𝗠𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗗, oscar piastri

𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗣 𝗢𝗡𝗘, increase eye contact

          STELLA HADN'T SEEN AS much of Oscar and Logan over the weekend as she had hoped. It was her first time in Bahrain in seven years, since her father had retired from Formula One in 2016. It was her first time in the paddock in a little over six years, since her father's very last race.

Stella had missed it. There was really no place quite like the Formula One paddock.

But there were certainly things she didn't miss. For one, the anxiety that came with watching someone you cared about racing around the track. Stella remembered how she used to shake whenever her father would skirt around particularly dangerous corners of tracks, or how she would need to be talked down by her mother from panic attacks every time her father had a crash. It had only gotten worse when Jessica and Jenson had divorced, and Stella began going to the paddock unaccompanied, sitting alone in the garage as her father raced. She'd had to learn how to manage her own fear, an ability she was relying on for Oscar and Logan's race. The genuine fear she felt at the idea of either her friends having any sort of accident was enough to make her want to run from the paddock at full speed.

But Stella restrained herself, putting on a brave face.

Instead of heading to the paddock with their friends, Stella and Addie decided to spend media day hanging around their hotel. There was no reason for them to be in the paddock when Logan and Oscar would be busy with interviews all day. They slept in until noon and ate room service breakfast, lounging in their shared room, each in their own bed, watching every single Twilight movie. Stella did force herself out of the cushions for about an hour during New Moon so she could do some stretching on the floor. With the amount she would be traveling that year, she needed to make sure she kept taking her practice and exercise seriously. Or she'd lose any chance she had of being well cast in that year's Christmas production of the Nutcracker. Auditions weren't until May, so Stella wasn't too worried.

It was strange for Stella, being out of the ballet studio on a day she knew the other girls would be rehearsing. Her friend, Lacie, had been texting her updates, telling her what she would need to do while she was away. Stella was trying hard not to feel like she was missing out, or that her missing a few lessons here and there would cost her a good role. But she knew that wasn't the case, she was 22 and she was one of the best dancers in one of the best companies in the UK. She was still worried though.

The things she was sacrificing to support her friends.

Not that Stella regretted it, there was nowhere else she would rather be. She knew that Logan and Oscar, but mostly Oscar, were more nervous than she had been at her first professional ballet show. Oscar was a nervous person, and if Stella could lessen his nerves by being there, she would.

At around five, Logan and Oscar reappeared, dragging Stella and Addie out of their beds and out to dinner. But the dinner had been kept short, only a couple hours, so that Oscar and Logan could get a good night's sleep.

Stella was slightly grateful for that, Oscar was acting slightly strange. He kept holding eye contact with her at weird intervals, like he was trying desperately not to look away, but he couldn't help it. Oscar had never been good at holding eye contact.

It only got stranger when Logan would stomp on Oscar's foot under the table every single time he broke eye contact with Stella, thinking Stella wouldn't notice. It was hard not to notice when Logan kept stomping on her foot by accident.

They must've had some weird bet going on, maybe Logan was trying to help Oscar get more comfortable with eye contact. Stella didn't bother asking, she was sure she would just be more confused than she already was. She just ate her pasta.