Bad Reputation

19.

I did what I promised Lando, I flew to Italy and I was gonna stay with him for a few days.

It was hard to juggle our schedules together. I was wondering how other wags did that.

It looked as if they were almost at every race. I wouldn't be able to do that. I could come here and there when they were in Europe.

But I wouldn't be able to do that when they were in America.
I was probably not gonna see him for months.

But I wasn't gonna think about that. I was here
with Lando now and I had to enjoy myself.

Which wasn't the easiest thing to do because Lando had a lot of media things to do.
He told me that Thursdays were media days, so he would only have time in the evening.

I still wanted to go with him to the paddock though. Didn't want to be alone in the room.

But I was regretting this because now I was alone in the hospitality.

Where everyone had a purpose, everyone had a job to do, except for me.

"Oh hi Francesca, right?" Someone shook me out of my thoughts. I looked up and saw the same girl from the previous Grand Prix.

"Yes hi Kelcey, how are you?"

"Oh good you remember me" she chuckled nervously. "I was wondering if you had some spare minutes?"

I had all the time in the world honestly.

"Yes sure, what's wrong?"

"I suck at my job, and you were so good at it" she sighed.  "I was hoping you could teach me a few things, if you have time of course"

I laughed a little. She seemed like such a sweet girl. But honestly, I had no idea how she got this job.

"Yes I will" I said as I got up, followed her to the paddock club and walked behind the bar with her.

I couldn't get away from alcohol and bars.

I taught her the most basic and classic cocktails. I didn't expect that people who came here, were gonna ask for the most difficult cocktails.

We ended with a classic gin and tonic, which may seem easy, but trust me, it isn't easy to make the perfect gin and tonic.

"Are you a bartender as well?" She asked as she looked at me. "Yes, I work in a club in Monaco"

"Oh, so that's how you know Lando?"

"Exactly" I nodded, took a sip from my drink. "How did you get this job?"

"I was working in marketing, but it was way too stressful, thought this would be easier" she sighed. "But I guess it isn't"

"You will do fine and if not, I will be here today, tomorrow and maybe Saturday" I said.

"Thank you so much" she smiled.

We talked for a little while after that, about her job and about F1, until someone cleared his throat and made us stop talking.

"Is this gonna be a habit?" Lando chuckled as he walked up to the bar.

"No" I leaned on the bar and smiled. "Kelcey just wanted to show me a few things"

Didn't want to throw her under the bus, so I acted as if she taught me a few things.

"Hi Kelcey" Lando said as he held his hand out. "I am Lando, nice to meet you"

She shook his hand, turned a little red again. "Nice to meet you too Lando"

Kelcey was beautiful, our age and worked for Mclaren but he didn't know her.
So he didn't hook up with her, which was a good thing.

"Are you ready to go?" He turned his attention to me. "We are going to dinner"

"Oh yes I am starving"

We said our goodbyes to Kelcey and made our way out of the paddock.

"Just a dinner with the two of us, or?" I asked as I was walking next to Lando.

We didn't hold hands. We honestly looked like we were good friends, nothing more.

But I understood why he didn't want that, because photographers were constantly following him.

"No, we are having dinner with Verstappen and his girlfriend, Kelly"

Didn't even know he had a girlfriend, I mean I saw Kelly on Instagram and stuff.
But I thought they broke up.

This was gonna be awkward because I saw Max kissing a handful of girls.

Not as much as Lando of course.

You couldn't even count how many girls he kissed.