VIPER || Oscar Piastri

Chapter 23

[POV: Narrator]

Andi wasn't sure whether to laugh or yell.

It was the morning after Oscar's elevator outburst and she had been awake since 5. Thinking. Sitting.

While his outburst hadn't been mean, per-say, it wasn't a nice outburst either. He was clearly annoyed, but he didn't look it.

If it had been anyone else, she definitely would've stood her ground, even if she was in the wrong.

But because this was so out of character for him - from what Andi knew, since he was right in saying they barely knew each other - she was left feeling unsure of what to do.

Normally, in any normal outburst, she'd argue against herself in the shower and justify why she's right. But here, there was nothing to justify. Everything he said was true. She was mean to him. They didn't know each other. And... most annoying of all: it was her idea after all. So, shouldn't she try to be more accommodating?

She avoided that eventuality at first, as hard as she could. But by the time 9 rolled around, she'd gone through every complementary tea bag available and felt ready to face the reality of her situation.

She was going to be...

*Shudder*

Nice.

*

Meanwhile, Oscar wasn't so calm.

"Why did I do that?" He asked himself for the seventeenth time. "Why did I do that? Why did I do that?!" He held his head in his hands and scratched the back of his neck. He then looked up at his hotel room ceiling, exhaling into his hands.

"And to her of all people?!" He sighed, wondering why - out of every person on earth - Andi Saunterre was the one he decided to yell at. The Viper - the girl who had the shortest temper on the planet.

"What if she—" He paused, staring at the floor for a while before scoffing and laughing to himself. "No, no. She wouldn't." He said. He didn't manage to convince himself, however.

I have to apologise. He thought, nodding. Yes. I was tired, I was in a bad mood because I was tired, and so I lashed out. Yes. Okay.

The boy then stood up and stretched; Rolling his shoulders back and shaking his arms out. Okay, he prepared.

*

As Andi shut her hotel room door, ready to venture over to Oscar's room - that was a whopping three doors down - to apologise directly, she heard someone else leaving their room too. When she looked, she found Oscar, who saw her too and clearly jumped at the sight of her.

Ah, shit, they both thought in unison.

Oscar fumbled with his keys to lock his door, keeping his eyes on the girl that was now charging towards him. Oh, god— he thought, ready to die. As she approached, he held out his hands as if to surrender and braced for whatever she was about to do.

"Andi, I'm—" he said, but was interrupted.

"I'm really, really, really sorry. Okay?" She cut him off. To Oscar's surprise, he wasn't knocked out. Instead, Andi stood inches away from him, with not a violent look on her face but a sincere one.

She continued, "I'm really sorry that I dragged you into all this, I really didn't mean for it to go this far—" She spoke breathlessly, as if panicked.

Seeing this, he tried to stop her with an "It's fin—" but was cut off again. Oscar could only watch as she proceeded to ramble.

"If you want to end this already, I totally understand. And, anyway, if you did want to this is probably the best time to do it since nobody really knows, so—"

"Andi, it's ok—"

"But I'll have you know!" She raised her index finger and stared Oscar dead in the eyes. "From now on, it will be full transparency. I'll be totally, one-hundred percent honest with you at all times," she exclaimed. "I'll be nice, I won't argue with you, I'll tell you anything you want to know and I'll leave you alone when you want to be left alone and I'll be the best pretender this world has ever seen!" She proclaimed nobly. Since she was still staring straight at Oscar, he couldn't laugh - which is what he really wanted to do - and so, instead, he pretended to be really carefully considering her new terms.

He rested his index finger on his mouth and looked to be in deep thought. Andi, fooled, waited eagerly and nervously to see what he had to say. Then, Oscar realised something.

For the first time, he had the high ground.

"You'll be nice?"

"Yes, I swear."

"You'll be honest with me?"

"Yes, completely."

"You'll listen to what I have to say?"

"Yes."

"You want me to come with you to the bike meet?"

"Yes." She flinched, "Wait—"

"Okay! Then apology accepted. I'll see you tomorrow, Andi." He smiled at her, rested a hand on her shoulder and walked off, proudly. Andi helplessly watched him leave, uncertain as to what just happened. He accepted her apology, but to what consequence? Was he messing with her? Joking around? Or did he actually want to go with her.

All three questions circled Andi's head.
All three questions were true.

Despite her strong confusion and slight opposition to Oscar joining her on her trip, Andi was glad about about one thing. She wouldn't dare admit it aloud, or even in her own head for that matter, but it was clearly a relief to her that Oscar didn't call this whole thing off.

Andi relaxed her shoulders and thought about what was to come. She thought about how Charles was supposed to be arriving in Baku soon, and how she was going to have to lay the whole pretending act on thick. She thought about the day all this started; when she was stood in front of the big screen minding her own business, and how everything went to shit a few seconds later. By her own fault.

She thought about her dad, and how he was so pleased that his - so-called 'undatable' - daughter finally found someone.

And how that was a lie.

And how, eventually, she was going to have to tell her dad that she wasn't going to be seeing him any more.

And how all of that would be worth it if Charles finally reciprocated her feelings. She thought about how he'd tell her; hopefully at dusk, with a red sky overhead.
That was something she thought about often; The end of all this pretend-business.

And then she thought about Oscar.

She thought about how, just maybe, it wouldn't be so bad to have him come with her on her trip.

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Shock, horror! I updated quickly 😨😱