Nicole 🏎️

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The first time Liam met the new vcarb social media admin, he wasn’t paying much attention. He was exhausted, easily distracted by the warm sunlight though the window and his legs ached from his workout earlier. He wasn’t rude, (his parents raised him better than that thank you very much!) he just wouldn’t call the meeting particularly memorable.

That’s why when he walked into the paddock next race and saw you standing there, team shirt on and phone in hand, he was only slightly surprised before he remembered a new member of staff.

“Morning Liam,” you said cheerfully. “How are you today?” And really that should have been his first clue, the old admin never asked how he was, but Liam was woefully ignorant at this point. “Good thanks, how are you?”

“Good. You looking forward to the race?”

“Yeah dude, love this track!”

“How many questions do you think I can ask before you get into the paddock?”

Liam had been doing social media duty for vcarb long enough that he wasn’t phased by most of the stuff they came up with. He was online but not enough to keep up with trends and that was fine by him. In light of this, he didn’t give the question much thought.

“Three, I reckon,” he said confidently, continuing to stride forwards.

“What’s your favourite colour?”

He grinned before cheekily launching into an explanation spanning a few minutes.

You were unphased, merely smiling and nodding before moving to your next question.

“Favourite meal?”

“Burgers.” The vcarb garage was in sight…

“Favourite city?”

Again he started waffling about how he loved different cities before stepping onto the bottom step of the team building.

“See, I was right. Three!” he said with a grin, looking at you instead of the camera.

“Well, actually it was five…” you replied, laughing in delight.

Liam was caught completely off guard. It may very well be the best laugh he’d ever heard but the complete joy on your face was breathtaking. He was definitely staring but he didn’t know how to stop.

“I asked ‘how are you?’ and ‘are you looking forward to the race?’” you said, laughing again. Liam’s brain took a good few seconds to catch up before realisation hit.

“Dammit!” He clenched his hands bringing them to his face in frustration. “You are so annoying!” The massive smile on his face gave away the fact that he wasn’t truly annoyed. You stopped recording as you both stepped into the building.

“I’m sorry, Liam,” you said, turning to face him.

“No, you’re not.”

“Nah, I’m not,” you replied, grinning and giving him a wink before walking in the opposite direction. Liam was so screwed.

The problem was it kept happening. Liam knew he was being ragebaited but he just kept falling for it. He would see you and the feeling of his heart trying to beat out of his chest would take over and he’d forget he was supposed to be paying way more attention to what you were saying. And then you’d get to the “gotcha” moment and that laugh he loved would appear and he wouldn’t even care anymore. Sure, he’d still get a bit frustrated about it all, but with a smile on his face that showed he secretly loved it. In the privacy of his hotel room, he’d convince himself this was your way of flirting with him but in the cold light of day, he knew you were just doing your job. Your job was to get content and for some reason, the fans loved to see him get ragebaited. So it kept happening and he kept falling for you even harder every time it did.

One race weekend he was waiting in the queue for coffee. He had a bit of time before social media filming and had decided caffeine was in order. When he got to the counter, he smiled and made conversation before giving his order. Somehow he found himself also ordering a coffee for you. He knew you loved coffee enough that it was part of your personality at this point and he’d overheard your coffee order once. Liam hadn’t realised he’d committed it to memory until he was saying it out loud but it didn’t surprise him. He remembered everything about you - things you’d told him, things others said about you (always positive, which made him strangely proud), and things he overheard. Running his hands through his hair, he grabbed both coffees, thanked the barista and headed to the room on his schedule.

“I told you he’d be late!” yelled Arvid, as soon as Liam walked in.

“What? I’m not late?” he protested, attempting to look at his watch and not spill either of the coffees.

“Arvid, it’s ok. He’s on time,” you piped up. He smiled gratefully at you before remembering the coffee. Walking up to you, he thrust the cup into your hand.

“Coffee.” Jeez, real intelligent Liam. Can’t even speak a whole sentence now.

“Wait…you got me coffee?” you asked, eyes wide as you took the takeaway cup from him.

“Uh, yeah,” he mumbled, staring at the ground and willing himself not to blush.

“Oh my god, no one ever gets me coffee. That’s so sweet, thank you!” He looked up just in time to see a quick look of awe flash across your face before a small smile replaced it, eyes meeting his. His heart was beating so painfully loud in his chest, he was terrified you could hear it. Truthfully, that was the only sound he could hear. The world felt like it stopped when you looked at him like that, sounds quietened and everything reduced to just him and you in this one moment. But all good things have to end, including this one.

“Are we doing this or not?” Arvid’s voice interrupted, and the world came crashing back into Liam’s orbit with a jolt.

“Yeah, we are. I like the enthusiasm!” You turned away from Liam and moved to get your notes and explain the plan.

Liam couldn’t get the “coffee incident”, as he had taken to calling it, out of his head. So often he was tempted to walk around holding coffee just so he could give it to you when he saw you but that was stupid. You both got redbull for free and he would look ridiculous carrying coffee everywhere. Plus, he’d definitely get told to replace it with a can of redbull. He sighed as his car approached the paddock gates. He had spent weeks trying to figure out how to spend more time with you or get to know you better and got nowhere. He was running out of ideas but at least he knew you’d be waiting for him as he entered. That was enough, for now.

He’d had a great race. Even he was proud of himself, some good overtakes to silence the haters, for a bit at least. He stood out on the balcony basking in the sun, suit pulled down to his waist. He had been wearing a team vest earlier but he’d taken it off and chosen to enjoy the warmth topless.

“Hey Liam, can we do a quick race debrief?” He heard your voice and spun round just in time to see you step out onto the balcony. Over time he’d gotten used to noticing every tiny detail about you. This is the only reason he noticed your eyes drop to his chest. Very briefly, but there was definitely a look.

“Uh, I…uh…debrief?” you stammered, making no attempt to move from where your initial step had been.

Holy shit. That was cute. No, it was goddamn adorable. He liked that it was you getting flustered instead of him, for a change. And over his chest? He should definitely walk around topless more often. He filed that away for later.

The next day, Liam walked into hospitality still pondering how he could casually spend more time with you outside of media duties. Recently every time he’d been about to come over or go find you, someone had needed him somewhere but today you were sitting on a corner table by yourself. Maybe this was his lucky day?

“Mind if I join you?” he asked as you looked up to acknowledge him. The smile he got in return was his favourite thing.

“Liam! Of course.”

He put his plate of lunch on the table and sat down.

“What are you up to?” he asked, seeing your notebook and pen in front of you.

“Just brainstorming new ways to torture you…” you quipped with a wink. Oh god, Liam couldn’t breathe. You winked at him. He took a few seconds to realise what you said.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve been tortured enough at this point,” he said with a self deprecating groan.

“Nope, the fans want more. Gotta give the people what they want.”

“Maybe they want to see you too?” probed Liam and you laughed.

“They definitely don’t. They would much rather see your topless thirst traps!”

“Them or you?” asked Liam with a smirk. He was pushing his luck, he knew, but he was feeling daring after that wink.

“Er…them. Definitely them.” That may have been what you said out loud, but your voice was trembling and Liam couldn’t help but notice the slight blush that covered your cheeks. He grinned for the rest of lunch like an idiot.

Another race weekend, another quali debrief with his favourite social media admin. Media duties were fast becoming one of the things he looked forward to, and that was saying something.

“So Liam, you’ve yacht to be kidding me, what a quali,” you said, thrusting the mic towards him. To be honest, he had been distracted by how good you looked today and he hadn’t been paying attention. He wasn’t topless today but he was wearing his hat backwards and the team vest with his biceps on show and knew he looked good. Or at least he hoped you thought so. Leaning against the balcony, he grinned, “that wasn’t a question.”

“You absolutely sailed through Q1 & Q2…”

“How long did it take you to write these?” asked Liam with a laugh. He was imagining you brainstorming and thinking about him and it was lowkey frying his brain. He couldn’t help the quick glance at your lips. They looked so soft and kissable. He really hoped the camera hadn’t caught that.

“You were really cruising out there. We were in oar of you this afternoon.”

Liam couldn’t have stopped smiling even if the world was ending. Who knew he was such a sucker for boat puns, but you looked so proud of yourself and he had your full attention and honestly, there was nowhere else he would rather be.

“Oar, like an oar,” he mimed. “You’re so weird!” He was hoping by this point you’d understood that him calling you “annoying” and “weird” was him flirting.

“I can’t wait to sea what you do tomorrow,” you said, and was it his imagination but did you give him a once over? He waited for the mic to come back to him but you didn’t move it. Oh he really hoped you were distracted by him as he gestured for the mic back. You laughed and he lost his mind.

“Yes,” he didn’t even know what he was answering anymore.

“Let’s mona-go.”

If anyone else had made him say this he would have told them to get lost, but you were smiling and the sun was shining and he was so gone.

“Let’s mona-go.”

The answering cheer was worth it.

Liam was eating lunch in hospitality and daydreaming about you when Arvid plopped down into the seat beside him.

“Mate, I gotta ask you, when are you gonna ask her out?”

Liam panicked, was it that obvious?

“Who?” he asked, trying to keep his voice from trembling.

“Who do you think? The social media admin you’ve been crushing on for months now. It’s painful to watch.”

“Oh god,” muttered Liam, putting his face in his hands. This was bad.

“She likes you back, you know…” said Arvid, casually, like he hadn’t just said something that stopped Liam’s heart dead.

“What?”

“She’s always staring at you when you’re not looking. And I may have overheard her the other day saying your smile was cute and your biceps were very distracting,” said Arvid with a shrug. Liam was sure that his teammate must be winding him up. There was just no way this was true, was it? As if reading his mind, Arvid piped up again.

“I’m not making this up. She’s into you dude, go for it.”

Liam sighed. “What if she says no? And then it’s super awkward at work?” he asked quietly.

“Trust me bro, she’s not gonna say no.”

Liam wasn’t entirely convinced but he figured he should probably make a move soon.

The problem with putting off an action is that sometimes fate has a way of giving you a little push. Liam was making his way back from the media pen when he saw you. You had your head back fully laughing and it made his heart skip a beat. That was until he figured out what, or rather who, you were laughing at… a dude in a haas shirt that he was sure did their social media. His fists clenched as a jealousy he didn’t even know he was capable of took over his body. The man’s hand gently touched your arm as he leaned in and whispered in your ear. Liam turned on his heels and walked away. Tomorrow. Tomorrow he would ask you out. If it wasn’t already too late.

The next day Liam woke up before his alarm and remembered today was the day he made a move. He was already nervous and really hoped you felt the same way. Trying to work with you after being rejected was going to be so awkward. He nearly talked himself out of it a few times but finally as his car pulled into the car park in front of the paddock, he took a deep breath and gave himself one final pep talk.

“Morning Liam. I’ve got a question…”

“Of course you do, of course you do!” he said laughing.

“Well if you’re going to be like that, you ask me a question then!” you responded with a grin and an eye roll. Liam grinned, this was the perfect opening…

“Would you like to go out for dinner with me tonight?”

You dropped your phone. And then accidentally kicked it with your foot before fumbling to pick it up again, forgetting it was recording, camera aimed towards the tarmac. Liam thought it may be the most adorable thing he’d ever seen.

“You know, I answer your questions all the time. It’s only fair you answer mine,” he said, running his hands through his hair unconsciously.

“Yes! I mean…uh…I would really like that.”

Liam’s answering grin could have powered the whole of New York City for a year. His cheeks were hurting from smiling so hard but he didn’t care. He took a step towards you and gently took the phone out of your hand before turning the camera towards him and kissing your cheek. You both turned away and blushed. Somehow the video got uploaded anyway. It was the most viewed vcarb video to date.