second chances ~ ollie bearman (2)

part 105

i walked down the paddock alongside kimi, answering a question here and there to the people filming us as we enter, before splitting off to our seperate garages.

as i reach the aston martin garage, i go and say a quick hello to everyone before finding jules.

"angel! someone's early." he says, looking up from the screen he was analysing data from.

"er no, i'm on the fan stage in 20 minutes." i remind him.

"oh yes, i forgot about that."

"what happened with lance? how come i didn't know about it?" i whisper.

"to be honest, i only heard about it yesterday. i think they just didn't sign him for next year- must have someone good lined up."

"like who?" i ask, curious.

"i don't know, not that many contract up this year. there's hamilton, sargeant, i don't know off the top of my head."

"let me know when you find out yeah? i'm going to go see lance." i say, patting jules on the shoulder as he nods, half paying attention to me, half paying attention to the screen in front of him.

"meeting in 1 hour 30!" he shouts after me as i shout back a response.

i head back o the drivers rooms and knock on lance's door, followed by a 'come in'.

"hey you alright?" i ask, opening the door and leaning against the wall.

"yeah sorry i couldn't make it last night, but i've seen videos and you were amazing."

"thank you, if you er don't mind me asking but why aren't you staying next year?"

"i just think my time in formula one is over. i love the team, but it's a lot of pressure."

"are you going to carry on racing?" i ask, feeling bad for lance.

i know he isn't the most liked driver on the grid, but i don't know why he gets so much hate. i couldn't have asked for a better teammate for my first year in formula one.

"yeah, i'm going to endurance racing. le mans and all that. hopefully it has some nicer fans." he says.

"well, you will definitely see me in paddock watching. and you don't deserve the hate you get. they don't know you at all." i say, giving him a reassuring smile.

"thank you, i don't know how you just ignore all their comments."

"i don't, not at all. i pay so much attention to them it drives me crazy some days."

"you don't show it."

"i'm a really good liar." i lie, making him laugh.

"no, i er... it's hard. sometimes you just have to turn your phone off. remove yourself from social media when it gets bad, or when you know it will be bad. i've not been on it since yesterday..."

"do you want to head to the fan zone? we are on the stage in a few minutes." lance says, changing the subject.

"yeah i'll just put my bag next door." i say, as we both leave the room.

10 minutes later we were waiting beside the stage with max and daniel who were going onto the stage with us, whilst we all waiting for the two mclaren drivers to finish their interview.

finally, after saying a quick hello to lando and oscar, we head onto the stage, the fans cheering as we walk out.

after we all answer a few questions, mostly questions for lance and max, we walked over to a table on the stage which had cupcakes and things to decorate them with.

"okay, so you four have to each decorate a cake and then i will judge on whose is best." the interviewer says.

"obviously me." i reply, taking my place beside max as he gives me a look.

"yeah right." he says, shaking his head.

"you get two minutes to decorate your cake, and it starts now!"

i grab the frosting and begin to decorate my cake with it, mine already looking better than max, lance and daniel's.

two minutes later, the alarm goes off and we all stop decorating. clearly, lance and daniel have never decorated a cake before. max's wasn't that bad, but mine was still a lot better.

"lance! what happened here?" the interviewer asks, picking up his cake which had a mountain of frosting on it with sprinkles all over.

"yeah, i don't really know, i've never decorated a cake before." he says, laughing.

"angel's is amazing!"

"it could be better but with only two minutes i didn't have too long." i reply.

"max's is actually a lot better than i thought." i say, as the interviewer moves onto showing his cake.

"i make them with P all the time." he says.

"and daniel, i don't even think i need to ask."

"yeah no, never decorated a cake in my life." daniel says.

"so i think we have a clear winner." the interviewers says, as i smile.

"can i put it in max's face?" i ask, as max slowly takes a step away.

"i don't think that would be very-" the interviewer says as i pick up the cake and put it in max's face, obviously getting a cheer from the crowd.

"P is going to love hearing about this, i think she likes you more than me at this point." max says as he is handed a tissue to wipe his face whilst i laugh.

we all head down to the barrier to sign some hats and take some photos, before our time in the fan zone was over, and it was time to head back to the garage.

"angel, can i ask you something?" max asks, as we slow down our walking away from lance and daniel.

"yeah what is it?"

"are the rumours true? about you and ollie? i wouldn't expect them to be but i just want to check."

"what rumours? i've not really been on social media to avoid comments."

"just people saying you two broke up, or that your going through a break." he says, the fuck?

"what? no, we haven't broken up. why would people think that?" i ask.

"theres a photo going round of ollie in the paddock during your performance, and people saying you didn't arrive together. i knew it wouldn't be true, but just wanted to check you know?"

"yeah yeah, thanks for letting me know. it's unbelievable the shit people come up with. we will sort it out." i reply, before thanking max again as he heads into the red bull garage.

but that doesn't make any sense, ollie was at my show? i saw him the whole time.

|| authors note ~ hope you enjoy! ❤️