VIPER || Oscar Piastri

Chapter 52

Apologies for the delay ! I went to Prague 😝
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[POV: Narrator]

Andreanna Saunterre missed her flight to Spain.

In her words: It was an accident.

Really, though, it was because she got 'held up' in duty free.

Again, in her words, 'Held up' actually meant she got distracted. By motorbike catalogues. In WHSmiths. For two hours.

By the— very delayed— time she got to Spain, the race weekend was already in full swing, and Oscar was completely caught up in it—team meetings, media, everything that came with being an F1 driver. He barely had a moment to spare. Which... also meant, he hadn't seen Andi since Monaco. And neither had Andi seen him after her magazine mistake.

Which, by the way, (and only God knows how) she's dismissing as bring a fault of the airline's.

All she'd gotten from him was a quick text with their hotel room details. 

She found her way in on her own, dragging her suitcase inside and glancing around. She was used to that, though. This is how it'd be when she was travelling to support Charles; solo flight, solo room, solo everything. Well, if Lando hadn't forgotten to book his room on time, that is, (it happened only twice— but she made sure he knew that was two too many). This time, however, Andi would be staying in a decent-sized room, with a small kitchenette, a sofa, a TV—but only one bed.

With a sigh, Andi dropped her bag and moved to fix it, separating the double bed into two singles like she'd done before.

As for the race itself, she'd spent most of it tucked into a quiet corner of the McLaren garage, the bulky team headphones resting over her ears as she listened to the radio chatter.

Though she was barely moving, and keeping to herself, the cameras still found her. A couple of times, she caught glimpses of herself on the big screen; a quick cutaway shot before the focus shifted back to the action on track. And so, the longer the day stretched on, the more apparent it became that Oscar was nowhere to be found. The longer it took to spot him— 3D Oscar. Not 2D Oscar on a screen—  the more she wondered if 'being busy' was the only reason for his absence.

Lando had passed through dozens of times.
He'd said hi.

She tried not to overthink it, but it was hard not to when her brain kept filling in the gaps for her. The more time passed, the more impossible it was to derail her mind from other possibilities.

He's not second-guessing all this, is he?

It wasn't like she hadn't thought about it before—that at some point, this whole thing might start feeling like more of a burden than anything. I wouldn't blame him if he was— I figured it'd happen sooner or later.

Andi knew what it meant to be linked to someone like her.

Someone with her reputation.

And, in that way, she wouldn't want to ruin his.

So, she decided, if that was the case, that she'd make it a bit easier for him, with the hope that he'd be okay with it again. She didn't want to bother him, after all. His career was far more important that her love life. If he didn't want to be bothered, she wouldn't bother him. Simple.