heart of glass | LANCE STROLL

8.0 | long time

on the wednesday morning, lance woke up from his slumber with a smile on his face already. today, he was picking maeve up and taking her to the circuit. the first thing he did was pick up, and unplug, his phone. since about 2016, his phone had always been on 'do not disturb', so his lock screen was empty. but, the time was displayed: 8:00. he knew he had about two hours until he had to leave, as they were due to go out for lunch together.

so, he took his time. and by that he meant he fell asleep again. the hotel bed was extremely comfortable so what did you expect? just over an hour later the driver finally got out of bed. strangely enough, it was actually warm, so, after his shower, he just wore a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. but, he remembered to grab a hoodie just in case.

with his phone, sunglasses, and car keys in hand, he made his way to the lift. he was listening to music through his airpods as the metal doors slid open and he was greeted with a smiling face of familar frenchman.

"lance!" he waved as he grinned at his friend.

pulling out an airpod, he said, "esteban, how are you?" he walked into the elevator with a smile on his face.

"i'm good, how are you? i'm surprised you're up this early," he commented with a laugh.

"i'm surprised you're up this early," he countered, laughing too. "but yeah i'm good too."

"so... what are you doing today?" the alpine driver turned to lean against the back of the elevator.

"i am going out for lunch," he looked over to his friend, who had a look on his face that didn't need words to explain. "yes, with maeve."

now, esteban was very interested. "is she coming this weekend?"

the canadian didn't want to lie to friend, but he was also scared he would scare off his 'girlfriend'. after the internal conversation, that felt like minutes, he said quietly, "yes."

"really?" somehow, his smile grew; he looked like a kid in a sweet shop.

his smile was infectious, and made the other smile more. with a grin on his lips, he nodded to confirm what he said. the grin was the main thing that esteban noticed.

"oooo, you're grinning," he teased with another laugh, "you look like you really like her."

a dark crimson blush appeared on his face, as the elevator arrived on the ground floor. "i hate you," he responded with a laugh and a light shove.

the frenchman wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulders before leaving the elevator. "do you have time for some breakfast? or are you going to abandon me all day for your girlfriend?" he asked, as he glanced over to his friend, who's blush had died down slightly.

"i'll have some breakfast or i might die from starvation on the way there."

the two drivers discussed multiple things during their breakfast together. mainly, it was the race, among the other things. promptly, at 10:00, lance left and started his journey towards london, and in turn, maeve. he had to admit his job definitely had perks, and one of those things were the extremely nice cars he got to drive. like, today, he was driving a dark blue aston martin db11. so, he was pretty happy. he got given the version with the v8 engine, but did he mind? not at all.

the two hour journey was filled mostly by traffic and his music that filled the car. in the end, he didn't mind at all because he would see maeve. something he noticed on the trip was how much he thought about maeve, but he brushed it off by saying he only thought about her because they were going on a date.

after what felt like eternity, he arrived at the band's house. it was a two-story detached house. he parked up the aston martin outside the front garden that had a grass area split up by a path straight to the front door. there was a few pieces of garden furniture: three foldable chairs and a plastic table. the driver made he was up to the door and knocked.