Reckless Driving - LN

03

Miami 2023

After 4 hours of exploring the paddock with Cora and watching Oscar and Lando film some videos for McLaren, Cora and I have found ourselves back in our hotel room getting ready for tonights activities.

I'm rummaging through my clothes when I hear Cora let out a frustrated sigh from the other side of the room.
"How does one dress for a TopGolf outing and then a fancy dinner?"

I throw a few things onto the bed behind me.
"No clue, I'm just kind of winging it over here."

I walk over and study the outfit I threw together before nodding my head in approval and changing out of my previous outfit. I pull the black lace body suit over my head then tug on my jeans and turn around towards Cora.

"What do we think?" I grab the black leather jacket from my bed and pull it on. "Jacket, no jacket?"

"You look hot, and keep the jacket" she bends down and grabs her black and white Nike dunks before tossing them to me. "Casual but also very 'I know I'm hot, you don't have to tell me'."

I laugh and walk into our bathroom to touch up my makeup and pull my hair into a messy ponytail. "I should tell Jeff to start paying you more for the compliments you throw my way."

Once she's dressed in black cargo pants and a white silk bandana top, she joins me in the bathroom.
"Please do. I don't get paid nearly enough to put up with you," she throws me a wink through the mirror.

With how close we've gotten over the past few years, I sometimes forget that Cora's also my, as Jeff calls her, personal handler. She started working with my management team as an intern while she was still a junior in college 3 years ago.

With us being so close in age, we immediately clicked and when Susan decided to take an early retirement to spend more time with her kids, I didn't hesitate to put up a fight for Cora to get the position.

That's also part of the reason she's tagging along with me to a few of the races, but even if this wasn't part of her job, she'd still be the first person I'd pick to come with me.

She caps her lipstick and nudges my arm. "You know who else is gonna think you look hot?"

I raise my eyebrows in response for her to continue.

She smirks. "Lando."

I feel my cheeks, involuntarily, redden at the mention of my brother's teammate.
"Shut up."

Her eyes brighten. "Look at you! You're blushing that is so adorable!"

"I am not, it just got really hot in here." I make a point to shrug off my jacket to play into my excuse.

"Liar." There's a knock at the door and as Cora walks out to go answer it, she calls over her shoulder. "There was totally a vibe between the two of you earlier."

"Between who?" I hear Oscar question as he walks into the room. He pokes his head into the bathroom. "You ready? Everyone's meeting in the lobby in 5."

"Ignore her, she's being delusional tonight," I pull a few face framing pieces out of my pony tail. "Let me grab my bag and we can head out."

We take the elevator down to the lobby to meet the rest of the drivers joining us for the night. When the doors to the elevator open, I feel Cora latch onto my arm, eyes wide.

She leans in and whispers, "nobody told me Charles was one of the people joining us."

We start walking toward the group and I lean my head closer to hers to whisper, "Oscar never disclosed who all was coming."