CALL YOUR MOM | ln4

five.

{ jonesy }

Dubai has been a dream.

Like, truly, I've been having the time of my life. I've never been a spontaneous person, yet Adeline – someone I've known for approximately a week now – managed to convince me to go on an unplanned trip to a different country with her. Who would've thought?

We've got to head back to Bahrain tomorrow for the Grand Prix, so Adeline decided that we needed to spend one last night clubbing – as if we haven't done that every night. Somehow, I convinced her to let today be an aquarium day since Dubai has one and I've been obsessed with ocean animals for as long as I can remember. I think I took a photo of every animal I saw.

For now, Adeline is in the shower 'washing off the day' as she's said every day so far. I'm not sure why she's showering now when we're about to go get hot and sweaty at a club... but I'm not about to question her motives.

I decided to dial Ruthie while I waited, I had gotten ready first, so I was just waiting on Adeline now. I laid back on one of the hotel beds, not caring that my dress was riding up my thighs, I'll fix it before we leave.

"Hello, Sunshine!" I smiled at Ruthie's greeting.

I miss her.

"Hello, Lovey!" I spoke enthusiastically.

I could hear Ruthie messing with something in the background, knowing what time it was back home, she was probably making herself dinner or something. "How's Dubai?"

Every time Adeline showered during our trip, I called Ruthie. After getting used to talking about my day with her every night since I moved in a few months ago, it feels weird to go long without doing so. Luckily for me, Ruthie always has her phone on her, so she always picks up when I call and is more than happy to chat with me until Adeline is done with her shower routine.

I really lucked out in the friend department.

"Good! We spent the majority of the day at the aquarium here – so you know I had the time of my life. And now we're about to go to one of the clubs, again."

Ruthie laughed, "Adeline sure likes a routine."

"And I'm okay with that, you know how much I thrive on having a set plan."

We talked about random parts of our days – Ruthie even talking in detail about the hot guy at the new coffee shop she tried today – before I brought up the topic that's been bothering me since the day we flew to Dubai.

"Would it be weird for Lando and me to be friends since I essentially work for him?" I blurted.

Ruthie doesn't respond for a few seconds.

It's obvious she wasn't expecting my question. I don't think I've mentioned Lando at all since I called her back in Bahrain during testing.

"Well, technically, you both work for Zak... so maybe not. But what brought this up?"

"I've been thinking about it for days."

A scoff came through the phone. "And you're just now bringing it up to me?"

"In my defense, I hadn't planned on telling anyone." I crossed my arms over my stomach, my phone on speaker sitting on my chest. "So, consider yourself lucky."

"Okay, okay. But what brought that thought on?"

I thought back to our interactions since I started the job at Mclaren.

He remembered me immediately. He stayed behind to help with my photography equipment. He made sure he and Oscar followed me on Instagram and shared my post. He requested all the extra Mclaren merch for me. He told me he wanted a full recap of my Dubai trip upon my return.