The Secret of Us // Oscar Piastri

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As soon as Casey walked into the paddock, eyes and cameras were on her. Audrey and Rowan were at either side of her, holding onto her arms. Carmen was also there, walking in-front of her as to block the cameras and peering eyes a bit.

Carmen had waited for in the hotel lobby, making George go to track by himself so she could wait for his little sister. Carmen eloped her sister-in-law in a hug she as soon she saw her step foot out of the elevator. She was currently walking Casey and her friends over to the McLaren hospitality to wait until it was time for them to head to the garage.

She had been raging at what everyone had been saying and had even put a post up on Instagram story telling everyone as much, asking people to stop harassing Casey. Lando had also posted on his Instagram story in support of Casey, which she really appreciated because she imagined he wasn't support to get involved with things like this on social media.

When they reached the McLaren hospitality, Carmen went in with Casey to make sure there was no issue from the staff or any of the other guests or anything. However, as soon as they entered Lando approached them with a less than happy look on his face. "I'm sorry, Case." He said, a sympathetic look on his face. "Why?" She asked, sensing he was apologising for more than the picture that had been posted of her.

"I tried to argue for you, but I've been told I'm not allowed to have you in the garage." He said and Casey was taken back. "Oh, okay." She let out. As upset as she was, she did understand why. If she were McLaren, she probably wouldn't want her in their garage either. All it could do was create even more press about the whole situation, which she imagined they really didn't want.

"I'll message George and have him get you a pass for Mercedes." Carmen said from behind Casey, pulling her phone out of her handbag. "I thought there wasn't any space left?" Casey asked, looking over her shoulder. "He'll make space for you." Carmen told Casey as she typed on her phone. "I'm really sorry, Case." Lando apologised again, making her look back at him.

"Don't be." Casey said as she pulled him in for a hug. "It's not your fault." She added, smiling at him as she pulled away from the hug. "George says to come over to the Mercedes hospitality." Carmen said, looking up from her phone and Casey nodded at her before turning to face Audrey and Rowan. "I'll you guys back the hotel." Casey said as she opened her arms wide to hug them both at once.

"This is so fucked." Rowan said, making Casey chuckle. "It's really not that big a deal." She told him, breaking apart from her friends. "It's still fucked." Audrey remarked, a sad expression on her face and Casey shrugged. "It's really okay." Casey said with a shrug of her shoulders before turning to leave with Carmen.

Carmen pulled Casey into her, walking with her arm around her so that she'd be kind of sheltered from onlookers and anything cameras pointing at her. It didn't take them long to arrive at the Mercedes hospitality and as soon as she did, George was waiting and brought her in for a hug. "I'm going to kill him." He said and Casey couldn't help but roll her eyes. "It's not Oscar's fault." She said as George released her from his grip. 

"Here." He said, pulling a Mercedes pass out of his pocket and handing it to her. "I had to beg Totto. Think he kicked a celeb." He chucked, probably trying to lighten the mood. "Thank you." Casey told him, smiling up at her brother. "Of course." George said, placing a hand on her shoulder. Soon George was called away by some Mercedes staff for some reason, leaving Casey with Carmen and her family in an area of the hospitality. Casey really liked Carmen's family, she'd only met them a handle full of times but her brothers were always really kind to Casey and today was not different. They welcomed her with open arms.

An hour and a half later, Casey was making her way over to the Mercedes garage. She was in the middle of a conversation with one of Carmen's brothers when someone walked by her and yelled 'slut', following it up with a burst of laughter from them and the people around them. Carmen was quick to turn around. "Don't listen to anything they say." She said, pulling Casey to walk beside her.  "I can't believe slut shamming is even still a thing." Casey remarked with shock on her face at being heckled at as she walked with Carmen's arm around her. "I know." Carmen said, squeezing Casey's shoulder in comfort.