THE END | Oscar Piastri

52. familiar

Sav's pov

I figured Lando should be one of the first to know.

I'd promised him we could try again when he got comfortable in Red Bull. You shouldn't make promises you can't keep.

Not only did I need to talk to him about that, but also another thing.

So with my notebook in hand, and praying the set up of the hospitality hasn't changed much, I find his drivers room.

I give two quick taps to the door. "Max, I said I'd be out in a minute!" He calls from behind the door. "It's not Max." I say.

The door is ripped open seconds later. "Vannah?" Every part of him looks and sounds confused. "Yeah, hi. Can I talk to you?" He nods, stepping to the side to give me room to enter the tiny space.

"Oscar and I are together again." The words came out on their own. I initially planned on easing into it. But Lando doesn't look shocked. "I figured." He shrugs.

Now he's confused me. "What do you mean?" I sit on the small sofa. "Isn't that why you weren't in his garage for like... a month?" He asks. I blink at him.

"No that was... something else." I shake my head. "That only happened recently. But I wanted you to know first because... you know."

He nods. "I erased the prospect of that from my mind ages ago." His laugh is a little awkward. "But I'm happy for you guys." His tone is genuine, but his smile holds a hint of sadness.

"There's another thing I want to talk to you about." I say, holding the notebook out to him. "Read from 'gold rush' to 'you're losing me'."

His face reflects confusion, but he takes the notebook anyway.

I stand there silently, watching him read through each of the verses. His expression stays blank the whole time. It only takes him about ten minutes to read the seven.

"They're good. Why'd you want me to read 'em?" He asks, handing the pages back to me. "Cause they're about you." I answer. He continues to stare at me, looking for more of an explanation. "And I'm thinking about putting them on the album, but I don't want to do that without you seeing them first." He cocks his head to the side, eyes narrowed and brows furrowed.

I continue. "In case you wanted me to change anything." He raises his brows at the clarification. "Why would I want to do that?" He laughs.

"Cause some of them don't put you in the best light." I thumb over the edges of the pages, avoiding his eyes. "Oh. I don't care." He sounds amused, and upon looking up at him, he looks it, too. "There's worse things that can be said about someone." He shrugs his shoulders.

Loud knocks from the door startle me. "Mate! It's been way more than a minute, what are you doing in there?" It's Max, sounding more impatient than ever. I'm the one to open the door. "Sorry, it's my bad." I apologize.

His mouth has fallen open slightly, eyes darting between me and Lando. "I don't even care, this is none of my business. Let's go, Lando." Max says, leaving down the hall without checking to see if Lando was even following. "I'll talk to you later, yeah?" I tell him. He nods, running after Max.

-★-

I wait for Oscar to get down from the podium, bouncing on my toes out of excitement. I don't waste a second, as soon as he gets that door open, my arms are around his neck, holding tightly.

"You're unreal! That was absolutely amazing! Every second of it!" I praise, unable to keep the smile from my face. "Thank you." He says, his arms around my waist, and his face hidden in the curve of my neck. His hair tickles the skin.

I'm aware of the cameras on us, but at this moment, I don't care. I no longer care to keep us hidden. I see no point in it, it'll only make it harder for us to live which is the last thing I want.

I let go first. He holds onto me for a second longer. "You're incredible." I shake my head in admiration. A deep shade of pink covers his face, and he drops his head with a scoffed-out laugh.

"Thank you, Thank you." He repeats, a hand running circles in the middle of my back.

Knowing he wants to get back to his room and change into his team kit, I try and head that way, but the reporters have successfully made a wall around us.

So Oscar slides his hand down to mine, grabbing onto it, and holding it against his back. His hand feels perfect in mine. "Sorry, excuse us." Oscar says politely, smiling at a few of the cameras while they let him through. Thankfully, they don't follow us. They wait for the other drivers to come out.

The rest of the pit lane is relatively empty, a few mechanics here and there, but most people are either in their garages or in the paddock.

Keeping Oscar's hand in mine, I start to walk next to him. I can feel his eyes on me.

A stupid smirk is on his face when I look up at him. "What? Is there something on my face?" I ask, panicked. He shakes his head. "No. Your face looks fine. Er- great. Your face looks great." I try not to laugh at him, but I can't hold it in.

"At least I can see over the reporters heads." His quick response makes me shut up with a gasp. My mouth hangs open in shock. "Oh my god! That's why you were looking at me like that? That's not even funny." I shake my head in fake disapproval, and he laughs airily.

"And you're short, too. You're not even six feet, that's most girls standards." I raise my brows at him, and he pinches his together. "Sav, your head barely reaches my shoulder." He says softly, his head tilting to the side slightly.

"And your head doesn't even reach Toto's shoulder." I shoot back. He blinks at me. "Well, the man is a giant so that comparison isn't fair." He says.

A smile is on his face, one he hasn't been able to wipe off since the podium. He bumps me with his arm, a nudge into the hospitality we've finally made it to.

We make it to his driver's room, and I lay on the massage table, scrolling through my phone while he changes. I hear his race suit unzip, then hear the heavy material of the overalls being taken off.

"How much have you written this week?" He asks, probably catching sight of the notebook on his desk. "A little. Not a full song, but half of one." I answer him, continuing to scroll through my phone.

I expected him to flip to the page and read it. I'd given him permission to read through it whenever. What I hadn't expected, was his lips on mine. He's kissing me upside down, soft and gentle. A warmth washes through me in a wave, and my cheeks are set on fire by the skin of his hands against them.

I smile into his lips. His lips that feel so familiar and so perfect against mine, like they were constructed as a pair. He pulls away, still hovering inches above my face.

I feel like I'm made up of a million bees. My entire body is buzzing.

"What was that for?" I ask. My words are only just above a whisper. He doesn't answer, his eyes drifting up to where my phone is set on my stomach.

A light gasp is all that comes from his lips. "What?" I ask, picking up my phone and seeing the Instagram post I put it down on.

I can answer my question myself. "Fernando's retiring."

★—————————————————★
A/N - realistically, that man is never retiring. But I had to do it for reasons that will reveal themselves in the future😈