SIXTEEN

"What are you doing here?"

Pierre Gasly questioned with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, his mouth slightly ajar, his hands moving around in front of his body, his eyes wide and startled.

"What are you doing here?"

Daniel Ricciardo yelped as he rounded a corner as he became face to face with the French man, his body jumping upwards, his hands shooting up to cover his mouth.

"Josie and I planned to go to the movies last week." Pierre answered, his body still full of confusion. "Your turn."

"Josie asked me to be with her today because her parents are coming over, and she wanted somebody with her to be the mediator." Daniel spoke to his friend, having only arrived to Josie's apartment a few seconds before the Gasly man.

The two men both jumped as the apartment door was opened suddenly, with Josephine jumping herself as she spotted more than just one person.

"Movies?" Pierre furrowed his eyebrows together as he watched her wince.

"Parents. They didn't give me much notice that they were coming, I'm sorry." Josephine apologised to her nephew, pulling him in to a hug, pressing a small kiss to his temple.

"That's okay, they can't be mean to you if there's two more people here, can they?" Pierre's face lit up in to a bright smile, deciding to stay and keep her and Daniel company since he figured that her parents were not going to be nice.

She had never mentioned her parents before, so he had a pretty good idea as to what to expect.

"When are they supposed to arrive?"

Daniel questioned as the three of them entered the apartment, with both Formula One drivers noticing how nervous Josie seemed to be at the thought of seeing her parents again.

"About now."

Knock Knock

The sound of the door knocking made them turn back towards the door, barely a minute after they had both arrived, with Daniel moving to answer the door, his smile bright and welcoming.

"Hello Mr and Mrs Rankin, my name is Daniel, please come in."

The duo that was Jonathan and Janet Rankin walked in without saying a word, their faces unamused at the man who had held the door open for them, rolling their eyes at the man.

"Josephine, shouldn't it just be the three of us? Shouldn't they be out buying us coffee?" Jonathan Rankin questioned his daughter with a stern gaze, his jaw clenched, his brows stitched in to a frown.

"No, it shouldn't." Josephine spoke up, chewing on her bottom lip. "You're lucky that you were allowed in my home in the first place."

Pierre and Daniel gulped nervously, the atmosphere awkward.

"Excuse me?"

"I am not as successful now as I once was, I have struggled with grief, depression and loss, but you didn't once reach out and ask how I was, or if I was coping, you left me and abandoned me to rot away all because I wasn't giving you as much money as you wanted. I was never a daughter to you! I was an income for you, and that's it!" Josephine barely raised her voice, holding back the tears as her hands began to shake.

"Blake was the only one to care! My brother, who was in the middle of a deployment, cared more and spoke to me more than my own parents who lived twenty minutes away! You have the audacity to turn up here and boss around the people that I care about when you can't even acknowledge that I exist!

"You can't speak to us like that, Josephine, we're your parents. We raised you better than this." Janet Rankin interrupted her daughter with a scolding glare, her finger pointing harshly towards the young woman.

"Did you? I must've lost my memories when I lost my respect for you."

Daniel winced as he heard the words leave his Josie's lips, knowing that those words would definitely hurt her parents, with Pierre slapping his hand over his lips to stop himself from laughing.

"Josephine, how dare yo-"

"Get out of my home, I am glad that I had my chance to confront you, and that's only because of those people right there." The Rankin woman pointed towards the two racing drivers. "Without them, I would've died from rotting away because you both never cared for your daughter. You only cared for your bank balance. So I never want to hear from you or speak to you again, now leave."

Pierre Gasly held a smug grin upon his face as he escorted the two towards the door, waving at them before pushing them through the door, slamming it in their face.

"Now that was cool." Pierre grinned, rushing over to hug his friend, giving her comfort that he knew she needed. "It's way better than any movie that we could have watched."

Daniel quickly engulfed her in to a hug of his own, his chin resting on the top of her head, his lips pressing softly on to her forehead since he could see how much energy it had taken for her to confront her parents.

"Josè, we are so proud of you, that wasn't easy but you did a great job." Daniel reassured her, hugging her as Pierre sent a text message in to the group chat, a smile on his face.

"Now I do want to watch a movie." The Australian model laughed, small tears being held in her eyes which she managed to blink away, refusing to let them fall.

"Good, because I've invited the boys here for a movie night." Pierre grinned, noticing how his Auntie's eyes widened, a gasp leaving her lips.

"Well that totally isn't going to be a load of chaos." Daniel cackled, his arm wrapped around the waist of the woman beside him.

"Everything about you guys is chaos."

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"Okay, when you said 'the boys' I didn't think that it would be this many people."

Josephine Belle Rankin laughed lightly as she held the door to her apartment open, watching as a bunch of people walked through the door, some of which, she had never met before.

Daniel Ricciardo stood in his place behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist, seeing how she laughed at the actions of some of the boys.

Arthur and Charles Leclerc barrelled in to their Aunt to hug her, the both of them having been told all about what happened with her parents by Pierre, and wanted to cheer her up.

Plus, they hadn't seen her in three days, and they missed her.

Esteban Ocon walked calmly in to the apartment with a box of wine within his grasp, stopping only to kiss the cheek of his best friend, before carrying on walking, placing the wine down on to the kitchen counter.

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton entered simultaneously, with the Hamilton man wrapping his arms around the shoulders of his best friend, greeting her and comforting her before he took his place on the sofa beside Charles.

The group of boys that she had never met before were waiting outside of her apartment nervously, not wanting to enter her home unless she allowed them to.

Because they were finally meeting the Josephine Rankin.

"Guys, you look like a bunch of naughty children, come in, Josie doesn't bite." Daniel laughed loudly, wrinkles forming around his eyes as he laughed, loving how some of his friends were nervous and frozen in place.

"Alex, Lando, come on!" George cackled, waving his friends to come in to the room though only one of them did.

"Uh, hi, I brought you some champagne, it's uh, nice to meet you."

Alex Albon smiled as he took a step forward, lifting his hand to rub at the back of his neck, his other hand outstretched towards the model with the champagne within it.

Josephine smiled gratefully as she accepted the gift, before wrapping her arms around the Thai boy and pulling him in to a hug, his tall frame towering over her.

"Do I have to drag you three in here?" The Rankin woman rolled her eyes at the three remaining people who refused to just enter her home.

"Yes."

"No."

"Please do."

Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen spoke in unison, their smiles bright, their cheeks flushed red.

"Okay, well you'll have to watch the movie from there if you're refusing to come in, and I hope that you aren't thirsty... because the drinks are all in here." Josephine giggled as she sauntered her way back towards the sofa, nestling herself between Daniel and Arthur, the latter of which immediately nestled himself in to her side.

The Verstappen boy immediately rushed in to the apartment, handing a bottle of wine to his host before grabbing a beer and joining his friends on the sofa.

The remaining two shot their heads to face one another before finally joining the group, the door closing behind them as the group cheered loudly.

"Fucking finally!"

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A/N

This isn't super depressing for once, yayyyy

What do you think?

Anyway, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter and I'll see you all soon for the next one,

I'm so proud of all of you, my loves

Love you all,

-RUBY 🇵🇸🇨🇩🇸🇩🇸🇸🇺🇦🇾🇪