So High School ✷ Oscar Piastri

𝟎𝟖.ㅤㅤㅤ a plethora of bad timings

chapter eight ✿ A PLETHORA OF
BAD TIMINGS

The first thing that Haseul realises after meeting Oscar in-person for the second time, is that his online personality is completely different from his real life one.

On messages, he had seemed like a regular Gen Z guy who's well-versed in his knowledge of memes and everything else but in real life, he's just so...awkwardly chill. Heavy emphasis on the awkward part.

Yeah, he's definitely being awkward with her which is so unlike his online personality.

It seems like the lack of a digital screen separating them matters because Oscar hasn't spoken more than three words to her. Those three words being; hi, nice to see you and bye. And those had been before the race.

He had been okay before meeting her eyes in the paddock but after seeing her in flesh, it was as if something had switched in him and now he's avoiding her.

And Haseul can't stand it.

So, after a whole lot of struggle (which included almost begging her manager to reserve a table for two in a high-end no-paparazzi restaurant at the last minute, bribing Lando with comeback spoilers into deceiving Oscar to ditch his media duties to ultimately having lunch with her), she's seated at the restaurant in front of Oscar who's looking at anything but her.

When the silence stretches for long enough, Haseul decides that she's had enough.

She slams her fork on the table and regards Oscar with a levelled gaze.

"Why are you avoiding me like I'm the plague? Did I do something to offend you or anything?" She asks him.

At this, Oscar's eyes widen and he hastily shakes his head.

"Am I making you uncomfortable then?" She asks again.

"Oh god, no!" Oscar's voice is loud and his tone is offended as if she'd said something scandalous.

Haseul gives him a confused look because of his sudden outburst which makes him calm down and explain in a more levelled voice.

"You can never make me uncomfortable, Haseul." He awkwardly pats her hand with his and this almost makes her smile and forget about what they'd been talking about in the first place. Key word: almost.

"So, then why?"

Oscar mumbles something that Haseul can't quite catch.

"Sorry, what? I didn't quite catch that."

Oscar takes a breath, as if to calm himself before finally looking her in the eyes.

(God, he truly has the prettiest eyes Haseul has ever seen)

"I-," He croaks out and then clears his throat before continuing, "I said that you're making me nervous."

"Oh."

Oscar's eyes widen once again as he realises how wrong his words must have come off and he hastily tries to backtrack.

"That came of so wrong-fuck!" He mutters a curse before calming himself down by taking a deep breath, "What I meant to say was that you're making me nervous by looking so pretty. You're literally distracting me with your beauty!"

After his rant is finished, for a moment Haseul just blinks at him before a smile blossoms on her face.

She playfully slaps him on the shoulder, "Aww, Oscar!" She coos, "You could've just told me that you're being shy because you like me so much."

She's teasing him but it seems like this time, it's him who takes this the wrong way because in the next moment, Oscar says something that makes Haseul's jaw drop.

"Yeah, I do like you." He blurts out. "So much."

Pin drop silence ensues between them at his words as Haseul digests his sudden confession. She stares at him with a blank expression for some time, possibly waiting for him to say sike or as a friend but those words never come. Instead, he looks at her with a soft and tender gaze and it makes her weak in the knees.

There's so many things going around in her head yet not a single coherent sentence comes out of her mouth. She opens her mouth and then closes it again, unable to say anything despite how much she wants to.

"I-" Just as she's about to finally reply, her phone starts ringing making her look at her screen to who it is.

The name Lisa appears on the screen.

Haseul looks back at Oscar with a sheepish and apologetic expression, telling him that she really needs to take this and he nods in response.

She grabs her phone and accepts the call.

"Hello-"

"Dispatch is on you!" Lisa screams from the other end.

Haseul winces because of the volume of her voice, "What do you mean Dispatch is on me?"

"I mean that they allegedly caught you on a romantic date and now you're getting teared apart online." Lisa answers in distress. "This is so not good! Everything is in shambles right now at the company like the last time."

And just like that, Haseul's whole world collapses on itself.