THE END | Oscar Piastri

33. apologies

Sav's pov

The bed beside me isn't empty when I wake up. Lando's body is pressed up against my back when I wake up, an arm around my waist pulling me into him. His warm hand underneath my hoodie, resting against the skin of my stomach.

My mother once told me to never go to bed mad at your partner. I don't know if I was really ever mad at him. I just wanted to talk to him about how I felt, and it lead to an unfinished argument.

I turn over, luckily without waking him up. I observe his features, soft and unbelievably calm. He looks entirely at peace.

I twirl a finger around one of the curls that's fallen down in front of his forehead. He shifts a little, somehow pulling me even closer to him in his sleep. I hide my head in his chest, closing my eyes and absorbing all of his warmth.

I only get to stay like that for a couple more minutes, his alarm going off not long after. I feel him stir slightly before stopping, then his arm slowly unwraps from around me.

"I'm already awake." I say against his skin. His caution disappears, turning onto his back so he can turn the alarm off.

He turning back to me and rewraps his arms around my waist. "Good morning, baby." He says, followed by a kiss to the top of my head.

"Good morning, Lando." It's quiet, a low mumble. It bothers me how he can just change up so quickly from last night. Hell, he didn't even look at me when I came back.

His hand runs it's way up and down my back, a gesture that would cause butterflies to swirl around my stomach if my mind wasn't stuck on the stupid events of last night.

Lando pulls his face back, an excited look on his face. "It's race day." He says lowly before he jumped out of bed.

Like actually jumped out of bed. It was so quick I think I would have missed it if I blinked.

He disappears around the corner, into the bathroom. His side of the bed is left warm in his absence, and I take up as much of the left over warmth as possibly, cuddling into an invisible Lando.

I think I must've fallen back asleep, because he suddenly appears in front of me, brushing my hair out of my face. "You look really cute but I need you to get up." He says, a boyish grin placed on his face.

I nod, getting a good stretch in before actually stepping out of bed. "I've picked out an outfit for you, too. I think it's cute." He comments before disappearing into the bathroom again.

He wasn't wrong, it was definitely cute. He'd paired my light blue skirt with a small spaghetti strap black shirt. It was simple, but not so simple that I would be accused of underdressing.

-★-

Lando was doing really well, 28 out of the 70 laps down and he was right behind Max, fighting for the lead.

Well, not really fighting. They told the two of them to hold position, but Lando's doing a stellar job of keeping a reasonable gap. Not too close so he's constantly in dirty air, but not too far behind that he's out of contention for the win.

Not only is he doing all of that, but he's also defending him and Max from the cars behind them. It's truly an outstanding drive, the best I think he's put in all season.

Though, I think I spoke too soon, cause he's in the wall at turn ten. I thank every star it wasn't a high speed corner, or worse a straight.

"Fuck. I lost the car there, I just don't know what happened." A mix of anger and disappointment comes through his voice in the radio message. His hands slamming down on the steering wheel before removing it, followed by himself.

I blame myself immediately. A feeling deep down that it was in some way my fault. The thought of being a distraction creeping up on me again.

He looks so upset, his head held low while he slowly removes his gloves. Disappointment can be detected in everything he does.

The race was red flagged, the crash happening in such a bad spot they couldn't clear the wreckage and fix the barriers with the cars still on track.

Max made it back to the pits before Lando. "Better go to his drivers room, there's no way that crash was easy on him." Max advises, gesturing in the general direction of the two rooms.

I shake my head, a permanent frown plastered onto my face. "I don't even know if I'll be able to help, I don't think he wants to see me." Max's expressiob turns confused, and I answer his question without even needing to hear it. "We had a really bad fight last night and we didn't actually resolve it." I turn my eyes towards the floor, partially ashamed at myself because the argument was half my fault anyway.

"He didn't apologize to you?!" Total shock in his voice, and when I look back up, an expression of disbelief on his face. I hesitantly shake my head, confused now. "What an idiot." He muttered with a shake of his head, and walks away.

Curious of what Max had been talking about, I decide to go wait for Lando in his drivers room. I could probably guess already exactly what Max had meant, though. It wasn't that hard to connect the dots.

After I saw him in the hallway, he'd probably gone off to mine and Lando's room to talk to him, possibly giving him the advice to apologize.

Couples councilor Max makes another appearance.

Given the new information, I listen to Max's first piece of advice. Lando's already sitting in there when I open the door. He's looking down at his hands, picking at his nails.

I decide to sit down next to him, not yet embracing him or offering him any words because I don't know how that would go over right now. He doesn't acknowledge me, continuing to pick at his nails like he was when I entered. A strange deja vu to last night.

"It wasn't your fault." It's all I can manage to say. Every other encouragement has flown out the window.

He's paused, no longer picking his nails, and his hands have fallen down to his lap. He looks up at me now, or rather down at me, and he looks sorry. Not the kind of sorry that's usually seen on his face after a crash, the self pitying and disappointed kind, but rather the apologetic kind.

"It's not your fault either." His response confuses me, and I can feel my face twist up to reflect that. He reads it almost instantly, a clarification soon following. "Max told me last night that you said you feel like a distraction. I don't know what I did to make you feel like that, but I promise you it's the exact opposite."

Snitch.

He spoke gently, his soft hand interlacing with mine. His thumb swipes back and forth repeatedly on the back of my hand, moving between my pointer finger and my thumb. A reassuring smile forms across his lips. I only nod my head to his words.

He draws me closer by my hand, using his other hand to hold my head and bring it down to rest against his shoulder. His head finds it's place on top of mine.

"And I'm sorry for last night, too. I'll be better about it." His quiet apology would've gone unheard if the distant hum of the cars outside was just a little louder, but his mouth being so near to my ear helped to amplify his voice.

"I'm sorry too." Maybe I was wrong for thinking that he didn't care. Obviously he did. He showed that.

We remained sitting like that for the next fifteen minutes, neither of us talking for that entire duration. After that, I went to the Williams garage to watch the rest of the race for Logan.

★—————————————————★

A/N  -  LOGOAT SARGOAT CONTRACT RENEWED LFG screamed, cried, cheered.