Orange, the color of... || (slow burn romance)

Chapter 4: Instagram

After free practice Oscar had some quick interviews, he drove some solid laps and I was fairly impressed with his P12. I quickly congratulated him but he was busy, so I went for a walk around the city to pass time until free practice 2.

***

Free practice 2 concluded the end of Friday and after saying goodbye to like- everyone I saw, I took a walk back to my hotel.

I was tired and felt empty inside, yes I was proud of my brother and yes I enjoyed watching him race, I had enjoyed it ever since he started karting, I knew how much joy it brought him even when he didn't show it much, but somewhere inside I wasn't fullfilled. I had friends, I had family, I have pets even, I could afford anything I wanted and more. I just- I don't know. 

***

After that 15 minute walk back I even struggled with the card of my hotel door. Maybe I just had an unlucky day. After struggling for a good minute (what felt like an hour), the door finally clicked, I sighed as I closed the door behind me. 

My mind felt like one big thick slurry. Good thing I didn't have anything left to do, I had the whole evening to just sit back and relax. I quickly turned on my laptop, it felt like a routine, I opened my instagram, mail, tiktok- oh instagram... Oh yeah. Nothing out of the ordinary besides that follow notification, as normal I checked my dm requests. They were mostly just spam messages, but at the very top of that list of requests, was a dm of no other than Lando Norris.

The text said: "Hey, sorry for bumping i..." The rest I couldn't read without opening the message, I figured it was just a normal apology that any decent human being would give for this morning. But- it was only sent 13 minutes ago, he could've just written and sent a simple apology in a few seconds way earlier today, right? This didn't make any sense at all, what in the world.

I roughly shut my laptop and sighed. Then reached for my phone to open UberEats (thank goodness it's available in Bahrain), I ordered my go-to salad and closed it again. I really wasn't hungry.

I didn't 'sit back and relax', or maybe I did, I don't know what sitting back and relaxing is, perhaps my whole job and career really is sitting back and relaxing. But if your career is supposed to be relaxing, how does one release normal tension.

***

With wet hair and a half eaten salad on the counter top I lay in bed, on top of my scrunged-up sheets, I still taste the bitter flavor of the painkiller, damned airport security had to take away my sleeping meds. I stood up to wrap my hair in a towel and drank some water, then went right back into bed.

I don't know how long it took, but it felt like a year before I finally fell asleep.

***

Author's note: I took a little break and I'm so sorry it took so long, the chapter is a bit short but with short chapters I can manage to make more frequent updates, I'll upload a new chapter ASAP. Thank you for reading!! Have a happy New Year :D