Lions Inside: The Formula One Rookie

Chapter 2: Milk

 As soon as we turned away from the camera Alex shook his head. "That's going to be hard to get used to."

"That's for sure." I added, glancing over at him. 

We all walked quietly along for a while before Lando interrupted the silence. "I think we should all get to know each other better. Maybe play twenty questions or some ice-breaker like that." 

"Sounds good to me, lad." George added. I nodded in return. "I'll go first." George declared. "How old are you? This is a question for all of you by the way. I am 21." 

I looked over to Lando as he answered, "I'm 19." 

Alex answered next, "23."

They all looked over to me. "I'm 18."

"Sorry what? You're 18?" Lando said incredulously.

"Uh- yes, that's what I just said." I said slowly, looking back at him with raised brows.

"Sorry, it's just... only Verstappen was younger than you when he first started. So that's got to be a new record." 

I laughed, "Well I only turned 18 a couple of days ago, so I'm still new to it." 

"Wait, when was your birthday?" George asked as he jumped over a puddle.

"The 26th of July." I told him, brushing my hair out of my face that was blown in due to the wind. 

"That was only ten days ago!" Alex intervened. 

"Happy belated birthday!" All the boys chimed out.

I smiled, "Thanks guys. I got just what I wanted so it was a picture perfect birthday." I ended with a wink, alluding to the Mercedes deal. "Not much has changed though. I don't know, I just thought turning 18 would feel... different."

"Well now you're legal." George muttered under his breath, so only Lando to his right could hear. Lando elbowed him at his comment as I looked between the two and asked;

"What was that?" 

"Oh nothing." George said, sharing a look with Lando as Alex rolled his eyes. 

"Okay my turn!" Lando said. Oh right, I had almost forgotten we were in the middle of playing a game. "What is your weirdest quality would you say?"

"Oooh, this is an interesting one." I said, biting my lip, on the cusp of exposing myself. "I really like milk. People think it's gross but, ahhh- I just can't keep myself away from it. It's like a drug, I swear. And I know I'm dehydrated after a race when all I crave is just a big cold glass of milk."  I said blushing. 

Lando's head shot up, "No way! Me too! 

"Really?!" I asked him, bounding on my feet. "You know what we have to do now, right?"

Lando's eyes gleamed with excitement as he answered. "See who can drink more at lunch?"

"My thoughts exactly." I said with a devilish smile on my face.

"Oh brother." George said looking between us. "Here we go."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As we neared the end of our game, I decided to be bold and ask the last question.

"Who is your celebrity crush?" I asked them with a big grin, to see all of their eyebrows shoot up.

George rubbed his chin pensively, "I have always liked Emma Stone, ever since watching La La Land. But I don't think she's my crush, I just admire her. Oh, but you know, I do like Meghan Markle, I will say that." 

I looked to Alex next, who answered: "Mine would have to be Zendaya." I nodded along, I could understand perfectly. I mean, that girl was flawless and talented. We all looked over to Lando, who shrugged and said simply;

"I don't have one." I narrowed my eyes, but let it go.

"Now you need to answer your own question." Lando said, as he reached out to open the door to the cafeteria.

"Oh my gosh, they are ever-changing. How much time do you have?" I said laughing. "But I will always have a special spot in my heart for Timothee Chalamet, Dylan O'Brien, and Thomas Brodie-Sangster." I said with a sigh. "I don't think any of them watch Formula One though, so I doubt I will ever meet any of them." 

George gave me a look, "I don't think I even know who any of those people are." 

I opened my mouth in shock, "Just wait Georgie, I'll spam you with pictures tonight. Oh my gosh! We can watch some of their movies too! It'll be a fun team-bonding exercise!" I laughed at the looks on all of their faces as they glanced at each other. 

Finally, we made it inside and sat down with our plates of food for lunch. I noticed we all had special diets based on the plates we were each given, curated by each of our teams. I pointed it out to the boys. 

"Yeah, haha, I'm supposed to keep my weight steady for the sake of my cart." George said jovially as he patted his stomach.

"I'm supposed to keep my weight up, for the sake of my life." I said with a laugh, the other boys joining in. "Apparently I'm too light for some safety measures, so if I was clipped just right, my cart and I would be flying for quite some ways." I said grimacing.

"That's no fair!" Lando said, pointing to my plate. "You got the good stuff!" 

"Wow, sorry Mr. Chubby. Doctor's orders, 52 kilos isn't enough. Do you want me to fly around the track instead of race?" I asked, shrugging as I dove into my pasta.

"Fair enough." He said mock angrily as he picked at his salad.