VIPER || Oscar Piastri

Chapter 106

[POV: Narrator]

"...Verstappen, 2018." Oscar said, deadpan.

"Wrong," Lando shot back immediately, laughing a little too aggressively as he placed the card he was holding onto his pile. "It was Vettel."

Oscar looked at the producer, then back.

"It was Verstappen," he stated, taking the card from Lando's pile to put it where it belonged.

When the producer confirmed that Oscar was right, Lando resorted to hiding his face by lying it down on the table.

"I want a recount," Lando muttered. "You're not even good at trivia."

"I'm literally winning," Oscar replied.

Before either of them could keep bickering, a high-pitched whine cut through the paddock. It started low — a far-off engine whirr. Then it became louder. Closer. Faster. A golf cart appeared, visibly overloaded and going way too fast to be street legal. It came flying around a bend with George Russell in the front seat, both hands braced against the dashboard while Alex Albon was clinging to the roll bar in the back, visibly scared. The cart screeched to a halt so sudden smoke puffed from the tires.

The driver was already standing up before the wheels finished spinning.

Andi.

George immediately scrambled out, staggering over to the nearest bench with the same urgency someone might have after getting off a malfunctioning Tilt-a-Whirl. Alex followed slowly, legs jelly-like, leaning over with his hands on his knees. "I swear she drifted," he mumbled, dizzy somehow. "We drifted, didn't we?"

Andi, oblivious, did a little hop off the cart and jogged up to the McLaren setup like nothing had happened, wearing a smile so wide it was radiant.

Around her neck were multiple lanyards from several different teams, on her head she wore a backwards Red Bull cap, and across her chest was a Mercedes fanny pack with a Max Verstappen plushie dangled from it, just above to a Yuki Tsunoda keychain that swung from her belt loop. She was a basically a walking billboard.

"OSCAR," she called. "LOOK WHAT I GOT."

Lando took an unconscious step back.

She opened up the fanny pack and pulled out a tiny Williams-themed rubber duck — the limited-edition Alex Albon one that she'd made him sign. "I traded my shoes for it," she said, to which Oscar looked down to find that she was now wearing flip-flops. "Good deal, no?"

She then pivoted on her heel to Lando. "And you! I got you something too!"

He stepped back again. "Oh no."

She fished something else from her bag. It was a glittery orange friendship bracelet that said "NORRIS" in alternating beads of orange and black.

"I made it at the Ferrari motorhome," she said proudly. "They had a craft table."

"You made this?"

"Yep!"

"...For me?"

She dangled it in front of his face "Uh.. Obviously?"