chapter two

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19th of april 2019 » skysports' office, isleworth

"we want you to interview a driver,"

haha nope, was the first thing that ran through flora's mind of course she wouldn't just say no, that would have been very unprofessional of her. all the worst case scenarios flew right though her mind. what if she couldn't come up with good questions? what if the driver was  rude to her? what if her article was consequently bad en she'd never get such an opportunity again? drops of sweat were starting to form on flora's forehead, but she tried to stay calm and put this into perspective. it was unsure who the driver would be, if she actually had to interview them or if she actually had to interview them or if she just had to write it out. she attempted to relax before asking the following:

"who will i be interviewing? and will i be doing it on my own?"

"yeah of course, it is just a written interview. as for the driver, we will give you a bit of free choice. you'll interview one of the rookies and we'd like to know before the end of the weekend who."

it would have been immensely inappropriate for flora to jump up, but god she had never wanted to do just that more in her life. her stress immediately disappeared like snow in front of the sun. with this knowledge, she could just pick lando and everything would be okay. flora definitely didn't have to wait till the end of the weekend and immediately said lando's name.

"perfect, then that is settled. you will fly out to azerbaijan wednesday evening and interview him on thursday. you're also expected to write about the whole weekend, just like in china."

flora left lily's office very cheery. she had to walk through a bit of drizzle back to her apartement, still, her spirits were optimally lifted. as soon as she got home, she texted lando to tell him about the interview. a notification on flora's phone let her know that lando was live on twitch, so she didn't expect an answer anytime soon. flora went to bed that night, drifting away at the though of baku.

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25th of april 2019 » azerbaijan grand prix

all the questions for the interview were trimmed to perfection and flora was actually looking forward to the interview. aside from some weird jokes from lando and his lack of concentration, the interview went by smoothly. flora had plenty of stuff that she could use for her article. lando was astonished by the professionalism that flora oozed. the girl had always been sweet, funny and a bit childish in lando's eyes, so this professional attitude surprised lando in a good way. the pair had known each other for several years, nonetheless lando felt as if this was a step in the right direction for flora and her shyness. 

as the two parted ways in the paddock, lando shouted something to flora. after turning back around, flora responded while continuing to walk in the same direction. this was a bad idea. she unknowingly neared charles who was looking down at his phone and who wasn't aware of his surroundings either. her back collided with his chest and charles plummeted to the ground.

"oh my god, i am so sorry. i-i shouldn't have been walking backwards a-anyway. why would i do that anyway? so stupid. so-sorry i'm  rambling." flora spoke while looking in his eyes. they were captivating, especially in the sunlight.

"don't worry, i wasn't looking where i was going either. i'm a bit in a hurry, so i have to go now. enjoy the weekend!" and with that, charles took off. flora shouted a weak "bye" to him, but he likely hadn't heard it.

her blue eyes and red lips kept popping up in charles' mind. he remembered her face form the chinese grand prix, but he couldn't call her name to mind. her adorable and coy aura attracted him to her and seeing the brunette again made him feel some butterflies. he wasn't in a hurry, but he wanted as little time as possible in which he could embarrass himself. the two of them were developing a crush on one another, but none of them had the balls to take it any further.

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26th of april 2019 » azerbaijan grand prix

free practice one was cut short by george russell hitting a drain cover. working further on her interview with lando seemed like the best idea to flora. she had been listening and writing for almost thirty minutes when she got a text from lando, asking if they could meet up. flora quickly agreed and went out to find the brit.

"hello there, little flower." lando said, using the nickname he had for her back in high school.

"oh no, you're not going to start calling me that all the time again, right? 'cause i am not mentally prepared for that." she didn't hate that nickname at all, but it seemed a bit childish to her. she had outgrown the name. well, not physically. if she stood on her toes, her forehead barely reached lando's nose. and he himself definitely wasn't a tall lad.

"why? are you too mature for me? or is the name reserved for a special monegasque in red?" lando said teasingly, wiggling his eyebrows.

"you're awful lando norris, you know that?" flora was shaking her head at lando's awful attempt to play cupid.

"what? you two were talking again yesterday. give it some time and you'll be doing more than that."

"lando, i clumsily bumped into him. nothing more."

"come on flora, he literally fell for you." lando said while laughing a bit too hard at his own joke. luckily, flora was saved from lando's funny torture by carlos joining the conversation.

after a while flora decided to go back and work on her article. lando decided to chaperone her back to where she was before the meetup. they were met with a surprisingly relaxed george russell. lando couldn't help but stop and ask him how he was. george said something about his bum, but flora didn't pay much attention to the conversation. when she observed that the conversation wasn't going to end anytime soon, she thought it was best for her to leave and work on her article. right before she was going, george pulled her into the conversation.

"did lando finally manage to get a girlfriend? how much does he pay you?" george asked in an attempt to involve her in the chat.

"n-no, definitely not. we're just friends." flora smiled at george. he seemed very warm-hearted and she wouldn't mind running into him again.

"stuck in the friend zone." lando commented humorously.

flora told the two boys that she had to get back to work after a couple of minutes and they said their goodbyes. after working hard during lunch and the afternoon, flora finished her written interview with lando. she was able to spend the rest of the weekend as a spectator without any worries. baku unfortunately wasn't as spectacular as the previous two years, but as their slogan said "expect the unexpected". the main thought behind flora's article of the race weekend as a whole was exactly that.

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30th of april 2019 » flora's apartment, london

the usual sickness in her stomach had appeared less this weekend in azerbaijan than in china. talking to new people was less of an obstacle than it used to. she felt comfortable around lando and he pulled her through it. socializing was still far from her favourite activity, but that would most likely never change. it wasn't affecting her as much when she was around people she knew and she was very thankful for lando, in this case. 

cuddled up in a bunch of blankets, flora was watching an episode of game of thrones that she hadn't been able to catch up on. during some dull scenes, flora decided to check her social media. after she had scrolled through her whole instagram feed, her finger hovered over the search tap. after contemplating a bit, she looked up charles_leclerc. after a little while, game of thrones was already long forgotten. before she locked her phone again to watch the series, she tapped the follow button. a hint of braveness flew through her body after she did that. and maybe some butterflies to. she rewound the bit that she missed as a result of her being on instagram and continued her rare, relaxing evening. at the end of the episode, flora had received a notification.

charles_leclerc started following you.

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