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{ riley's version }

_

The first day was simple. It was mostly just getting settled into my office, signing into all of the accounts and finding out what would be mine to handle. And that was all the social media accounts. Not hard but more than I expected to be handed as an intern. The photographers, who had come to introduce themselves, had been nice and willing to help.

I hadn't seen Oscar or Lando for the rest of the day, I didn't expect to. They were busy and I wasn't made to post anything for a few days. Zak said he wanted me to settle into everything. That meant giving me space until I felt confident enough, and that was Wednesday.

I chuckled as I walked into the house, waving goodbye to Izzy. She had spent the entire drive home telling me everything I needed to know; in other words, gossip. I wasn't the type to care for it, but one thing about gossip... most times there was some truth to it and it was the easiest way to learn about people quickly.

But the silence came once the door was closed. I thought about calling Logan or maybe Alex. But I didn't exactly know the time difference off the top of my head yet, and I didn't feel like waking them. I could go grab food to cook but I didn't want to walk to the store after spending all day in these heels. And I still needed to unpack the rest of my stuff that was delivered during the day.

I folded and decided to just make myself a cup of tea and unpack. I didn't need to do anything crazy. I was still getting adjusted to life here and when I got hungry, I could order food. There had to be something around here.

_

Two hours in and I wanted to collapse. My food was on its way and the couch seemed like it would be comfortable. I flopped onto it and wondered how this was going to work. I would see Logan often, probably more often than I would at home. But that would be weird, in a way. We were close but this felt like invading his space. He said it was fine but Logan was the type to just let everything blow over so others could be happy.

I wanted to talk to him. Or maybe Alex. They always knew what to do. I reached for my phone right as it buzzed. Eyebrows raised, I looked at the notification.

Lando Norris has requested to follow you
Oscar Piastri has requested to follow you
McLaren has requested to follow you
Lando Norris sent you a message

I wondered what Lando needed to say to me. I accepted the requests, knowing that it was part of the job to have them follow me. The anxiety of what Lando could have possibly needed to say to me caused me to open the dm with a shaky hand.

Lando Norris

Hey. Sorry to be weird and do this
over Instagram but I wanted to
check in. I know first days can be hard.

Accept | Decline

I looked at it and smiled a bit. It reminded me that he was still human. It was something I hard learned with Logan and Alex but it seemed to leave my mind with other people. Until I was given a reason, they were just otherworldly in my mind. I couldn't interact with them until I was reminded. But now I had the opportunity to start building this relationship and if I was going to be good at my job, I needed it.

I clicked the accept button and decided on how I would respond. We weren't close enough yet so it would have to be slightly professional.

Lando Norris

Hey. Sorry to be weird and do this
over Instagram but I wanted to
check in. I know first days can be hard.

Thanks for checking in, it's kind.
And it was good. A bit overwhelming.
In a good way.

Glad to hear it. And if you're chill with
it, I can give you my personal number.
Might be easier to reach me lol

If you trust me enough with that...

Of course, I trust you Riles.
You're going to be stuck with me,
so might as well. Here you go.
XXX XXX XXXX

Oh.. thanks. And Riles?

Nickname. Shit, are you okay with
it?

Yeah. Just never heard that one.

Oh wow. Thought it would be
more common.

My brother just calls me Riri. And
my best friend too.

Ahh, then Riles is all mine.

I chuckled at that and saved Lando's number to my phone. I would text him later but a knock on my door reminded me that my food was here. I left my phone behind as I grabbed the Thai food I ordered, thanking the delivery guy. It smelled amazing as I grabbed a plate to set it on. I would have left it in the container but I wanted to at least feel like I had the energy to cook something.

Now that I was eating, I decided to text Lando. I needed him to save it so it wasn't random when I texted him for something work-related.

Lando N.

Hey, it's Riley.

Riles!

Hi lol

Are you staying in the
same flat that Izzy did?

I think so?

Oh bet, I know where
that is.

You're not going to just
randomly show up, are you?

Not until we're good enough
friends. I'm not going to do
anything to make you
uncomfortable.

Thanks?

Sure thing! So, what has
your attention this evening?

I spent the rest of the evening chatting with him. It was easy and I found myself laughing at his stupid little jokes. It took away a lot of anxiety I had about working with him. The conversation was easy and it felt like I was talking to Logan or Alex. He was a normal boy in his twenties who just happened to be a formula racer.

After a bit, I decided I probably needed to get to sleep. Izzy was going to be there to pick me up in the morning and I'm sure we would have stayed up talking about our favorite drivers until the sun came up. It would be bad to have him be exhausted on my second day there. I needed to make sure to stay on the right side of Zak.

Once I had said my goodnights, I lay there for a bit longer, thinking about how easily I slipped into this world. Maybe the lady at the store was right, maybe this was exactly where I belonged. Sleep came easy as I thought about how this summer break would go.

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a/n: hello my loves, this is short but i promise it will grow as we go. hehe. relationships will build, lots of things, etc etc. as always, from your favorite, love it or don't :p