The Hit//Lando Norris

C̲h̲a̲p̲t̲e̲r̲ 1̲3̲

"What happened?" He asked. "I don't have my phone. But I think it's at your house." I could see it. My phone on his table at the corridor, next to his trophy case.

"I'll get it for you. You can go in into the hotel and wait in the lobby, then I can drive home and get it for you. It's not that far a drive..." he requested. "Are you sure. Isn't it a little bit too far??" I asked. "No, it's fine. I'm used to driving long distances. It's no problem." Lando replied. "Okay, thank you. I'll wait for you inside in the lobby. Just let me know when you are here." I said. "With what?" "Your phon- oh yeah, never mind..." I said starting to laugh as I feel like an idiot.

"Okay, I'll just go into the lobby when I get here." "Okay, thank you again. I appreciate it very much!" I said. "My pleasure." He replied, winking at me. "Bye" I said and kissed his cheek. "Bye. See you soon!"

I get out of the car and walk into the lobby. I greet the staff and go to sit on one of the chairs in the lobby. My back is facing the door, because all the other chairs are taken. Weird for almost one in the morning.

I see Gasly coming into the lobby and I greet him. "Hi, Pierre" I said. "Hey, Bailey. What are you doing here, this late?" He asked. "I'm just waiting for someone." "Am I allowed to ask who?" He asked. "I don't know, I'm kinda waiting for someone, like a hitman." I said sarcastically. "Why are you here so late, Pierre?" I ask trying to avoid saying that I'm waiting for Lando. "I live here..." he said as he's waiving his room's card in the air, just in front of his chest.

"Yeah, makes sense." I said, jokingly rolling my eyes. "Hey, you asked. So don't give me attitude!" He said in a joking and dramatic manner. "Yes. Sorry, master." I replied, also joking. "No, but seriously. Why are you out so late? I'm not sure it's safe for you to be here alone." He asked sounding really concerned. "I'm waiting for someone." "Does that someone not have a name??" He asked. "No, not really."

"Oh, come on, Bailey. Just tell me. I'll keep it a secret." Gasly started to nag at this point. "Oh, fine. I'll give you one clue. His name starts with an L." I said. "Well, that doesn't help, that could be; Lewis, Lance, Latifi, Lando, Leclerc... and, yeah. That's about it." He replied. "Well, now you just have to wait and see. It'll probably just be an hour or two..." I said teasing him and hoping he'll give up and go to his hotel room. "Okay, I can do two hours. I have no where to be and you're easy to talk to. So... I'll just sit here." He went to go sit on an open chair right next to me, he moves the chair, so that he can look at me from the front and not sit to my right.

"You're really that dedicated, huh?" I ask. Shaking my head just a little bit. "Yeah, well. It's that and I like to know things. I can't do anything without knowing who you're waiting for, it'll bother me too much." He said. "Sounds to me that you are nosy and like gossip..." I said, just to tease him. "If that's what you call interested. Sure, I'm nosy." I start laughing because he sounds like a teenage girl, liking drama.

"So, how do you feel the race went?" I ask him. "Well, it obviously didn't go as planned. But I made it out alive and not every driver has that privilege, so it went pretty good in some aspects." "Hmmm, ok." I said probably not sounding impressed or something. "What? Why do you sound uninterested?" Pierre asked. "Well, I thought you were going to do better in the race, but p11 isn't too bad. I just hoped for an Italian GP again." I said as I started to get excited. "Yeah, but I can't win every time like I won at the Italian GP. Damn. That feels good to hear!!" Pierre said as his smile just starts to get bigger and bigger.

"You never know. Maybe next weekend will be your weekend again. You can always hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst!!" I tried to make it into an inspirational message. But he just replied with; "Nah, it was a once in a lifetime thing. Plus I don't think that everyone will crash again. Or I don't hope so." "Yeah, I really hope you're not wishing that upon people!!" I said, in a fake concerned tone. "Maybe I am..." he replied. "Dang, the French are scary, man." "Hahah" he just laughed and never gave me the 'I'm just kidding' face, that can mean that he wasn't kidding...

"Oh well, at least you think I'm intimidating. So that means that others think that I'm intimidating..." he said. "Yeah, not really. But also at the same time... you are kind of." I said. "What? You're damn confusing. Can you speak English, or even better, French??" "No, but I can speak Afrikaans..."I replied to his question. "What the hell is Afrikaans?!" He asked looking so confused, you'd think that I gave him a riddle or something. "Basically it's my home language, when I was back in South Africa. Unfortunately no one here knows it... But it's a really beautiful language." I continued. "Can you speak some?" "Sure, what should I say?" I ask. "I don't know, what about... Hi, my name is Bailey and I like Formula 1 and I also like cars." "Ok, sure I'll try. But you have to really be harsh in the 'g' and the 'r' sound, like this: Hallo, my naam is Bailey en ek hou van Formule 1 en ek hou ook van karre." I replied. 

Pierre just starts laughing. "What?" "Did you just say ho?" "Well, kind of. It means 'like' or 'likes' in Afrikaans. But not that ho you're thinking about, Pierre." I just start to laugh with him. "Afrikaans is a funny language." He said. "Yeah, it is actually. But did you know, it is a mixture between German, Dutch and Flemish...?" I said. "No, I didn't know that. But know I do..." he replied.

                                         ~~*~~

What a fun way to let people know about your home language... put it in your story...😅😅