𝕄𝕆𝕋𝕀𝕍𝔼. || Lando Norris

✨Part-18✨

Today was Claire's day. She had woken up to a call from her parents, messages from classmates back in Dubai and a phone call from the girls.

For the first time in a while she had a proper conversation with her parents, avoiding topics about her love life of course. They were tired after a long day of work so she pestered them to go sleep.

The call with her girls was chaotic to say the least, she wouldn't be surprised if Sonya called her up saying that the neighbours complained about the ruckus.

At last, she had time to herself, Lando had been counting days until it was her birthday. He didn't reveal too much about what he had planned, he just asked her to stay prepared.

There were impatient knocks on her door, this could only be one person. She opened the door to see him there, beaming.

"Happy birthday Claire!" He chirped giving her a warm hug.

"Thank you Lando." She smiled, "come on in I was going to make pancakes-"

"That won't be necessary I got you breakfast!" He beamed holding up a bag. "Today is your day."

"Ooohhh what did you get?" She asked peaking into the bag he had set on the counter. He had already made his way into the kitchen, looking for cutlery and plates.

"Birthday waffles for you and some boring food for me." He finally came to take a seat.

"Birthday waffles?"

"Yes! Give me a minute." He took out the waffles from their box, it resembled a cake. The waffles being the cake and lots of cream as decoration, he pulled out a candle from the same bag and placed it on top and lit it.

"Make a wish!" He smiled.

"I'm trying not to cry right now. This is so sweet!" She looked at him, to discover that he was already taking photos. "Lando!"

"What!" He looked up from the screen, "go on! Blow the candles."

She looked at the candle, closed her eyes and repeated her wish in her mind. Right now, she only wanted one thing, for everything to work out just fine and maybe have more moments like this with him.

After that was done, they resumed eating. Lando looking rather dissatisfied to be eating porridge and berries while Claire literally savouring every bite of her waffles.

She gently pushed the plate towards him, "Take a bite! I won't tell your trainer." She chuckled.

"Really?"

"I can't see you looking so sad, eat all of it in fact. I feel queasy." She admitted.

"What happened! How are you feeling? Should I call someone?" He asked looking worried.

"No, that won't be necessary it's just a little bit of nausea." She reassured him.

"Good! Because now that we've been fuelled we're going to do some fun things."

"What fun things?"

"You'll know soon." He smirked.

"Just tell me already!"

"Grab your jacket and let's go!" He beamed placing the plates in the sink.

She looked at him in confusion but did what he said, they were off to wherever Lando wanted to take her. Still not telling her what they were going to do, the more she pestered him the lesser he spoke.

After a while they pulled up in a parking lot, the place looked ginormous. She looked at him in even more confusion.

"I'll tell you more soon." He slid out of the car to open the door for her.

She got out of the car and read the ginormous bill board on the equally large structure. They were in the parking lot of an indoor Go-Karting arena.

"I didn't want to do anything too generic for your birthday..."

"Go-Karting?"

"Yes! We're going to have so much fun! And you're going to learn from the best." He smiled cheekily.

"I haven't been in a go-kart since my eighth birthday party." She admitted.

"Here we are! On your 21st birthday, you're going to love it."

"It's also my best shot at understanding what you do for a living." She teased him.

"For this statement I'm going to race you with no mercy. Eat dirt Claire Martin!" He laughed.

"I prefer to do my talking on track." She shot back walking towards the building.

"You won't be allowed on track without your gear ma'am." He laughed.

"But- you refused to tell me so I have no gear!"

"Hi I'm Lando Norris, Formula One driver for McLaren and currently holding a duffel bag with race gear for you." He smiled cheekily.

"Oh."

They walked into the building, the staff directed them towards the changing rooms. Lando was ready within a couple of minutes but Claire took a while to figure how to put the jumpsuit on.

It was time to get racing, the staff at the track strapped them in and gave them instructions on how to drive the kart. Of which Lando obeyed, none.

"I'm doing better than you!" Claire laughed zooming past him shakily.

"You're supposed to warm up first!" He yelled back.

It didn't take long until he was comfortable with the Go-kart and took off, leaving Claire trailing behind, taunting her every time he drove past.

After a while of driving around the two of them were tired, hungry and sweaty. They got out, changed back and headed off to another place Lando would refuse to tell her about.

After a few minutes, they pulled up in front of a place that looked like a typical American diner.

"They serve the best milkshake and fries." Lando explained .

"Good! Because I'm starving." She beamed.

And there it was, he was starting to feel really comfortable around her. When she smiled, laughed or just looked happy, he felt content. This strange tingly thing in his heart he quite didn't know how to describe.

They slid into a little booth and got well, exactly what they were here for-fries and milkshake. None of them spoke, just ate in silence.

"Well, apart from being your birthday, this day's celebrated a lot for other reasons." Lando broke the silence.

"Really? I wasn't aware!" She spoke in a sarcastic tone.

"Well, it's Valentine's Day, the day of love and I have a question for you." He gulped.

She could hear her heartbeat in her ears, oh gosh this was nerve wracking. He looked just as perplexed and he wasn't speaking either!

"Say something!" She laughed nervously.

"Are we- like- Are we allowed to see other people?" He stuttered.

Claire felt her heart stop. She didn't know how to react, it felt like he has got her expectations all high and up there. She just had the best morning of her life and now this man was asking her if he could go see other people.

"I-I really don't know."

"It's okay, you can be confused as long as it's not a flat out yes because..." His voice trailed off.

"Because what Lando?" She looked at him with the most insincere smile.

"Because, I don't really want to see other people."