LOVE AT LAST// GEORGE RUSSELL

NINE

NINE

"Tal!"

Lewis Hamilton laughed as he chased after his friend, Tala, who was running away with his dog in her grasp, the sounds of her giggles and the dogs Barks evident as he ran after the pair.

He had noticed a very big difference in his friend in the months that she had come off her anti depressant medication, the main one being that she had a lot more energy in her small body.

She would usually sleep for most of the day because of how tired she felt, or on the rare occasion that she felt okay she would try to go to a few races but now she barely slept at all.

She came to a couple more races that she previously did but it was still evident that she had not dealt with the pain from her brothers death, but she had understood that locking herself away for five years had definitely not helped, in fact it had probably meant that she had barely grieved for him at all.

Lewis laughed as he noticed that his young friend had ran straight in to his team boss, the Austrian man laughing as he had noticed the young Filipino holding his dog, Roscoe.

"I believe your dog has been dognapped, Lewis."

Toto Wolff smiled down at the young girl whilst stroking the fur of the dog that was held tightly in her arms. It looked like the dog didn't even want to leave her arms.

"I gave her Roscoe for two seconds and then boom she tried to steal him." Lewis Hamilton laughed, wrapping his arm loosely around the girls shoulders.

"How are you feeling, Tala?" Toto questioned gently, seeing the woman think about her answer for a couple of seconds.

"Better than the last time that you saw me."

Tala Villanueva spoke with the smallest of smiles upon her lips, with the Austrian man having last seen her when she had suffered a panic attack at the French Grand Prix.

"Well, I am very glad to hear it. As you know, both Susie and I am always here for you if you feel like you want to talk." The Wolff man reassured her, seeing her gulp anxiously.

"Yeah uh, thanks man." Tala thanked the Mercedes boss whilst slowly taking steps backwards, with the man giving her a nod of understanding before walking away.

"Did you really just say 'thanks man' to my boss?" Lewis laughed, his smile making a smile of her own appear on the face of the Villanueva girl.

"I was stressed, dude! You still coming round after the race?" Tala questioned her friend, since she felt comfortable around Lewis but then again, she would call him one of her best friends. 

"You promised me a movie night."

"Yeah and I'm sticking to my promise, I'll even bring takeout for you, how's that?" Lewis shit her a playful wink.

"That's amazing."

"Good, now can I please get my dog back?"

"Absolutely not! Get another dog!"

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George Russell woke up to soft snores coming from beside him.

The British boy lifted his head carefully to see that his best friend was curled up to his side, limbs tangled in his own as his sheets were over her entire body, only her forehead and hair being visible.

His hand carefully moved to her head so that he could run his fingers through her dark hair, soothing and comforting her since he had pieced together that she had suffered another nightmare.

He watched as she began to stir, waking up slowly to the point where her head lifted up to look at his face, her eyes narrowing in to slits as if she was trying to remember why she was there, before it clicked, with the Villanueva girl lowering her head back down so that she could drift off back to sleep.

It made the Mercedes driver chuckle to himself at how adorable she looked in that split second.

He stayed still for another hour and a half as he allowed her to sleep, one of his hands running his fingers through her hair and the other hand drawing small circles on the skin on her arm, the one that was wrapped around him.

When she eventually woke up once again, he noticed how she was looking a lot less tired, though he had instantly spotted that her eyes were very clearly red, most likely from crying from the nightmare that she had suffered.

As she sat up, the Russell boy lifted one of his hands up to her face to run his thumb gently over the skin underneath her eyes, a worried expression filling his face from just how bloodshot her beautiful eyes were.

"What happened this time?"

He found himself quietly asking as she stretched her body out, with the pair of them hearing a couple of cracks along the way from her joints.

"We were kids going to a track to do some go karting together and I crashed in to him." Tala admitted with a gravelly voice, moving so that she was no longer laying down but instead sitting next to her best friend so that she could cling to him, the nightmare still replaying in her head repeatedly.

"You never went karting with him so it's just your mind playing tricks on you again, at least it wasn't a real memory like last time." George soothed, hearing her mumble under her breath.

"No, but he still died in it, that doesn't change anything." Tala yawned, burying her head in to the crook of his neck as they hugged one another.

"I know Tal, I'm sorry." George found himself apologising as his arms tightened around her, the guilt knowing that it was all his fault making him chew on his bottom lip.

That was until her hand slapped itself over his mouth, making him flinch.

"Stop doing that, Georgie, the crash was not your fault." Tala scowled at him with a hurt expression, the knowledge that he still blamed himself upsetting.

"It was Tal, you don't have to lie to me, I know it was my fault." George released a deep sigh, tears welling up in his tear ducts at the corner of his eyes, the guilt eating him up from the inside.

"I'm not lying." Tala grabbed a harsh hold of his face and pulled it towards her own, staring him down with her scowl growing stronger.

"You did not kill my brother, you did not cause the crash so stop thinking that shit and stop blaming yourself or I will punch you." The Villanueva girl warned threateningly, raising her other hand which was clutched in to a fist.

George held his hands up in defeat.

Tala barrelled in to her best friend to hug him, giving the both of them the comfort and reassurance that they needed, with the Russell boy pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head.

Tala turned her head to press a soft kiss to his cheek in return, unknowingly making his cheeks flush bright red when it was more of his jaw that she had accidentally kissed, not his cheek.

"I love you Georgie, thanks for being the bestest friend in the world." Tala muttered in to the skin of his neck, not noticing how the English boys heartbeat had frantically beat at her words.

"I love you too, Tal."

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A/N

Short chapter but what do you think?

Anyway I hope that you all enjoy this short chapter and I'll see you all soon for the next one,

I'm so proud of all of you, my loves

Love you all,

-RUBY 🇵🇸🇨🇩