Supermarket Flowers // Lewis Hamilton

2

Tuesday evening had been equally as busy as yesterday with people coming and going for a last chance to pay their respects before the funeral tomorrow. The crowd had eventually started to die down around 8pm with the wake ending in about an hour's time.

Katie had been upstairs putting her brother Nathaniel to bed and came down to see Jenson Button walking into the kitchen of her grandparents' house.

The brown haired girl decided to go and see the former Williams' driver before going back upstairs to try and get some sleep.

As she walked past what she called her grandparents' living room, she spotted a familiar face examining the various photos around the room. One of which he was actually in himself.

"Fancy seeing you here." Katie spoke as she stood in the doorway of the living repeating a line he had always said to her when she arrived in the Mercedes motorhome during race weekends.

"Kate, hey." Lewis replied as he placed the picture he was looking at down on the counter and walking towards the Williams' girl.

The Mercedes' driver walked towards the girl before pulling her into a hug which she gladly returned. The smell of his cologne filled he lungs as her head rested against his chest.

"I'm so, so sorry for your loss Katie." Lewis spoke into the top of her hair before the pair pulled away from each other. "How you doing?"

"I'm fine." Katie assured him with a smile and a soft nod like she had done with George yesterday.

"Katie." Lewis said in a warning tone of voice as he knew it wasn't true.

"Lewis. I'm fine. You should go and see my mum, she's in the kitchen. Thanks for coming." Katie told the Mercedes driver as she left the room and headed for the front door.

She closed the door quickly after herself and walked towards the bench by the front window of the house. She kind of regret her decision when the late November breeze hit her and caused her body to start shivering.

She was sick of people asking how she was and was she okay. Naturally she wasn't okay but she hated lying to people she knew and cared about when they were only asking to be genuine.

After a few moments alone with her thoughts, the sound of the front door opening caught her attention. Katie turned her head to see Lewis walking out of the house wearing a coat and holding another one in his hand.

"You plan on getting pneumonia?" Lewis asked as he handed the brown haired girl the coat from his hand.

"Thanks." Katie replied as she took the jacket that belonged to her father before standing up and putting it on before sitting back down.

"Katie. It's okay if you're not okay. No one is expecting you to be so strong after losing your grandfather, especially since you two were so close." Lewis told her as he took a seat next to her on the bench.

"Lewis, I swear. I'm fine. Yeh it was a shock but I'm okay, honest." Katie assured the Mercedes' driver as she folded her hands in her lap while looking down at her hands.

"Katie. Look at me." Lewis spoke as he took her hand in his own and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You don't have to pretend with me. Or anyone else in there. Everyone knows how you feel and you deserve to be able to grieve without thinking you'll be a burden on anyone."

Katie could feel tears fighting to come out as her waterline began to flood and she feared it would overflow and tears would roll down her face. Katie lifted her free hand to catch any tears before they fell.

"Oh Katie. Please don't bottle all this up because you're gonna burn out. And nobody wants to lose you too. So please talk to someone if that's what you need to do." The 7 time world champion told her as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"It's hard." Katie finally admitted after keeping everything to herself these last few days. "It's so different this time compared to when grandma died. I was doing my GCSEs and just completely immersed myself in studying. It took me two weeks to finally let myself grieve after I finished my exams. This time I have nothing to distract me and still I'm finding a way to avoid talking about how I feel."

"You're telling me. George said you gave the same answer to him and everyone else who asked how you were yesterday, 'I'm fine'." Lewis told her causing the brown haired girl to laugh at his attempt at mocking her voice.

"Shut up. I don't sound like that." Katie said to him as she sat up and pushed his shoulder causing him too to laugh.

"You do a bit." The Mercedes' driver spoke leaving Katie and himself with smiles on their faces.

"Thanks. I needed a laugh." The Williams' girl told the man next to her.

"You're welcome. Now, let's get inside. I'm freezing." Lewis told her as he stood up and tucked his hands into his pocket. Katie followed his actions and the two walked back towards the front door and inside.

"I was just looking for you." Claire Williams spoke as Katie opened the door and walked back into the house. "Oh, hello Lewis."

"Hi Claire." Lewis smiled in reply as he closed the door being himself.

"What's up?" Katie asked her mum as she took of the jacket and hug it on the coat hanger by the door.

"Jenson and Brittny are here." Claire explained as Lewis also put his jacket back on the hanger.

"Coming now." Katie told her mother before Claire left the pair and walked back towards the kitchen.

The older woman took one last glance back at her daughter and the formula one driver before heading into the kitchen.

Katie turned back to Lewis after her mother had walked back down the hall and into the kitchen.

"Coming in?" Katie asked the man next to her.

"Sure." Lewis nodded in reply before the pair walked into the kitchen.

"Katie." Brittny was the first to greet the brown haired girl as she walked into the kitchen. It was fair to say that the pair were good friends and got on well whenever they say each other which was expected considering there was only 5 years between them in age.

"Hey Katie." Jenson spoke next as he pulled the young girl into a hug. Jenson had met Katie when she was just 2 years old around the Williams' garage with Claire and he had been one of her favourite drivers while watching the sport. "Hey Lewis."

The wake was ending and so the group in the kitchen were the last ones left in the Williams' house as they sat down for tea and to reminisce about old times.

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