slow down | lando norris

twenty-five.

Clad in a pair of baggy jeans and a black tank top, Lexi strolled to the table where her other three team members sat looking less than excited to be awake at 8AM. She flashed a toothy grin at her team, who grimaced back at her.

"Coffee delivery," she sang. She handed out the orders, hoping it would bring them back to life.

"Too much pep for this early in the morning, Lex," James grumbled, rubbing his temples.

Lexi rolled her eyes as she took a sip of her own cold brew. She had opted to not go to the club with them last night, which was a great decision that was now paying off. "No one forced you to drink that much last night."

"When you hear that Pitbull is going to make an appearance at a club, you can't just turn your back on the dance floor and the alcohol," Sara, the writer on their team, defended. To her credit, the petite brunette looked the most alive of the three.

James and Chris, the videographer, nodded in agreement as they sipped on their coffee as if it were a lifeline.

"Well, I'm sure Pitbull was worth it. However, we still have to work. Unless you want all of us to suffer Marilyn's wrath." Lexi cringed at the thought alone.

All four of them shivered at the thought. Their boss may have been kind when they were doing what she asked, but they all knew too well what happened when the woman was dissatisfied.

Agreeing that they all indeed wanted to live to see another race weekend, they forced their brains together. It took a whole fifteen minutes to mobilize. Once all their priorities and direction was set, they broke off into pairs, Sara and Chris heading for the media pit, while James and Lexi tackled pictures and video content elsewhere.

"Oi, little Lex!"

Lexi skidded to a halt as she turned to follow the sound of the voice calling her. She knew the owner of the voice even before she spotted him because who else would call her like that in an Aussie accent?

Spotting Danny sitting at one of the tables ahead, she turned back to James briefly. "Thirty seconds?" She asked with pleading eyes.

James waved her off with a nod, allowing her to jog over to where he sat with a team member.

"Make it brief, I'm on the clock," Lexi sounded, in lieu of a greeting. She leaned against the fence separating them as she met his gaze.

"Have you been avoiding a certain McLaren driver?" His eyebrow cocked up in interest as he watched her face twist into confusion.

"Avoiding? Not at all. I have been swamped with work though," she explained herself. Sure, they hadn't been seeing each other physically, but they'd been keeping tabs on each other via text. As far as she was concerned, things were fine.

"Alright, well I'd have a chat with him when you have the chance. Something's off about his energy," Danny informed her with a pat on her shoulder.

Lexi smiled at him gratefully, nodding. "Noted. Thanks for the heads up." She threw her head back towards him as she walked away, calling out, "Good luck today, Danny!"

Fearing her thirty seconds were long over, she made the effort to jog back to James, who looked face up at the sky with eyes closed clearly hoping that this form of human photosynthesis would cure his killer hangover.

If it were up to her, she would have gone to find Lando straight away, but her professionalism kept that impulse at bay. Instead, she did what she usually did. Overthink about every possibility of why he was feeling off while trying to get her work done.

What were the odds that he was in his head about her lack of a proper response to his confession? Low, she hoped. She knew that Miami was a circuit that he had less enthusiastic opinions about, but surely that wouldn't be enough for him to be down about it. Considering his performance so far and the upgrades that the car received, she doubted the race was what was keeping his energy twisted.