the connection ~ Kimi Antonelli

Chapter 21

Ollie Bearman POV

Kimi wasn't a bad teammate at all. In fact, being partnered with a rookie was pretty cool, considering I had been a rookie myself not too long ago. Whatever was going on between him and Y/n was their business, but I was glad it never got in the way of our racing.

Speaking of racing, it always amused me when people claimed that all we did was drive around in circles in cars. Not only was that misleading, but it made racing sound simple, and it ignored the extensive promotional work we had to do. Hence, Kimi and I found ourselves in an area of the paddock with Prema, ready to film a video together. This was actually our first video as teammates, and I had been looking forward to it. Although, it being the morning of the race, I hoped my nerves wouldn't get in the way.

"You ready?" I asked Kimi as they set up microphones on our shirts. He raised his eyebrows and chuckled.

"Yeah, you?" Kimi replied, mirroring my enthusiasm. We took our seats at the table as per the staff's instructions, ready to get started.

The crew informed us that the cameras were rolling, and someone placed an envelope on the table in front of us. Looking around, I marveled at the number of people involved in making these videos. Kimi and I, accustomed to such setups, needed little guidance and jumped right into it.

"Hey guys, I'm Ollie Bearman..." I said, looking at the camera with a friendly smile and gesturing towards Kimi.

"...and I'm Kimi Antonelli," he continued.

"And welcome to the latest Prema video," I finished before Kimi picked up the envelope and began reading the contents.

"You must have the longest telephone conversion - no conversation with somebody, knowing that you are trying to have the longest conversation. During the call, you must not mention the words prank or YouTube. Every minute, you must reveal and carry out one action. You must call someone in two minutes from now." Kimi read out carefully as I tried not to laugh at the ridiculous concept I had to go through yet again.

"Come on, man, this is tough, no?" Kimi scoffed, glancing around at the crew while making a stereotypically Italian gesture with his fingers to his thumb. "Who are you going to call?"

"I've done something like this before, but I called my mum," I replied with a grin, "so I might try something different and call my brother." I wasn't sure if Thomas would pick up, given his busy karting schedule, but it was worth a shot.

Kimi, meanwhile, scanned his contacts, and his head shot up as he turned to the crew. "Should I speak in English or Italian?"

The response from the crew was that English was preferred. I suggested, "How about Y/n? She'll definitely pick up. She's probably getting ready to come here soon."

Kimi raised an eyebrow at my suggestion. "Ok, but you go first, uh. I want to get some of the tips." Kimi nodded his head at me, and he pulled out the timer on his phone as I began to call my brother.

"I'm not even sure he'll pick up; we haven't spoken in a while over the phone. He might find this weird." I laughed as the phone dialed. What's good about these videos is that they're actually not boring, so there isn't any anxiety about having a crew around you or cameras on you the whole time.

"Ollie?" My eyes widened as I heard Thomas on the other end.

"Hey, how's everything?" I pulled a panicked face at Kimi, and he tried not to audibly laugh before flipping the card to reveal that I had to laugh at everything they say. "So, um, how's karting?" I asked.

"Oh, um, fine, you never call me like this. Is everything fine?" He responded.

"Hahaha." I spoke, and both Kimi and I had to contain our actual laughter. "Yeah, I just had some free time."