𝙾𝙾𝙾. ꗃ 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚 ▬▬▬▬
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LEXA HAD ARRIVED IN THE middle of the chaos. Her dad had explained to her the reason why there were so many workers at the McLaren headquarters practically running with mountains of documents and paperwork: they were getting all the details ready for the start of the 2023 Formula 1 season.

She knew that the first race of the season, the Bahrain Grand Prix, would take place in a couple of weeks. The team was working really hard on the last modifications they would make for the car, some legal stuff concerning the FIA, partnering contracts, planning the whole trip and other stuff she couldn't even imagine.

She arrived in London a week ago after four years of being away, with only occasional visits for Christmas and summer. She had been studying Communications and Public Relations in Paris, at the same time she was doing some small jobs she had got there as a model for brands. Lexa had finished her studies at the start of the summer, however, she had stayed in France until the start of 2023, as her internship and some of her contracts ended then.

When she first arrived, her dad had given her a week to catch up with her old friends and relax before taking her to the McLaren Technology Centre. She wasn't sure what exactly she was supposed to do there: all her father had told her was that she would start working there, because apparently someone had left the PR department recently and they needed someone new.

She'd had her doubts at first: she had wanted to get a job by her own efforts and not because her father was the CEO, so Zak had ended up giving the people on the PR team her resume, and in the end they decided that not only was she a good fit for the job, but she also had a good reputation in the modelling industry, so she would definitely appeal to partners and supporters of the team. That had made her feel better, knowing that she would be there for more reasons than just being the CEO's relative and that her actual capacities and what she had achieved until then would be taken into account.

"So..." She started. "What exactly is my job here?"

"Yea, about that," Zak looked like the question had taken him by surprise. He had forgotten to tell her before. "I already talked with Scarlett, from the PR department. She will show you where to start, there's more to it to what you've studied until now. But that will be later, I want you to meet the team before that."

She nodded. Lexa guessed that the 'more to it' part had something to do with knowing how the races worked and not as much with Public Relations. She knew her degree was useful, but the way they worked here was a lot more specialized. It probably wouldn't be difficult to learn anyway, and the fact that someone would show her what to do during her first days made her feel relieved.

Zak continued with what he was saying as they walked: "Everyone here gets along pretty well, and I bet you will become a part of the team in no time".

To be fair, Lexa got pretty nervous every time she had to meet new people. She wasn't exactly the most extroverted person in the world and often doubted on what to say, so it was a struggle to get close with people a most times. But she thought that once she would get the awkwardness of the start out of the picture, everything should be good.

"I organized a meeting in a couple of minutes." Zak informed his daughter. "Everyone should be there by now, so let's get going."

He wasn't wrong. By the time they got to the room the meeting was going to be in, the room was full. There were some people Lexa knew. She remembered Andrea Stella, the team leader of McLaren who had been working there for years and had recently been promoted. He visited the Brown's home sometimes, and she had met him a couple of times when she was there for holidays.

She also recognised some of the drivers: the first one that caught her eye was Bianca Bustamante, a young promising girl who drove for the F1 academy. Lexa had followed her on social media a while ago and they had talked a couple of times through their DMs. Bianca seemed to be engaged in a conversation with Pato O'Ward, who Lexa knew was the reserve driver for the team.

On the other side of the room, both Formula 1 drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, were talking to each other with a smile on their faces. Lexa didn't know much about them: she had never met them and, as far as she knew, it was Piastri's first year at McLaren. Her dad had only talked about him recently, when he told her about the new driver working with the company this year.

He had, however, been talking about Lando Norris for years. She knew he was the golden boy of McLaren and how close her dad and him were. From what he had told her, they even went to play golf together sometimes when they had the opportunity. She also had heard how the girls in the Parisian modelling world talked about him. The last news she had got was how happy some of them were to know that he had broken up with his girlfriend some months ago. Some of them were waiting for their chance, but had confessed they only saw him as a young, famous and rich guy who would make their modelling careers take off. When they found out who Lexa was, she had received multiple requests to ask Lando for his number for them when she would get back to England. She had told them she would see what she could do, but knowing most of them saw him as an opportunity for a selfish goal, and how easily his number could get leaked, she knew she wasn't gonna do it.

After Zak had given a general greeting, everyone in the room turned their heads to them. Most of them knew who she was, the CEO had informed them about the reason of the meeting. However, some of them were just called to attend, having no idea what it was for.

One of the last ones was Oscar Piastri, who turned his head back to Lando with a confused expression when Andrea Stella had taken some steps forward to greet Lexa. Lando, noticing his teammate's face, explained what the CEO had been telling him since weeks ago:

"That's Alexa, Zak's daughter and the reason of the meeting." He whispered so they wouldn't hear. "From what I know, she's gonna be working here from now on".

Oscar gave him thumbs up, letting him know that he had understood. On the other side of the room, they could see an excited Bianca Bustamante approaching her. Both girls introduced each other and hugged, happy to finally meet in person. After that, Zak proceeded to talk to all the people in the room.

"Good morning, team," he greeted again, to capture everyone's attention. "I have called you to this meeting because I wanna introduce you to my daughter, who some of you probably already know, Alexa. She just came back to London after some years of studying in Paris, and she will start working in the PR department. I'm sure you will get along, so I hope she gets a good welcoming."

Zak started to introduce the people in the room individually to his daughter. She greeted the main engineers and aerodynamicists and had some words with them about their job, curious as to what they did. Then, they talked with some of the members of the PR team, who had complemented her and some of her works as a model she had done when she was back in Paris. Comments on how excited they were to work with her were also mentioned.

Scarlett, a young blonde woman, who seemed close to Alexa's age, introduced herself and informed her that she would guide her through her first days. They exchanged words on where they would start and arranged they would meet after the meeting so Scarlett could give her a tour.

"Saved the best for last, no?" joked Lando when they were coming their way. Zak gave him a sarcastic smile and ignored his comment, looking at the other boy.

"This is Oscar Piastri, It's his first year here. I'm pretty sure I already told you about him" Alexa nodded and greeted the Australian driver. He seemed really polite and a little shy, unlike his companion. "And this muppet right here is Lando Norris."

"I would say it's a pleasure, but my dad keeps complaining about you, says you have been tormenting him for years." She joked. Lando tilted his head towards Zak, offended, and the older man glared at his daughter.

"Great to know." Said the British driver. "I've heard a lot about you, too."

Alexa arched her brows, curious about what he had to say. He understood what she wanted to know, and his expression seemed like he was about to laugh, while Oscar looked like he didn't understand a single thing about what was going on.

"You know, teenage gossip" he explained. "Zak used to ask me for advice".

"He used to what?" She was now the one glaring at his father, so he proceeded to explain himself.

"What? You're almost the same age and I didn't understand your teenage dramas, so I just asked Lando."

The one mentioned giggled, and Lexa then knew that Zak had probably told him about how stupid she was in high school back when she had just started dating her first boyfriend. It was a time of her life she preferred not to remember, it felt kind of embarrassing now.

"Just forget he told you all of that."

"Why would I?"

"It's embarrassing," she replied awkwardly.

A satisfied grin painted Lando's face, amused by her reaction. On the other side of the room, he saw Will, his race engineer, make a hand gesture to him, signalling they had work to do. Then, Lando spoke again: "We'll see. Oscar and I have to go hop on the car for the simulator now, but it was a pleasure. I'll see you around, Lexa."

Zak and his daughter said goodbye briefly to both drivers as they disappeared through the door along with some engineers. Then, Alexa turned to her dad.

"Is he always like this?" She asked curiously.

"No. I mean, yes." Zak seemed like he didn't know what to say. "Don't know, he can be unpredictable at times."

Alexa shrugged her shoulders, taking that as an answer. Zak added that he had to go to his office to sign some papers, and informed her that Scarlett was probably waiting for her outside the room.

It was exactly as he had said. After they bid each other goodbye, the blonde woman was standing in the corridor and asked Alexa to follow her. Scarlett gave her a brief tour of the floor she was to be based on, along with other members of the PR division.

Lexa was happy to know they had been given an individual office, which meant she would have her own space in the building. It wasn't too spacious, but enough for her to be able to work or even rest a little sometimes. The light came through a big window at the back of the room, the only one in the office. There were some of the things she expected: a desk with a computer and a lamp on it, a small couch on the other side, lots of shelves and some plants for decoration. It was quite simple and cosy.

"It might look a little bit boring now," Scarlett commented. "But you can decorate it more if you want. You know, paintings, flowers... Whatever you like."

Alexa shook her head. "I like it how it is." she said.

"Alright." The blonde one smiled tightly. "Get comfy then, I'll send you your first task in a bit. You'll help me organise a meeting with our main partners to share our expectations for the season with them."

"Sounds good."

"Whatever you need, I'm in the office next door," Scarlett added, while walking through the door. "Oh, and welcome again!"

Alexa had a feeling they would become good friends. For a moment, she got excited, knowing this new chapter in her life would bring a lot of good experiences to her. Everything was too new for her still, but she couldn't wait to get used to working at McLaren.

▬▬ 𝓐𝚄𝚃𝙷𝙾𝚁'𝚂 𝙽𝙾𝚃𝙴
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Hello! I came back from a long time of not using wattpad but I fell in love with everything about F1 (especially Lando) and decided I HAD to write about it. I also wanted to start writing my fics in English (which is making me realise my English is more broken than I thought), but perhaps if this one does well I could translate it to Spanish in the future.

xoxo,
Lu.

▬▬ 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚 ▬▬
𝖴𝖯𝖣𝖠𝖳𝖤: 17/12/23
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