FADED MEMORIES: A Lance Stroll fanfiction

CHAPTER 18

Five days.

Five days since Olivia had last messaged him. At first he dismissed it as just her being busy, but after a while he started to worry. Everything was going great between the two of them. Was it something he said? Had he done something wrong?

But then he realized she hadn't posted anything on her social media either. He knew she loved interacting with her fans, and keeping them updated. Her press conference about the success of her tour was cancelled. Strange, she had prepared for that days in advance.

Lance started to worry. Did something bad happen? Was Olivia okay?

Since she wasn't replying in her dms on instagram and twitter, he decided to ask Daniel for her number when he saw him around the paddock. The Aussie raised his eyebrows at his request, but gave it to him nonetheless.

He was on his couch when he decided to pluck up the courage and message her. He took a breath to calm himself. 'it's fine' he thought 'it's just Olivia'

That was the problem. It wasn't just Olivia. Olivia was the girl he was completely and utterly infatuated with. Not that he was ever planning on telling her of course.

"Screw it." He said, pressing the send button.

'Hey Via. It's Lance. I got your number from Daniel. You've been pretty quiet lately. Are you okay?'

Five days.

Five days since she had smiled. Five days since she had talked to anyone other than her mother, and the nurses that came in her sister's room. She would message Kelly from time to time, but just enough to make sure she wouldn't worry.

Her sister still hadn't woken up. The silence in the house was deafening. Olivia had gotten used to her sister's laugh ringing in her ears while she was home, and she had come to expect it whenever she would come to Montreal.

Olivia opened her eyes and groaned. She had fallen asleep while re-watching "Crisis on Earth X" and forgotten to close the curtains. Picking up her phone, saw that it was almost noon already. She also saw the message that Lance had sent her.

She bit her lip. 'should I tell him?' she asked herself. Correction. What was she going to tell him? She sighed and closed her eyes. Her younger self wouldn't have hesitated. She would have told him everything in a heartbeat...

*flashback*

Olivia ran upstairs and locked herself in her room, as tears streaked down her face. Her parents were fighting again. The shouting downstairs had gotten just a bit too much, leading to her current state, curled up on her bedroom floor, silent sobs racking her body.

She reached for her phone on her bedside table. Without hesitation, she clicked on the first name that popped up in her recently contacted.

After a few rings, Lance picked up his phone. It would be a lie to say that he wasn't curious as to why Olivia was calling him at 10 pm, not to mention she said she would be starting a new song that night, and when that happened, it usually took up the whole night.

"Hey Via..." he trailed off when he heard the silent sobbing of the girl on the other end of the phone. Worry for his friend filled him to the brim. "Via, what's wrong?" he asked, lowering his voice to almost a whisper.

"They're fighting again." She said in between sobs. "It feels so loud." Her voice barely audiable, but just loud enough for Lance to hear. "I don't want to be here." She sobbed. "I want to get out." She said, whimpering slightly when she heard smashing noises from downstairs.

"I wanna go to the treehouse." She said. "Can you come with me please? Just for tonight. I don't want to be alone." She said. Her voice was trembling.

Lance nodded, but then remembered Olivia couldn't see him. "Yeah, yeah of course. Can you sneak out the back door, or are you coming down from the window?" he asked, as he wrote a quick note to his parents telling them where he was, and grabbing a bag, going down into the kitchen to get some snacks, and grabbing a hoodie to bring with him.

"I think I'm coming down the window." Said Olivia. "I don't want to hear the shouting." She said, grabbing a hoodie, and a bag, where she put her journal, her blanket and an extra pair of socks, before putting on her jacket, another pair of socks, and the battered Vans sneakers she kept in her closet for nights like this.

They agreed to meet at the picket fence, and ended the call. Olivia slung her bag over her shoulder, and opened her window. She had done this dozens of times before. Planting her foot on the ledge, she supported herself with her hands, and walked to the side of the house where she slid down the tiled roof, and jumped from onto the front porch.

As she got to the fence, she saw Lance climbing up, and hoisting his leg over the edge before jumping down to meet her. Turning to the girl, he took her hands. They were shaking. Putting his arm over her shoulder, the two hastily went to the treehouse, and climbed up the ladder.

When they had shut the door, and turned on the lights, Lance sat down to have a better look at her. Olivia's eyes were bloodshot, and her cheeks were stained with tears. She was still shaking, and she let out small hiccups from how long she had been crying.

"Hey, look at me..." he said. "It's okay Via... You're okay." He said. Pulling her into his arms. As she leaned into him, she visibly relaxed.

Lance handed her a bottle of water. "Drink." He said. "You'll get dehydrated otherwise." Olivia took a sip from the bottle, before leaning back on to Lance. He opened her bag, and brought out the blanket that Olivia had brought. He put it over them and rubbed small circles on the back of her hand to calm her down.

After a while, Olivia's eyes started to droop. Her eyelids felt heavy, and tiredness overtook her body. "Thank you Lance." she said, just before she drifted off to sleep. "Thank you for being here."

"Anything for you Via." Replied Lance, but then he noticed that the girl was already out like a light. He brushed the hair out of her face and shifted his position to make sure Olivia wouldn't get uncomfortable in the night before lying down next to her.

"I'll always be here." He said, as his eyelids drooped down, and sleep came over him.

*end of flashback*

Olivia quickly typed a reply to his message.

'Hey Lance! Yeah sorry about that. I just have a lot of stuff going on at the moment.'

Barely 2 minutes had passed when Olivia heard a notification go off on her phone.

'Oh okay. But you can talk to me you know that right?'

Olivia ran a hand through her hair. She thought of how she felt when she would tell Lance about her struggles when she was younger. She remembered feeling a huge weight being lifted from her shoulders. She felt a sense of peace knowing she wasn't alone. But things were different now. Would it still be the same?

No, no it wouldn't. But she could still trust Lance right? She could still talk to him about this kind of stuff... right?

Olivia thought about it. She hesitated for a moment before clicking on the call button. It rang a few times before Lance picked up the phone.

"Hey Via! What's up?" he said. A feeling of warmth overcame her. "Hey Lance." She said.

And then she told him. She told him everything, and he listened. Just like he had said all those years ago. The words that Olivia had fallen asleep before she could hear.

"I'll always be here."

And he was.

A/N: hey guys! Here's the next chapter. I had a bit of fun writing this one. Hopefully the next one will be up on time, since I've luckily been able to cope with schoolwork lately. So yeah.

ps: shameless self promotion here, my tiktok is @samisobsessedwithf1   i make f1 content on there and its all good fun.