Serendipitous Love - Oscar Piastri

𝙸𝚇

Eᴘʜᴇᴍᴇʀᴀʟ. 𝓁𝒶𝓈𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒶 𝓋𝑒𝓇𝓎 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓇𝓉 𝓉𝒾𝓂𝑒

☆

𝐎𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫'𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐯

"I was drunk, Oscar," She said, and I clearly heard the frustration in her voice. "I say stupid things when I am drunk, and apparently, I do stupid things, too."

Her eyes looked me up and down, making it clear to me I was a stupid thing. Perhaps calling her a cheater was not the best thing to do, but why in the world would she call me a dirty little secret if she is single?

And why does she keep lying to me about not having a kid and not being my neighbour. I had literally seen her. She had knocked on my door holding the kid.

She had walked away and taken Lily from the playground. The man, who I assumed was her boyfriend or husband, stretched his hand out to the youngest girl before focusing on the other woman.

I watched as he smiled at her and then leaned in for a kiss—a kiss that was not on Cassidy's lips—a kiss that really made me realize I had messed up—big time.

In a record time, I ran home, totally ignoring the official running scheme my personal trainer had given me. I hesitated before entering my apartment, watching the door of my neighbours. Cassidy's?

I shook my head. I couldn't show up at her door, all sweaty and smelly. I was sure she still needed time to cool off from our heated conversation. I didn't want to push another conversation on her, and I definitely needed to cool down.

How could I have been so stupid?

The nightclub activities were the actions of two drunk young adults. Maybe even totally carefree for the moment, because it had only much later realized to me that if we had been caught, it could risk my career before it had even started.

I undressed and stepped into the cold shower. It was time to cool down and think about the words I had said. Mostly, I realized I had to apologize as soon as possible. I showered in an almost record time, got dressed, and did my hair.

It was time to find out the truth myself. I took a deep breath and knocked on my neighbour's door. I knew this would be the right one, as I saw Cassidy turning there for the last time.

I heard the footsteps and took a little step back as the door clicked and opened. A little girl opened the door, but she didn't look like Lily at all.

"Hello," she said, smiling.

"Hi there," I replied. "Are you home alone?"

She shook her head, "Mom! Someone is here to see you."

"To see me?" I heard from a distance, and not long after, a woman appeared. She looked at me surprised, "Sorry, do I know you?"

Cassidy hadn't lied.

That realization hit me hard. I stumbled over my words as I struggled to find the right ones: "N—no, sorry. I... I'm your new neighbour, Oscar."

"Oh! Hello. I'm Nicola, and the little girl is Willow," She opens the door. "Come on in. We just baked some cookies."

I nodded and tried to swallow the lump in my throat, "Thank you."

Nicola let me in, and I followed her to the kitchen. It smelled like the cookies I used to bake with my mom when I was little. We sat down at the table, and Nicola poured herself a cup of tea.

"Do you want something to drink?"

I shook my head, "No, thank you. I just wanted to introduce myself... I think I've seen another girl here with a baby."

"Ah, yes, Cassidy," Nicola immediately nodded. "Such a lovely girl. She's Willow's babysitter. I think you met her when she was babysitting Bella, too."

The longer I sat there, the more I realized I really fucked up, "I understand. I should get going again."

"It was nice to meet you, Oscar," Nicola leads me back to the front door. "I'm sure we will be seeing each other."

I nodded, "It was nice meeting you, too."

☆

The last few months flew by. December was full of training, meetings at MTC, and flying to Australia to celebrate Christmas with my family. Before I knew it, it was February 2023, and we were about to reveal the 2023 car.

It was too early in the morning, and I was already running late. By the time I got to the McLaren Technology Center, they asked me to enter through the side door. I saw Netflix's cameras inside, and I knew this was going to end up in the new season of Drive to Survive.

What an awesome start.

I hurried inside and changed into my racing suit. As I walked inside, Lando and Zak were already standing in front of the covered car. I greeted everyone and apologized for my lateness.

"Good to see you again, Oscar," Zak said with a smile. "And, now that we are complete, I'd like to formally welcome everyone. This day is going to be as special as all the others, but of course, I want to welcome Oscar to his first Formula One season. We are very pleased to have you on board with us."

I felt the heat rise in my cheek; I never really liked being the center of attention, and Zak quite literally put me there now.

"Thank you, Zak," I said. "It's my pleasure, too."

"He's getting red," Lando giggled in a pleased hum.

"Shut up," I whispered back. "Please, continue, Zak."

Zak laughed; he was happy that Lando and I got along so well. And I was glad, too. McLaren now just had to prove that I did not make a mistake choosing them over Alpine. All would be discovered during the testing weekend.

☆

February 23rd, 2023

"Are you ready?" The Brit's voice shook me from my thoughts. He stood at the door opening of my driver's room and slightly tilted his head.

"Yeah," I said quickly and stood up. "All set."

We walked to the garage for a quick briefing, talking about how the car was set up and that we just needed to drive as if we wanted everything out of it. Only then would they know where to make some adjustments.

I walked to the pitlane to sit with the engineers as Lando started the morning session. Other cars were already driving around, and Lando joined just a bit later. I looked around and realized my rookie season truly was about to start.

Finally.

"Come on, Jack, let's go grab some snacks at the Mercedes Motorhome."

I immediately turned around by the sound of her voice. I had been going crazy the past few months as I had never seen her again. But still, she was nowhere.

I could've sworn I heard Cassidy.