My time | OP

12.

Briar's POV
After mine and Oscar's interaction at the cafe earlier, I couldn't help but feel as though the vibe was off. We have always engaged in flirty banter, ever since we were young teenage racers, but something just felt different. I tried not to think about it much more as I headed back to the motorhome after having been in my room fixing my hair and makeup ready for the race. I had decided with myself that I would not be seen on camera, I couldn't be. My dad watches every race and if he saw me, he would know exactly that I wasn't with Valeria. It would end me and I didn't need that. I would break it to him eventually but now was not the time for that. I picked up my pass and had my photo taken so that I could get in and out of the turnstiles in the paddock without needing to be escorted everywhere by Oscar.

I placed my lanyard around my neck along with my press lanyard and my McLaren ID. On my walk to the paddock from the hotel I decided to text Lando and check up on how he was after last night and whether he was ready for the race today.

Hey, just seeing how you were after I left this morning. Sorry I couldn't stay for breakfast x

You should have stayed, I was looking forward to seeing you waking up in my bed ;)

I giggled slightly at his statement. I wished that I was able to. Me and Lando had definitely hit things off last night. I did however feel awkward telling Oscar about the night that I had spent with him. I didn't want Oscar to think of me as some kind of whore that was sleeping my way around the team. For the moment I decided to leave Lando's message unanswered didn't want things to get awkward and I wanted myself, Lando and Oscar to focus on the day and the task at hand. It was an important day for the both of them,Oscar would be starting from pole position and Lando on the front row as well. Oscar and I had been working really hard in training the last few days to get him ready for this.

When I reached the turnstile to the paddock, I used my new pass and unsurprisingly my picture popped up on the screen allowing me through the gate. I took the quieter route to avoid all of the cameras, even though I'd arrived early for that exact reason. Soon enough, I reached the McLaren motorhome and made my way to my new office to focus on some training plans and expenditures before I had to make my way to Oscar's driver room to brief him on his interview material. I heard a knock at my door and I  yelled to come in. I was unaware of who was on the other side of the door and so didn't tear my eyes away from my laptop screen until I heard Oscar's gorgeous Australian accent in the doorway of my office.

"Hey stranger, thought I'd come you for my interview briefing, save you a little bit of time later on." He said, leaning against my now open doorway.

I held up a finger signalling him to wait, his muscles flexed as I finished up the email I was writing just before he entered.

"Well if it isn't my favourite pole winning driver? Take a seat and I'll start talking you through it all. " He obeyed his order and dragged up a chair and sat with me behind my desk so that he could look at my laptop screen. 

"You looking forward to seeing me fight for a podium?"

" Very. I still can't quite believe that you managed to ace qualifying enough to get pole. Which makes your interviews even more important. Because you know you can't mention that all of your amazing successes are down to me?" 

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Is it really that bad that you can't even be in the paddock at race time?" I felt quite bad because I wanted to be there to support Oscar and talk him through everything.