The Unexpected

Chapter 31: Podium

That morning, we woke all woke up at 6, ate some breakfast, that Catherine made, and were on our way. Eric and I were in his car, meanwhile his mom and dad were with their car driving behind, and Grant, Sarah, and Emily were doing the same thing, following his parents.

3 hours later when we got to the city, Eric took me back to Daniel's house, meanwhile his family was heading over to his. We agreed on meeting up at the paddock at 1 right before the race starts. I was conflicted on what color to wear, should I support Red Bull or McLaren? In the end, I decided on wearing white cargo pants with a white baby tee, choosing neither side today.

I left the house at 11, in my brother's Ferrari, and got to the track with time to spare. Eric ended up texting me that they'd run a little late ,because Emily lost her stuffed animal and was crying with out it, everyone in the house was looking all over for it.

Bored, I decided to walk around the paddock. Of course I ended up running into Lando, "Bri, Wearing white I see, what happened to orange?" "Orange kissed an other girl, so white's in" "Fair point, Are you waiting on Daniel?" "No, I'm actually meeting up with people" "Well I don't see people now, if you want you're more than welcome to chill with me in McLaren" "I'd take you up on that offer but I made plans to see Kelly before" "Didn't she tell you, she couldn't make it Penelope is sick, so she isn't coming" "Oh, no she didn't tell me" "My offer still stands, it's better than waiting out here by yourself in my opinion" "Fine lead the way"

We walked in the all the familiar McLaren paddock, I saw the faces of old coworkers, and people I used to talk to every day.

"Where have you been the past few days love" "I was at a lake house" "Sounds fun" "It was, what about you, how'd practice laps go?" "Oh come on Bri, we both know you already know" "How so" "You can't tell me you didn't watch yesterday" "Ok so maybe I did" he got up, and got even closer to me, cornering me against the wall. He reached out and brushed my lips with his thumb, then came in for a kiss, and  stopped. "Only one single kiss Lando?" "We're not together Bri, take what you can get" "Are you sure you're not the one wanting this?" "I want it just as much as you do" "So then why won't we?" "Why won't we what?" "Get back together Bri, can we really not get past that hiccup, I feel like we can both move past it" "Why would that be a good idea Lando?" "Because like I said,  we both want it love, you can't tell me you haven't thought of it"

I stared at him in silence, worried what he said was true, I want him so badly, but I can't until I ruled Eric out completely.

"If that's gonna happen, which I won't say I don't want it to, I have to get past Eric for sure. I'm letting you know now, you have some competition Lando" "Lucky for me then I deal with competition every day, I swear I'm gonna get a podium spot today just for you." "I wouldn't get to cocky, love"
"If you keep on calling me love, who knows I might even get pole position today, talk about motivation" he got a knock on the door and left the room snickering, making his way to the garage, and I followed in his footsteps.

I walked out of McLaren and made it to the front of the paddock entrance to give everyone their paddock paces. "Bri, dear I'm so excited you let us come, I can't wait to see everyone" "Of course Catherine, your like a second mother to me" "speaking of mother, is your mom here yet?" "Ya she just texted, they're already at Red Bull waiting, come on I'll lead the way"

Everyone started following me, Eric was in the back holding Emily, she was asleep on his shoulder, letting Sarah and Grant get some free time. "Were y'all able to find her stuffed animal?"
"No, but Sarah was able to find an exact copy at the toy store, Emily can't tell the difference" "That's good" "Indeed we were all starting to get headaches from her crying"

When we reached the Red Bull paddock, my mom swooped in giving me a hug, then went over and greeted everyone, excited to see our old family friends.

We sat down, making our selves comfortable, and started watching the race. So far Daniel and Lando were both doing good, who knows they both might place today after all.

About an hour and a half later, they were down on their last lap. Right behind Max, Lando was in 2nd and Daniel was in 3rd.

They actually won podiums! I was so happy to see both Daniel and Lando place, I guess Lando was right after all when he said he'd win.

Everyone in the paddock started cheering, my mom and Catherine were basically jumping up with joy.

The guys went to go take interviews, so we wouldn't see them for a bit, but I went out to the podium area with the other crew's teams. Lando saw me right away, he shouted an "I told you so" in my direction with the biggest smile I've seen. Daniel came off the podium right after and gave me a hug, Lando was shyly standing behind him. Daniel turned to him and asked, "Lando you wanna come celebrate with us later, we're all going to go out and get dinner?" "Sure mate I'd love to"

"Congrats Lando, I'm really happy for you!" I haven't seen him this happy in a while, I was so excited for him, but also nervous because Eric would be at the dinner with us, and so was his family. My worries were becoming a reality.