For what it's worth

Chapter 38

On Sunday the morning went by quick, media wasn't crazy in McLaren today because there was a lot of focus on the Mercedes and Red Bull garages seeing as the championship revelry between them was getting more and more competitive everyday. An hour before the race was due to start I ran to Landos driver room hoping he would still be there and not already in the garage getting ready. As I ran through his door it slams open making a loud bang, I didn't realize how fast I had run into his room until now.
"Erm, are you ok?" He giggled as he was putting his race boots on.
"Just- - wanted - to - to - see you - before - the race" I say putting my hands on my knees as I am out of breath.
"Take a breath" he giggles watching me struggle to breath. Once I've caught my breath I wait for him to finish tying his boots up.
"Ready?" I ask as he stands up tying the arms of his race suit around his waist.
"Ready" he smiles.
"Be safe out there" I say giving him a hug.
"Always" he says hugging me back and placing a kiss on my forehead at the same time.
"Ok go before your late" I say pulling away from the hug.
"Ya ya" he says rolling his eyes and I start to walk towards the door.
"Erm" he clears his throat making me look back at him.
"Just going to leave without giving me a kiss?" He asks confused.
"Never" I say as I quickly run back to him and kiss him.
"Now leave, you're late" I shout running out of his room and down to Daniels side of the garage.
"Your late" Daniel says rolling his eyes at me.
"Yep I know" I pass him his water and helmet.
Moments after Lando walks into the garage and walks to his side near Emily.
"That's why your late" Daniel aims at me raising his eyebrows looking at me and then lando.
"None of your business" I snap back at him and turn away from him.
"I would treat you better" he yells as I walk away from him and towards Emily who is standing in the middle of both garages. Everyone's head snap and look at me and Daniel. Silence falls in the garage as everyone stares at us.
"Someone shut him up before I do" I hear lando yell as he puts his helmet on. Me and Emily burst out into laughter at the same time. I could tell by Landos reaction that he wasn't jealous or feeling threatened by Daniel anymore.
After some of the engineers look at the data and both drivers are in the cars they drive out onto track for the last updates to the car to be made. Me and Emily sit in the garage with the pit crew and watch the race from there.
"It's lights out and away we go" I hear the voice of David Croft say. My leg starts bouncing as I see all the cars speed away from there starting positions. Watching the love of my life drive around a track at over 200 mph was quite nerve racking. My eyes locked onto the papaya McLaren as lando drives. Emily puts her hand on my knee to stop my leg from bouncing.
"He's got this, stop worrying" she smiles at me to calm me down. I smile back at her and then give a smile to Marcus who was standing behind her with his hands on her shoulders.
Durning the rest of the race there was two yellow flags as both Hass' spun off the track. There was one red flag as the Williams of Latifi lost power on turn 4. For the first half of the race Lando held onto his P3 until he pitted, he came out of the pits just behind Carlos who was in p9. On fresher tires Lando wasn't long making his way back up the grid. He was now in p3 again just behind Bottas. With 6 laps left everyone in the garage had expected Lando would finish p3, couldn't complain, another podium in the bag, but on the 4th last lap Bottas locked up causing him to over steer and spin out. Lando was now in p2 with a gap of 5 seconds on Bottas. He had to defend for his life if he wanted this p2, and he did. On the final lap Bottas had closed the gap between them to just over 1 second but Lando held his place and finished in P2.
Everyone in the garage was ecstatic. As the pit crew ran over to the rails to watch him cross the line at the checkered flag me and Emily both ran down the the podium entry gate. As Max parked his car in p1 and Lando in p2 with Bottas in p3 me and Emily stood with everyone else dressed in the orange and white uniform waiting for Lando. The Paul Richard track was a weird one for podiums because the top three cars parked on the track and the drivers had to walk in to the podium area, it kind of reminded me of a red carpet walk as everyone stood behind the barriers watching the top three walk towards the podium. I must say I was also happy for Daniel who had finished p5. It was a good day overall for McLaren. As the three drivers walked in they all jumped up into a group hug with there teams before walking on even more. Max took his helmet off already and everyone could see the tears in his eyes, I was happy for him, winning this race put him 67 points ahead of Lewis in the championship.
(Obviously not accurate with the season at the moment).
Lando stood in front of the team taking off his helmet handing it to Emily as she gave him his hat and water. I stood next to her holding his phone and ring that he always wore on his pinky finger.
"What about Daniels interview?" He asks as I had him both the ring and phone.
"He's a grown man, he can do it himself" I say with a cheeky smile on my face.
"Come here" he says as he grips my face in between both his hands. He pulls me closer to him and kisses me passionately before pulling away again but not taking his hands away from my cheeks.
"Go get your trophy" I whisper to him.
"I'll be back" and with that he quickly turns and runs towards the podium.
After the podium everyone went back to there own garages to pack up and head to the next race again. As we walked out of the garage and across the paddock towards the motor home I walked with Daniel behind Emily who was walking with Lando.
We where both going through what we needed to do before the next race, including sim days in MTC and interviews back in England.
"Didn't come to my Interview with ziggo after the race" Daniel states the obvious.
"I was too busy" I say back telling the truth.
Daniel just rolls his eyes in response making me giggle at his childish reaction.
"Your a grown man, I'm sure one interview alone isn't going to kill you" I laugh.
"That's not the point, you get payed to be with me, not kissing your boy toy on live television" he says annoyed at me.
"You also get paid to drive the car and not crash it into barriers like you do most weekends" I state in a serious tone.
I didn't realize Emily and Lando where listening until I heard them both burst into laughter at my comment. With that Daniel storms off in a mood rolling his eyes. I walk the rest of the way with Lando and Emily laughing at Daniels childish behaved.
All three of our phones go off at the same time so we assume it's important, we all look at the notification. It was from Zak, saying that there will be an informal celebration in the hotel later to celebrate Landos podium. I liked these kind of events, we didn't have to wear team colors like we did with team dinners and we where aloud get drunk and have fun, it wasn't as serious as the team dinners.
"Dresses? Or pants?" I ask looking at Emily.
"Dresses" she winks at me.
"Short or long" I ask
"Short for sure"
"Perfect" I smile.