I opened my hotel door and chucked my suitcase on the floor before collapsing onto my bed. We had just gotten to Mexico and I felt as if I hadn't slept in a week. This was my first season as a driver, so I wasn't used to constantly changing time zones every week or two. I didn't have long before I had to make my way down to the paddock for a team meeting to discuss strategies for this weekend.
I got changed into my McLaren polo and some black skinny trousers before tying my hair up into a ponytail. I slipped my feet into some trainers and grabbed my keycard before leaving the room.
My engineer greeted me with a big smile when I arrived at the paddock. We quickly went and grabbed a coffee before making our way to the meeting. As we walked in everyone greeted us apart from Lando who kept his eyes glued to his phone.
We weren't exactly friends, we were teammates and nothing more. Ever since I joined McLaren he was always slightly hostile towards me and everyone was aware of it. Why? I have no idea. But that was his choice. I was there to race and that was it. We weren't contractually obligated to be friends, we were civil on the racetrack and we didn't acknowledge each other off track, besides the occasional dirty glare.
I sat down opposite him and listened intently to everyone to be as prepared so possible for this weekend. Lando and I had an unspoken rivalry with each other and tried our best to do better than the other on the track. Everyone listened as Lando spoke about his opinion on the strategies we had, however he did have the same courtesy to listen to me when it was my turn to give my views. I stayed silent after that for the rest of the meeting, too pissed off to say anything else.
At the end of the meeting I decided to get some food before I went back to my hotel room. I said goodbye to my engineer and made my way to my car.
"(Y/N?)" I turned around to see Lando walking towards me, hands in his pockets. "I've been told we have to try and be more civil." he mumbled looking down at his feet.
"We or you?" I asked as I unlocked my car and opened the door.
"Saying shit like that doesn't help." I rolled my eyes and sat in the drivers seat, keeping my car door open.
"I'm getting food... you coming?" I asked briefly looking up at him. He nodded and got into the passengers seat.
The drive was silent, music playing quietly in the background. There was a small restaurant I'd spotted near by the hotel and was dying to to get some enchiladas. We pulled into the car park and I changed my McLaren jacket to a plain black one to try and not get noticed. I offered Lando a large black hoody which he accepted, thanking me quietly.
"What do you want?" Lando asked as we queued up, "I'll get it while you get us a table?" I told him my order and thanked him before finding us a table at the back of the restaurant. I sat down and scrolled through my twitter, seeing what people were discussing about the weekend we had coming up. Lando placed the food down on the table and sat opposite me, I thanked him as he passed me mine.
"So... ready for this weekend?" I looked up at him and gave a small chuckle.
"Yeah, is that the best small talk you can do? Good thing you are a decent driver."
"You think I'm a good driver?" he said wiggling his eyebrows.
"I said you were a decent driver, don't get too cocky," I said before taking a massive bite of my enchilada, Lando rolling his eyes and chuckling.
"I think that's the first time I've seen you genuinely smile in my presence." I flashed a smile as I finished my food. We spent the next hour chatting and getting to know each other properly. We discussed our families, hobbies, anything not to do with driving.
When it started to get dark we decided to head back to the hotel, Lando chose the music and he raved the entire drive back; causing me to giggle from time to time, wishing I could record him. We walked up to our floor and stopped outside of my door.
"Night then." I said unlocking my door.
"(Y/N)? Can I say something quick?" I looked at Lando, his smile had faded and a prominent frown took its place. "I'm sorry... for being such a dick. There's no excuse for it... I wish I hadn't cause you're pretty awesome. I hope we could maybe be friends?" His eyes kept darting from me to his shoes as he spoke. I couldn't help but show a small smile.
"I'd like that. Can I ask you something?" He gave a small nod, "What did I do? Did I upset you or-"
"No..." he quickly cut me off, "I never gave you the chance to... I- I was just jealous. You're so talented and I thought that you were just gonna replace me for the first drivers seat and... yeah." I rolled my eyes and chuckled.
"No..." he quickly cut me off, "I never gave you the chance to... I- I was just jealous. You're so talented and I thought that you were just gonna replace me for the first drivers seat and... yeah." I rolled my eyes and chuckled.
"Yeah sounds good. 8am?"
"8am."
We said our goodbyes and I went back into my room and got changed for bed. As I climbed into the covers my phone lit up with a notification.
Lando Norris tagged you in a story.
I unlocked my phone to see a photo of me and him leaving the restaurant with the caption 'she's alright I guess.' I chuckled and posted it on my story and added the caption 'he could be worse.'
