𝗻𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹 ━━━━ oscar piastri

04. drivers' dinner

McLaren had flown Cherry and Lando out to Melbourne a few days before official race duties would begin, to allow them time to film some content for their YouTube channel. Oscar, who had headed home as soon as his post-race duties were finished in Jeddah, met them at the airport in his sleek McLaren Speedtail.

Cherry would like to say that their little exchange in the hotel bar was promptly forgotten about due to all of her extra work, but that would be a lie. She had tried to brush it aside, only allowing herself the time to ponder on it when the hour was late and her mind was active, but the reunion with Oscar had brought up feelings that always lingered just beneath the surface.

It feels like he's playing a game with her — except Cherry doesn't know the rules and Oscar has home turf advantage.

Oscar had written their itinerary for the week; as in, he'd actually written it out and colour coordinated it before giving it to Cherry. He'd been very nonchalant about it, as though handing over a piece of perfectly curated admin wasn't one of the hottest things he could do for a girl in PR who thrives on organisation.

Unfortunately, he hadn't accounted for just how many nap breaks Lando would require. He claims it's because of the jetlag, but Cherry isn't convinced. His latest nap, an impressive two hours, had set them massively behind schedule.

"Listen up, you two," Cherry commands, "we've got precisely thirty minutes to get this done if we've got any hope of you two getting to your interviews on time, okay? Please try not to fuck it up."

"Yeah, Oscar," Lando teases, nudging his fellow driver in the ribs, "hopefully this segment goes better than your tour of the Yarra River yesterday."

Oscar scowls. "You pushed me in."

"Hmm, you and I remember that very differently."

"You're both idiots," huffs Cherry. "I'm going to hit record in a second and Oscar, you're going to explain the challenge, okay?"

The Aussie salutes. "Aye aye, Captain."

"And action!"

Lando and Oscar transition seamlessly into their media personas as the cameras start rolling. They aren't too much of a stretch from their regular selves, but there's more expression on Oscar's face and Lando's cheeriness has been dialled to eleven.

The energy levels are high, and so is the pressure.

They are at Hosier Lane, which is apparently one of Oscar's favourite spots in Melbourne, and he'd insisted they had to film a segment here. So here they are: seeing which of the McLaren drivers can paint a better picture in five minutes on the famed walls.

"Did you know this place is technically a gallery?" Oscar tells Lando after he's finished explaining the task at hand. They've each been given a set of paints, and they'd managed to find a small section of cobbled wall that isn't covered by the extensive graffiti.

"Seriously? But we're outside..."

"It's a street art gallery," Oscar says, "we take art pretty seriously 'round here."

Lando playfully shoves his shoulder. "That'll make it ten times worse for you when I beat you at this then."

Oscar rolls his eyes. "As if. I've seen your stickmen and frankly even they're terrible."

Cherry's voice from behind the camera informs them that their time has started. They exchange some witty trash talk every now and then, but there's an equal amount of silence in between. Cherry figures they can add in some jaunty music during the editing process, or maybe have the two record voice overs describing their thought processes.