Faking it || Lando Norris LN

43

The drive back to the apartment had me breaking a cold sweat that I tried my best to hide. Everything seemed... okay. Almost too okay for it to be normal.

It was awful; and incredibly comfortable.

During the day, an endless amount of thoughts came to me, rushing like a fucking horse stampede. The voices inside my head kept telling me I'd fucked up. I should have never slept with him. What had I been thinking?

And yet, Lando was... smiling. And making conversation.

Of course, he wasn't smiling 24/7 —he was Lando Norris, after all— but even so, I kept catching him doing it more often. Even when he wasn't, even when the muscles of his face were completely relaxed, his gaze held tranquility to it, sometimes almost cheerfulness.

Back in the paddock, I walked to my family and Lando at the simulators to say hi. We then went to one of the sitting tables outside the Ferrari lounge to grab a bite. It took me a couple of minutes to get used to the dynamic. My family was always the one thing that kept me centered. On the other hand, Lando always kept me on my toes and... slightly off-center. It was like standing in the middle of a see-saw and trying to balance myself on both feet.

However, I was surprised when the feeling disappeared after a couple of minutes. My parents were delighted and chatty, both because they were excited to be spending time with me and eager to try out their English with Lando —who kept his brows raised with attentiveness the entire time. David and Jorge showered him with questions. Apparently, they picked up the newest Formula 1 game at our home's simulator and wanted to ask him for some tips on specific circuits.

"Oh, you should definitely ask Liv for that one," he told them after one of their questions, turning around to see me with a pleased smile, "she's much better than me in hairpin turns."

I almost spat out my chilaquiles right there and then.

Of course, it had nothing to do with Lando saying it; you just... it's not every day that you hear a Formula 1 World Champion complimenting your driving, let alone saying you're actually better than him at something specific of it.

Now that I think about it, yeah. It obviously also had something to do with Lando being the one who said it; who am I kidding?

I went on to explain a little to my brothers about how I do hairpin turns, but the moment was stuck in my brain for much longer. I was back at the see-saw —spending time with the people who centered me while trying not to lose my balance every time Lando laughed.

His smiling, his way of making conversation with my family, his random compliment.

How much of it was strictly for the PR stunt?

When I caught sight of him on the simulators with my family, no cameras were around. What had that been? Just random, off-character kindness for the sake of being nice to my family? Okay, that wasn't precisely fair to him. He'd been pretty nice these couple weeks, but adding my parents and siblings to the mix made me lose all sense of direction. Because honestly, what was this?

Gianna and Davies were eating it up. Dozens of photographers had taken their chance to snap a couple of pictures, and I had accidentally caught sight of us on the big screen more than once. I could bet Gianna may have shed a tear with how much coverage our twenty-minute lunch had been getting.

Olivia Reyes in her home race having lunch with her family and her Formula 1 World Champion boyfriend, Lando Norris.

What a headline. She must've definitely been in tears.

After lunch, I pulled Twitter out as I walked over to the following interview I would be having. Our names were trending, and the Internet was flooded with pictures of us laughing and talking with my family. I felt a slight tug at my heart and locked my phone immediately.