The Secret of Us // Oscar Piastri

33

"So not only have you ruined your own night, but you've successfully managed to ruin mine too." Oscar said, less than impressed as she walked into Lando's hotel room. "Mate, what are you on about?" Lando asked, shutting his hotel room door. Lando appeared to getting ready to go to celebrate his win by the array of clothes Oscar noticed that were thrown all of his bed and floor.

"I was supposed to be spending my night with Casey, but now she's going back to NewYork with Audrey." He said, sighting as he sat down on one of the sofas in the room. "Audrey's leaving tonight?" Lando asked, his facial expression changing.

"Yeah." Oscar said, leaning back against the sofa. "Why?" Lando asked and Oscar rolled his eyes. "Why do you think? You told the world you're not seeing her when you are. How do you think that makes her feel?"

"It's a lot more complicated than that." Lando told him, frustrated. "Well, it doesn't matter now because Casey gave you a chance to explain yourself and fix it and you told me you were too busy." Oscar said, feeling so very fed up of the whole situation.

"I didn't know that was what you meant."

"I said that Audrey was upset by what you said and that Casey, despite Audrey not wanting to talk to you, had worked out away for you to see her." Oscar told him, looking at him with an amazed expression. "What did you think I meant?" He asked and Lando shrugged.

"I didn't realise she was upset enough to leave. I thought I could go and see her in the morning to explain everything." Lando said and Oscar leaned forward. "The world doesn't work on your schedule, Lando. Audrey feels humiliated, so she's leaving. Why would she wait until your done drinking your body weight in alcohol?" Oscar said, standing up and making a B-line for the door.

"So, you're upset with me too now?" Lando asked as Oscar opened the hotel room door. "As I said, you ruined my night too." Oscar told him as he walked out of Lando's hotel room.  

                                                 -

It had been a week since everything in Miami had happened and nobody in the apartment was answering calls from Lando, despite him trying to three of them multiple times a day. Casey told Audrey how she had given him a chance to explain himself and he'd said he was too busy and she'd heard that, she never wanted to speak to him again.

Rowan had been staying with them, he always did if one of them was going through a breakup. Their first night back in NewYork after Miami, they all slept in bed together. They fell asleep watching chic-flics after having ordered a bunch of pizza. They were eating leftover pizza for quite a few following days.

Audrey was beginning to seem more and more like herself, but Casey had noticed how her confidence had taken a big hit. Audrey was so sure about Lando and Audrey was careful about these things so to be wrong about it all, was a huge deal for her. Casey was cooking Audrey's favourite for dinner to try and cheer her up even more. She'd sent Rowan and Audrey out to pick up some of the ingredients that she was missing, so it was just her in the apartment on the Sunday evening.

It was then that she heard a knock at the door. She stopped what she was doing and headed to the door, confused at who it could be. "Lando?" She said, almost not believing her eyes when she opened the door. "Where is she?" He asked, walking past Casey and into the apartment. "She's not here!" Casey yelled after him before closing the apartment door and following him as he looked around the place in search for Audrey.

"Fine." He said, stood in the living room. "Then I'll wait for her." He sat down on one of the sofas and Casey could not believe this was her reality. "No, you're not." She said, crossing her arms of her chest,
"You can't stop me." He said, not even looking at her.
"Lando, I will call the police." Casey said. She wasn't being serious, but she made her face look like she was.
"For what?" He snicked. "Breaking and entering. I didn't invite you in. Also, you not leaving when I ask you to is also a criminal offence." Casey told him and Lando rolled his eyes while shaking his head.

"You're ridiculous." He spat. "Me?!" Casey exclaimed, barley able to believe what was happening. "Yes." He said, matching her tone. "You lied to the world about you and Audrey, is that not ridiculous?" Casey asked, venom in her voice and that was when Lando snapped. 

"you don't know what the fans are like, Casey!" He raised his voice, standing up. "They'll rip her apart." He breathed out, looking strained. "They did it with Luisa and that's a big part of why we broke up. They already started doing it to Audrey and they don't even know we're seeing each-other, do you know how bad it would have been if I'd told them we were?" He asked and when Casey didn't say anything, just stood there in-front of him, he carried on. "What me and her had was great, I didn't want the whole world in on it."

Casey rolled her eyes at his words. "Do you not think that's something you should've talked to her about instead of deciding for her?" Casey asked and Lando looked away from her, not answering so Casey carried on. "Not to mention how I gave you a chance to explain yourself and you said you were too busy. It's not an excuse, Lando. And I'm not going to let you hurt her anymore than you already have." Casey said and Lando looked back her, anger plastered clearly on his face.

"How is any of this different from what you and Oscar are doing?" He asked and Casey really wanted to hit him in that moment, I took all of her not too. Casey took a deep breath before answering, trying to keep her cool. "Communication. We actually spoke about what we wanted. We agreed on keeping it a secret, you and Audrey didn't." Casey told him, her gaze on him cold.

"Except, it's only what you want." Lando said. "He's told me as much."

"What?" Casey asked through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, he only agreed to it being a secret because Oscar is a nice guy and he'll take you in anyway he can have you, even if it makes him feel bad." Lando told her and Casey could see that he regretted it when he saw the look on her face from the look on his own.

Casey swallowed a lump in her throat. "Leave." She said. "Casey-" Lando began, but Casey was quick to cut him off. "Leave, Lando." She said again, her voice far more stern this time. Lando sighed and shook his head but after a moment she did what he said and left, letting the apartment door slam behind him and making Casey jump. Once he was gone, tears began prickling in her eyes.