VIPER || Oscar Piastri

Chapter 18

[POV: Andreanna Saunterre]

Am I... a genius?

...I think I might be.

I mean, what else could explain it?

I will never doubt the ability of a three-phase plan ever again! Ever!

I bit my tongue as I scrabbled for the bag I'd thrown underneath my hotel room's bed. My dad looked at me like I was some crazy woman, having no idea that he was in the presence of an actual, real live genius! I yanked out my pad of paper, one of many pens that were compiled at the bottom of the bag, as well as some jelly beans as a reward.

My dad, probably a bit scared, told me he'd pick me up from here later on for our flight to Baku, which in all honestly I'd forgotten about entirely.

Nonetheless, I got to writing.

Up until this point, the only word that I could really make sense of in my head was 'What?!'. Like, a crazy, manic 'What?!' that was screamed each time.

But, once I'd had a second to breathe, I told myself: What?! I'll tell you 'what'! I'm a genius, is what!

After that, I thought more clearly. I scribbled all over the paper, just like I had done when I was first coming up with my original three-phase plan. The result of this particular scribbling-session was none other than a second three-phase plan. An even better three-phase plan. Once I got it all down, I tweaked a few things here and there before typing it up onto my laptop in order to print it off. One copy for me, one copy for Oscar—

Oh, crap! Oscar!

I covered my eyes, suddenly and severely aware of the fact that I'd just completely left the poor thing standing (well, sitting. If we're being picky.) I just ran off, too off-my-head drunk to even think to get his contact information! How the hell am I supposed to get this copy to him? I don't even know where he'll be staying, and I doubt he'll have any reason to come to the track before I leave!

Oh, jeez. He's probably thinking I've bailed. Hell, for all I know he could've been off-his-head drunk as well when he agreed.

Hold on... I paused the typing.

I then clapped my hands and reached for my phone, having just come up with my third genius plan. I quickly found Lando's number and began to text him.

"Need Oscar's number." I said, not wanting to seem too eager or too anxious.

Lando being Lando, was nosy.

"Why?"

"Owe money for drinks."

I waited, watched as he was typing for a long, long time and bit my nails. Then, ding! Oscar's number! Genius strike-three!

I copied the number into my contacts and crafted my next message.

"Hi, need a place to meet and talk about how the fake dating thing's gonna go. Know of anywhere?"

After I sent the message, I suddenly found myself incredibly nervous. I felt the need to add:

"It's Andi btw."

— even though there can't have been many people to ask him to be part of a fake relationship, I quickly realised. That made me hate myself even more. I shut my phone off and threw it onto my bed, not wanting to look at it in fear of humiliation.

I shook myself off and fixed my posture, going back to typing. "Okay... phase...three..." I mumbled as I went.

I could hear the hotel room's clock ticking from above me. Never in my life could I hear so many things at once; The ticking clock, my typing fingers, my bouncing beg, my beating hear—