The Unexpected

Chapter 15: The Truth

Getting off the shuttle bus I approached Daniel,
"Hey Dan"  "Ya Bri?" "Can I catch a ride with you?" "Is there ever gonna be a day I can say no?" "Nope"

When we got inside his car, I turned off the radio and got straight to the point "Why are you so opposed to me having a thing with Lando, and I want the truth" "Because Bri" "Because isn't an answer Daniel" "McLaren offered me a contract for next season, and I think I'm going to take it" "Daniel that's great news, why wouldn't you say something sooner?" "Because I'm not entirely sure if I'm gonna take it, plus I'd rather wait till it's official."

Now knowing Daniel was planning a move to McLaren, I decided to hold back on telling everyone about Lando and I until after the race, which was in three days. Daniel and I proceeded to have a nice talk the rest of ride back to my hotel, where he dropped me off and went on his way, since he wasn't staying at the Hilton.

I texted Lando I was back, and went to go take a shower. Once I was done showering I got dressed and went up to Lando's room, since he'd responded asking me if I wanted to go up and hang out with him.

(Fast forward to race day morning )

The past few days went by fast, I woke up this morning to an empty bed.  Lando had left to go the track while I stayed in to get more sleep. I chose to wear cargo pants, with another baby tee, and a vintage McLaren jacket I was able to thrift online.

When I went to the track, I found Kelly holding an extra coffee for me, meanwhile the guys were at strategy meetings in the motorhomes.

"Thanks Kelly" "Figured you could use it, how'd talking to Daniel go?" "It went fine, I didn't tell him yet, but he definitely thinks something is up I can tell" just then phone start chiming like crazy!

I went to look at all the notifications to see what all this commotion was about when Kelly showed me the "Daily Mail", "F1 driver Lando Norris is said to be dating Bria Ricciardo, fellow F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo's sister." The post had pictures of us at the airport as we were leaving, at the barbecue place, and a short clip of Lando calling me his girlfriend at the club in Japan. "Well that's one way to put our relationship to the world" "Sorry Bri I know you were looking forward to telling everyone"

I didn't care about people knowing, I cared about the fact that Daniel would have thought I was lying to him for longer than I actually was. After all, the only person who knew about the club fiasco other than Lando was Kelly. "Hey Kells, I think I gotta go talk toLando right now" "Totally, here I'll go with you, Max sent me what conference room Lando's meeting is at." "Thanks" "What else are friends for"

We power walked down to the McLaren paddock and sat on some chairs right outside their conference room. Once Lando got out of the meeting, I ran to show him what the press had posted. "I need to go talk to Daniel about this" "I can see why, don't worry we can talk about this after, go settle this with him. It's better if he finds out from you than the media" I kissed Lando goodbye, infront of everyone having nothing left to lose, and  actually ran over to Red Bull with Kelly as fast as we could.

I managed to get to my brother right on time, he had just got out of the Red Bull motorhome with Max. "Daniel we need to talk, it's kinda urgent"

We walked back to his driver's room and I started telling him everything. "Daniel I haven't been honest with you and I'm sorry, Lando and I do have a thing going on. We started dating officially the day he got here. We were planning on tellling everyone today after the race, since I didn't want it to affect any of y'all's driving. However the Daily Mail got to spreading the news before we could. There's also a video in their post from before we were even dating, in Japan, of Lando calling me his gf; he said it so some creep would leave me alone. Please don't take this the wrong way, I never meant to keep it a secret, I was just scared of your reaction"

Daniel looked at me amused, then kinda mad, and then back to a neutral expression "Well I'm happy to have finally been told the truth, I mean I had my suspicions as you know. But I definitely wish you told me sooner. Honestly I'm a little butt hurt you were too scared to tell me, however I guess I can understand why'd you want to keep this from me, based off my reaction to the idea a few weeks ago." "So we're cool?" "I mean I'm not thrilled of course but you're my sister and I've been friends with him for a while so, I guess I'm ok with it, as long as both of y'all are happy"

I was relieved to hear him say those words, I went in and gave him a hug. "Go to McLaren Bri, your boy's probably gonna want you there, I know you'll be rooting for me no matter where you are" "actually?!" "Yes, go really it's fine, y'all are probably going to want to talk about what's going on anyways" "Thanks Daniel" "Of course Bri" "Love you" "Love you too"

When I went back to the McLaren paddock, I was getting a few stares here and there. Knowing I'm gonna get called down to someone's office at some point to talk about my job position here, but right now all I cared about was talking to Lando.

"Bri how'd it go with Daniel?" "Better than expected he seems to be fine with it" "so I don't have to worry about Red Bull trying to beat my butt on the track today?" "You probably should still I mean it's Red Bull, but no he said he was happy to see us both happy" "that's a sigh of relief right there" just then someone knocked on the door telling Lando he needs to start heading out to the car. "Bye Bri wish me luck" "always, also had anyone told you how hot you look in your race suit" "Bri you can't be saying stuff like that before I go" "then I guess you'll just have to get back here faster" "you're such a tease" "you know it Lando"

He walked out of the room but just seconds later came running back "I can't start the race without a good luck kiss" then ran back out after getting one. Seconds later, I shouted after him slightly screaming "Excuses" he turned around walking backwards and blew me a kiss, shouting back "Never heard of them" and ran out the paddock.