LOVE AT LAST// GEORGE RUSSELL

TEN

TEN

"Your favorite Vegan is here."

Lewis Hamilton smiled as he entered the apartment of his team mate and their best friend, seeing the Filipino woman waiting patiently on the sofa for him, a fluffy blanket covering her body.

"If you've brought me a salad, I will skin you alive and play 33 Max Verstappen as you cry in pain."

Tala Villanueva rolled the dark of her eyes at the black man as he took a seat beside her, a smug like grin evident on his face which meant that she had correctly guessed what he was carrying in a brown paper bag.

"Roscoe picked it out for you, so you can't blame me!"

"Watch me."

Tala lightly pushed at the man's shoulder with her hand, with the pair trying not to laugh at one another, their smiles growing.

"Is George here?"

"He's painting over my handiwork in my bedroom, as I got bored of the green walls and he deemed my brushwork as not good enough. He's been in there for three hours painting over it with Cobalt blue." Tala smirked, finding it amusing that her best friend had been so determined to make sure that the paint on her walls were not streaky, but at least it meant that she had time to spend with Lewis by herself.

It was like having some sibling time, though it would forever hurt, thinking somebody as a brother when she had lost her biological one.

It had been well over a year since Tala had started to reappear in her friends lives once again, and everybody liked seeing her progress.

She still got overwhelmed if she was surrounded by a lot of people, and she never went to more than six races in a season, but she could spend time within her own home with her friends comfortably.

She limited herself to six races a season, she couldn't help it.

Whilst she was better at supporting them, she couldn't risk attending any more in case that she jinxed them like she had done with her brother, and was simply not a risk that she was prepared to take.

She couldn't take being responsible for anybody else's death.

Lewis Hamilton watched his friend closely, noticing how she seemed to become lost in a cloud of her own dark thoughts, sadness filling him once he noticed the tears forming inside of her irises.

He lightly nudged her arm to snap her out of those thoughts, gaining her attention, her face staring at him in confusion.

"I quite like having you around, Tal." Lewis gave the girl a soft smile, seeing her face flinch woth surprise.

"You do?" Tala's voice cracked as she spoke, emotion flooding it.

"How long have I known you? I remember my life before I met you and I know what it's like now. Trust me, I much prefer it now and that's only because you're in it. I love it when you curse George out in Filipino, or yawn when you're in the middle of talking, or stretch yourself out like a cat a hit me in the face whilst doing it."

The Hamilton man couldn't help the smile that erupted on to his face as the Villanueva woman leant in to him, resting her upper body on him as they sat on the sofa in the apartment that she shared with George, a small yawn leaving her lips at the same time.

"I was going to hug you but this is actually quite comfortable." Tala giggled as she stretched herself out on the sofa, her upper half laying on the world champion who could only laugh in response.

"We can stay like this for as long as you want." Lewis laughed loudly, happiness flooding in to his chest and making it ache, his face hurting from his bright grin.