Miles from Normal - Lando Norris

1. Alice Meets the Boys

Over a week had passed since she talked to Arthur and Sienna in the pub. Alice had now resorted to using her credit card to pay for her needs and was increasingly worried about being in debt for the first time in her life. It was early in the morning, and it was raining, as it does in mid-January in London. She had her coffee while she observed her fantastic view of the Thai restaurant across the street with the huge pink neon lights sign. People were busy, as always, moving on with their life. She watched as a man in a rush almost poked an eye out of a fellow passer-by with his umbrella, without so much as an apology. He just kept on walking. Sometimes, she missed the relaxed way of living back home, and the mild Portuguese weather, but she knew she would never return home and that made her melancholic.

Alice was a fairly social person but would occasionally enjoy her alone time. She had ignored calls and text messages from friends for the last couple of weeks. She was too proud to let them know what was going on and once she had figured out what to do, she would come up with an excuse. A retreat, perhaps.

Her phone rang once again, a number she didn't recognise.

"Good morning, Alice speaking." She still answered the phone as to when she was busy being a PA.

"Good morning. I'm Graham calling from the human resources department at McLaren."

Her heart skipped a beat. It was the first call she was getting regarding a job, and she didn't want to mess it up.

"Hi, yes. Thank you so much for calling."

"No worries. Sienna gave us great references and we were wondering if you would like to come up to our headquarters for an interview?"

"Yes, of course. I'd love to. When would be a suitable time?"

"Erm today? I'll be here until about 6 pm. Is that any good for you? The drivers will be here all day and we would like our candidates to meet them."

"That's a great idea. I can meet you there by 2 pm today if that's okay with you..."

"Perfect. Let me know your email address and I will send you, our directions."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I just googled it on my laptop while we were on the phone."

"Good skills! Already liking what I'm hearing."

"You won't regret giving me this opportunity. I'll see you at 2 then."

Alice wondered if perhaps she sounded a bit too cocky, but she guessed she would have to show them she really wanted it. She also had some time to prepare for the interview and get ready. She was bad at sports. She could recognise Cristiano Ronaldo and that was about it. She tried to google which drivers she could potentially be representing but didn't get to any conclusion. She thought it would be best to just study a bit of the company's history and then just wing it. She was good at improvising.

It was almost time to go and take the train to Woking. It would her about 35 minutes to get there, which wasn't too bad a commute. Hair and make-up were on fleek, but she wasn't sure about the attire. On one hand, Alice considered if there were boys, perhaps a bit of sexiness here and there wouldn't hurt her chances, but she wanted to look professional as well. She put a black blazer on and felt boring. She was boring herself. She looked at the pile of clothes on her bed; she was broke but had great taste. In the end, she chose a white button-down shirt and a grey tight-fitting pencil skirt and finished the look with a pair of classic black heels. She left the top button conveniently open and hoped that they had cranked up the heating in the office that day.

As she was approaching the huge building that was the McLaren Technology Centre, she felt like she had forgotten everything she read about the company. High heels on a winter day were a bad idea, but Alice hoped it was all worth it in the end. She walked in and went straight to the reception area. A way too bright area with way too smiley receptionists.