Teach Me Something // LH44

Chapter Thirty-Seven

"Eyes on me," Lewis whispers as we get closer to the turnstiles, squeezing my hand as we walk and I smile, meeting his eyes to prove the point as I squeeze his hand back.

"You're hard to not notice," I promise him, smiling and flicking my pass in my other hand, glad that I have my jacket to stay warm as the wind blows through the paddock in front of us. It might not be London levels of miserable but it's still late November, and it's so late at night that the sunshine of the earlier day feels like a very distant memory. Even from thirty feet away I could already hear the noise from the paddock, shouts growing with each step we took. Fortunately with Lewis's warm hand holding tightly onto mine, they all dulled into the background. A single glance at the look on his face as he looked at me helped the stress drained from my whole body and I was able to make it so that the smile on my face was real for the first time since we left the hotel suite.

As we get closer to the gates, he steps into me, putting a hand on my arm to slow me down as he silently offers to go first and I'm quick to nod in agreement, stepping in behind him and letting go of his hand so he can go through the turnstiles. While I'm just about strong enough to do this with him, pushing past the fear of the sound of the cameras, the point of doing it together was that he would be here because out of the two of us he was the one who is more prepared for what's coming. The cameras are clicking and flashing before he even gets through the gates, evidence of the people lying in wait after the rumours swirling that Lewis would be coming in shortly, and apparently more importantly to them... that he wouldn't be alone.

He turns around before he's even fully through the gate, a change in his normal routine of walking straight ahead so that no one can get a clear image of him before I'm able to enter. He grins from the other side of the turnstile as I hear the familiar beep of permission from the turnstile behind me. The moment I get through it my heart stops in my chest, the couple of shaky steps I take by myself are enough to make me feel relieved when he takes my hand back in his. His touch gives my heart the restart it needs as the cameras and yelling increase exponentially as we fall into step down the paddock, myself walking just a little behind him to protect me from the cameras, the flashes making me feel as though I'm not a total idiot to be wearing sunglasses at night as per Lewis's suggestion. I find that I've never been so grateful for the fact that Mercedes came second last year, something to make the trip just a little shorter as I focus my eyes on the floor, focusing on not falling flat on my face in front of these cameras.

Another squeeze of his hand around mine forces my eyes up to meet his and so while my step falters when I look up at him I realise that even if I had tripped, I never would have fallen. Lewis's grip was like steel and I realise that he would never have let me fall and get hurt. I smile in return letting out a giggle on my lips as he raises his eyebrows at me, a silent callback to the conversation that calmed my nerves enough to get me to leave the flat. It was his way of silently mocking the people with the cameras, reminding me of his advice earlier today to picture them all in their underwear when things got overwhelming. He was taking advantage of my brains illustrative thought process, forcing me to imagine something I do not want to see but my attempt to hide my smile is unsuccessful as his smirk only grows in response and we finally reach the Mercedes hospitality.

"You're so annoying," I whisper over the shouts of his fans and the press and he just grins and shakes his head, using his body to block people from coming near me as we walk up the ramp and away from what was apparently the biggest story of the weekend - or at least that's kind of how it was feeling. His hands reached out from the railing to the wall as we walk up and due to missing his touch and comfort, I reach back, lightly holding the edge of his jacket until we get inside the front doors, waiting until they close behind us before I fully turn around to look at him, my adrenaline not letting up in the slightest as we wait. "It won't always be so... will it?"