VIPER || Oscar Piastri

Chapter 140

[POV: Andreanna Saunterre]

The race was over before I even realised it.

The noise collapsed into a strange silence— but I think I was the only one who could hear it. I looked around, and hands were clapping, mouths were cheering, and teams were spilling out in a blur of orange and black, but I couldn't hear any of it. I could hear ringing, and that was all.

I joined them without thinking, and started mimicking their applause.

Engines cut out. The cars were rolled in. Lando was the first to climb out, Oscar after him. The mechanics reached for them, patting their backs, pressing water bottles into their hands. I watched it all happen from the edges.

Then Oscar looked my way. I don't know how he knew I was here.

He found me through the scatter of bodies and noise, and I forced the corners of my mouth upward. For a second I held it, because he was looking, but and then it faded from my face, because he wasn't anymore.

Lando followed Oscar's gaze. His helmet was off, his hair sticking damp to his forehead. He saw me too, but his look did not linger. It slid past me, nothing but a flicker, almost nothing, but enough for it to feel personal.

He's disappointed. I know that look.

I don't need words for that.

I didn't stop clapping, didn't break my flow. I kept smiling as the applause carried on. Cameras flashed. I just stood there, clapping in rhythm, part of the backdrop.

Inside the garage, I was the only one left. I watched Lando turn away, watched the team close around him and Oscar. I stayed where I was. I had no part to play in a circle I was about to leave. I knew that.

And then— a thought.

It came slowly.

It didn't surprise me; It was not sudden. It had been waiting, and now it was here.

I will never do this again.
I will never be back here again.

In the distance, I could see that Oscar's face was flushed, his hair plastered down, his grin unshaken even as he was pulled from one hand to another. I watched him take it all in— the congratulations, the pats on the shoulder, the way everyone lifted him up.

He is happy here.

I knew he would be fine. He had everything he needed. He didn't need me standing at the edge of the room, he didn't need me, period.

And so the thought was calm when it landed; That when I am gone and he is still here, maybe he won't notice the space I took up. Maybe he won't remember to look my way, and he won't know to look for me. I hope he doesn't look for me.

I hope he keeps smiling like that. I hope nothing I leave behind reaches him, once today is done.

And today is almost done.

There is only one thing left to do.

*

Oscar was already talking, walking ahead of me with a spring in his step I wasn't sure I'd ever witnessed before. He was talking so much, and so fast, jumping from one thing to the next.

He sounded like me.

"And then we're thinking maybe a trip after the holiday, yeah? Nothing too crazy, just somewhere nice. Lando and I have been tossing ideas around—beach, mountains, I don't care, but if it's skiing I'm refusing on the spot. I've had my go at the slopes, and I'm not having Lando be better than me at something. Oh, and I got tickets for—" He kept talking, barely letting a breath escape, and I followed behind him, just trying to keep up without actually participating.