Minefield of Mirrors

-31-

As Iris was on her way to the AlphaTauri garage to bring back some piece of paperwork she had lent during the last Grand Prix, she noticed how many reporters were actually in the paddock during the Thursday. Of course, it made sense because this day was specifically meant for the PR and stuff, but she had never realized how many reporters and camera crews were present. It felt a little overwhelming.

She checked the time on her phone and noticed it was almost two o'clock in the afternoon. Time had flown by this morning and she felt not even near to being ready for tomorrow. There were still plenty of little meetings planned for this afternoon and she was afraid she wasn't going to be able to meet up with Mick this afternoon. Yes, she had promised it before she took the plane this morning, but she hadn't foreseen all these meetings to happen. Iris had hoped many of them would've taken place in the morning so she could just work things out during the afternoon. Yet the reality wasn't like that at all.

'If it isn't Iris Jansen!'

A McLaren driver showed up next to Iris and she smiled when she looked at the goofy facial expression of the person next to her. 'Well, well! If it isn't Lando Norris.'

'Wait, what? He's here? Are you sure? Where?' Lando turned around to look for the imaginary version of himself.

Iris slapped his arm and started to laugh. 'Oh, you dumbass! Shouldn't you be somewhere else to act like the comedian?'

'Nah, I've got half an hour off, so I thought I would just walk around in the paddock.' He simply said as he walked along with Iris past all the different reporters. 'But I was actually hoping to cross you.'

He easily got Iris's attention. 'Oh? Anything urgent?'

'For me? Yes. To others? Not really.' He waved at some people he knew before he resumed talking. 'First things first. You are carpooling with me back to the hotel, right?'

'Well, I was actually hoping to finish early before six.' The reason why she was hoping to do so, was something she left behind.

Yeah, it's better not to tell Lando about the whole happening with Max. During the week she had read on the internet that those two were pretty close, so it would be best to not let him in on this matter. If Max decided to do so, then it was fine. Yet she wasn't going to do it first.

Lando playfully bumped into her shoulder. 'Like that is going to happen, Miss Workaholic.'

For a second Iris felt a bit offended, but in a good way. 'No, this Miss is going to finish before six. At least, I'm trying to do so.'

'Exactly.' Lando laughed. 'You'll try. If you will get it done, is a whole other question.'

They walked past a whole set-up where a lounge set was put up and Iris took a quick look. The woman with her question cards just sat down gracefully and crossed her skinny legs in such a way that her perfect high heels would be more visible. Iris couldn't help but feel the little sting of jealousy inside her. Why did this woman have to be so perfect? The beautiful brown curls that were hanging over one of her shoulders and the big round eyes that only complimented more of her features. Of course... Only such women belonged in front of the camera. Women like Iris, women who didn't meet the beauty standard, belonged to a place somewhere behind the camera. Often hidden doing the most important little tasks to give that one particular woman an opportunity to be beautiful in front of a camera. Why did the world have to be like this? Why was there always such a clear divide? 

Iris's eyes wandered to the other side of the set-up and suddenly saw Linsey standing. 

Oh shit. This meant that Max-

Suddenly Lando pulled Iris by her arm towards him. 'Woah, watch where you're walking. You don't want to trip over these boxes.'

Iris looked puzzled at Lando before she looked next to her where little boxes were located on the floor. 'Oh geez, thanks! Completely missed those.'