"hey guys, it's ria and oscar, and today, we are going to be doing two truths and a lie. i say three things about myself, and oscar guesses which one is a lie. pretty simple." she explained.
"i think that i should start this time. you always get to start. it's not fair." he pointed out.
"what a child. but whatever." she rolled her eyes, then shrugged her shoulders.
"ok. i used to race remote control cars, i have a teddy bear called stuffy who i still keep with me every night, and i'm really good at cricket." he smirked thinking he'd caught her out.
"i know you used to race rc cars. you told me that. i believe the one about stuffy, except i've never seen him, which is a bit mad. but you're horrible at cricket. we used to play cricket sometimes in prema when we had free time, let me tell you this man is horrible. he can't even swing a bat without hitting himself in the face." she mocked. "so cricket's the lie."
"you're right, but you didn't have to be so mean about it. you're never gonna meet stuffy now." he crossed his arms.
"no, i wanted stuffy to meet my teddy, called teddy." she pouted childishly.
"fine. but you're still mean."
"i know. my turn! ok, i did a-level physics and maths, i know how to juggle, and i learned karate when i was little." she bounced a little in her seat.
"the karate one makes me feel valid for being scared of you. that's definitely true. if you did physics and maths a-level, what grades did you get? because i did them too." he asked inquisitively.
"i got a* in both. and and a in geography. i was a massive nerd. even though i missed my exams because of covid, i did really well in my mocks and i had good teachers so they gave me amazing predicteds and grades." she explained briefly.
"the same happened with me! except my teachers weren't as lenient and graded me horribly. i got two bs and a c, maths, physics and computer science. anyways, i think the lie if juggling. you cannot juggle." he answered.
"you're right. i do not know how to juggle." she admitted.
"ooh, i have some good ones." he said. "i cook really good italian food, i used to have a pet hamster called murray, and i like seafood."
"i really hope that the lie is that you like seafood because i cannot stand it. in forced to take omega 3 supplements because i don't eat fish. i can get with you having a pet hamster named murray, and I'm assuming, from your time with prema you know how to cook italian. i'm gonna say, you don't like seafood?" she said unsure.
"nope. i never had a hamster. i couldn't look after anything, i was so busy." he said, smirking.
"ugh. anyways. my bedroom is pink, i used to skip school for fun, and my house in woking used to be a trap house until they got caught and it was put up for sale." she said. these were the craziest ones so far.
"nah, the last one's mad. no way. that has to be a lie." he said, adamantly.
"no. i never used it skip school for fun, only when i had racing. the last one is why my house smells like weed when you sniff the walls up close. i did a whole deep clean and it's still not gone. someone give me tips on how to fix the smell, please?" she pleaded to the camera.
"no clue. i'm the last person you should talk to about cleaning." he admitted defeat.
"anyways guys, that's it for this video, i hope you enjoyed it. root for us, and we'll see you next time for the british grand prix!" she blew a light kiss to the camera, and saw the red light stop, indicating the filming had finished.
she didn't rush out of the room this time, but kept herself calm and collected, speaking to some of the crew before making her way back to her room.
as she got back, she noticed a text from oscar.
messages
oscar
come to my room
why??
i have to give u smth
huh?
just come fam
sorry no ur not allowed
to say fam that's my thing
idgaf
come
bruv
icba to get up
just come
or ur not getting ur stuff.
she banged on the wall connecting their rooms to signal that she was coming, and got up to leave. part of her was worried, the last time they'd been in his driver room together they'd ended up having sex.
not that she was complaining.
she knocked on his door, and he shouted from where he was sitting
"come in, it's open." she turned the handle, and opened the door.
no wonder he couldn't be arsed to get up, he was lying comfortably on his sofa.
"what did you need to give me?" she asked.
"on the table. it's your necklace. you left it in my room in monaco." he told her, looking up from his phone at her.
"oh, thank you so much for keeping this safe! this is really special, I thought i'd lost it." she said, leaning down to hug him for what he did. "it was my nani's, my mum's mum's necklace. i was meant to wear it for my brother's wedding but i couldn't find it anywhere and i was worried sick. thank you so much for this." she held him in her arms.
"it's fine, i would've done it for anyone." he nonchalantly responded.
his dry demeanor had pissed ria off again, so she decided she wanted to ignore him again as she left his room.
***
the race was beautiful. ria and oscar started p2 and p3 respectively behind lando, who seemed to own the austrian circuit at this point. max had an engine malfunction, which pulled him out during q1, leading him to start from 20th on the grid.
ria and oscar managed to work together this time, not fighting for p2, but helping each other keep the podium spot. the top three finished in the same order they started in, with a double podium for mclaren. the whole team were buzzing, with two mclaren drivers and one ex mclaren driver on the podium his weekend. especially in their rookie year. it was wild.
***
I promise it's getting more interesting next chapter, mums. this is all buildup. I know averyphobic and dizzydriya are gna love the next one. not sure when it's coming, but it should be in a few days???
