𝑳𝒐𝒔𝒕 | 𝑳𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒐 𝑵𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒔

8.

[Friday, weekend of the Monaco Grand Prix]

Violet Morales

I jump, startled. My vision becomes fuzzy as I shake my head to try and focus on what or who I have crashed into. "Oh I...I'm so sorry" I mange to mumble.
From under dark curls, crystal blue eyes reach mine. I wobble slightly and a strong hand grips my arm to pull me up right. "Woah, you alright love?"
British? I try to focus my brain again but this man's accent has thrown me. "I...er...yes" I blurt out. I look away and try to get my bearings. Not that I had any to begin with. Where do I need to go?
"Do you need help? Are you lost? Would you like me to take you somewhere?" He fires questions at me in a stern voice clearly trying to hide his sudden irritation as I blink at him in response. Surely there must be some easy way out of this. I study the man's features and face. He's wearing a Mclaren T-shirt with white shorts and his orange Mclaren cap sits backwards on his head, pushing his brown curls down and nearer towards his eyes. A darkening tan is evident on his skin and he looks like he works out quite a bit. I recognise him but I don't know where from. Straightening my back, I say the one thing I know will get me out of this situation. "I'm looking for Charles Leclerc." His eyes widen slightly and his brow furrows. "You're looking for Charles?" The man questions again.

"Yes! Now please can you point me in the direction of the Ferrari garage?" My voice comes out agitated as I'm getting impatient since I just want to get back. I give him a small smile because I'm suddenly faced with a frown I see slowly turning into a glare.
A smile is the best revenge and all that.
"It's that way" he pointed away to the left before turning around and walking away in the opposite direction. How rude.
As soon as I finally find myself back in the Ferrari motor home, I find Riley upstairs.
Normally in a situation like this, I would go to Charles when he is around. However unfortunately his is indisposed in the garage still as I haven't seen him yet. I rush up to her and sit down. "Where did you go? What's the matter? I've been waiting for you guys. Where's Charles?"
"I...er ran into someone" I tell her, rushing my words out. Her eyes widen and become concerned. "What? Who? Do we know them?" She questions, rubbing her hands up and down my arms to try and calm me down. "I don't think so. But I think Charles might. He was someone from Mclaren and oh my god he was so rude."
"Why? What did he do?". I tell Riley everything, from the point when I lost Charles or more he left me on my own. "I'm sure he'll appear at some point but trust Char to not come back for you" she rolls her eyes and tries to reassure me as we sit. We continue to wait until the sound of familiar foot fall's appear behind us.

"Where the hell were you?" I exclaim before even turning around to face Charles. On his face, a warning look to keep my voice down. This is the Paddock Club, a quiet place. "Don't forget I was looking for you too?" He stated calmly. My eyes widen. He can't be serious. "You were looking for me? Charles I have no idea where I am when I'm walking round this paddock. You left me and didn't come back. I was terrified, okay!" I scoff. "Not to mention bumping into rude people."
"What?" He states. "Someone was rude to you? Who was it?"
I sigh. "I don't know who it was. Someone from Mclaren at least that's what his shirt told me. Look it doesn't matter now. I'm back and I'm here. Aren't you in practice, like now?"
Charles pulls me into his arms. "I am, I'm going down in a minute. I wanted to see you both before. I'm sorry V. I completely forgot I said I'd come back if I'm honest. Things with the car got a bit out of hand." I hear the annoyance in his voice as he tries to keep his voice quiet and calm.
"It's okay C, now go" I usher him away to practice as me and Riley go out on the balcony to watch.

Practice 2 doesn't go as well. Charles finished 9th. I know full well that this will affect Charles' mood. Riley and I decide to not go down and see him in the garage afterwards. It was probably best to let him cool off, calm down and chat things through with his engineers, without us being there and being in the way.
He comes up to the catering area about an hour and a half later. Wet hair sticking up in all directions. He's clearly just rubbed a towel over his head for a few seconds and left. Whilst I know my dear Charles is a very attractive man, I have never been inclined to feel that way about him.
I like to be the best friend that improves his self confidence when it dips which is surprisingly often and remind him of what a good person his is. Charles is exactly the same with me.

I notice Riley looking distractingly at Charles when he joins us at our table. "Well that could've gone worse" he chuckles but I hear the disappointment in his voice. I reach my hand across the table to his and give it a squeeze. "It's just practice, tomorrow is the more important day." He nods and sends me one of his thank you smiles.

About 2 hours later, me and Riley start our walk from the Ferrari motor home to the paddock entrance where we'll leave before returning for another day tomorrow. Charles left earlier to do some media work and he hasn't been back since. I suspected he got held up or is catching up with people. We decided we didn't want to stay any longer than necessary so I messaged him to let him know we were leaving.
As we near the entrance. I spot him. Charles is with Carlos and well I'm not sure whether to be surprised or not by what I see. The guy I embarrassingly hit in the chest with full force of my body is with them. They are standing and talking outside the Mclaren garage. Charles spots us, smiles and waves us over. Well here goes nothing.

"You girls leaving?" He asks before giving us both a hug. Mine being a little longer I notice. "I did text you" I chuckle lightly, aware I'm in the presence of someone who was rude to me and someone I don't know. The British guy clears his throat. "Aren't you going to introduce us Charles?" A stomach flipping smirk appearing on his face. Wow Violet.
"I didn't realise you guys hadn't met yet." Charles responds. "Well you know Carlos, and this is Lando. He drives for McLaren."
Now I feel stupid. How did I not recognise his face? I see it now. I've been watching F1 for half my life and I couldn't tell you who Lando Norris was or put a face to a name. Charles gestures between us "this is Riley and Violet, two of my oldest and closet friends". I smile with pride. But then I start laughing.
"I'm so sorry. I should've realised who you were earlier. I feel so stupid."

Charles' face presents with a confused expression at my words. "It's fine" Lando states from beside him, I pretend not to notice his slight cold tone. "Glad to see you aren't just some noisy fan poking around." He gives a light laugh. I raise my eyebrows with a smirk. "So that's what you thought I was". Lando shrugs as I see Charles look back and forth between us bewildered. "You two know each other?" He questions.
"Remember I told you earlier when you left me that I bumped into someone and they were rude." Charles nods remembering. "Well turns out that was Lando."
"I was rude? I doubt that" Lando's voice is filled with sarcasm. I nod and I feel my face pulling into a glare.  "Yes you were."
Charles' eyes flood with concern as he looks between us once again. I get the feeling there is something he isn't saying after what I said. Whatever it is, he is keeping it to himself. For now.

By the time we do leave the paddock gates. It's an hour after we had originally intended to. "Well that was interesting" Riley flops down on my sofa and stretches across the cushions.
"Tell me about it" I chuckle from the breakfast bar, pouring two mugs of tea for us. I decided to push the thoughts of a certain rude Formula 1 driver out of the my mind. I wouldn't want to ruin a clear friendship between him and Charles, let alone my own friendship with Charles over his friend. I'll talk to him about it another day. He must focus on his home race. Whilst it occurred to me that if I get this potential job at Ferrari, I would see more of Lando. I hope he isn't rude to me all the time. I don't think that would be beneficial to anyone.

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Authors notes: 📝

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Why was Lando so rude?

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Hannah X