rich heart.

nine.

"Where are we going? I thought we were gonna drive" I said as we were walking through the Monaco streets, just like the first time."Or are you lost again?"

"I wasn't lost" he rolled his eyes laughing. "I showed you the nicest view over Monaco remember"

I nodded. "I remember as if it was just days ago" he shook his head at my sarcastic comment.

We stopped in front of a building, a nice one. I looked up and back down, it was probably his apartment building. "You're taking me to your place already?" I smirked, it was risky because I wasn't completely sure if it actually was his place.

"Yes definitely, gonna show you my bed first" he said as we both walked in. I loved how he could match my banter and sarcasm.

Not much later, we walked in his apartment. I looked around, it was a very nice place but I doubted that he decorated it all by himself. "So where is your bedroom?"

He quickly looked at me, licking the corners of his mouth. He shook his head as he realized I was obviously joking.

I caught him off guard again.

"So what exactly are we doing here?" I thought he promised me to drive around a bit, but instead I was walking in his apartment. Not that I was complaining, but it was just a bit weird.

He turned to me with a smirk on his face. Oh no he's up to something. "If you wanna drive my car, you have to prove that you can actually drive."

I frowned a little. "I have my driver licence you know" I wanted to grab my purse and show him but he quickly stopped me by grabbing my arm.

"I mean drive drive" he raised his eyebrow smirking. His hand brushed from my arm to my hand as he pulled me with him.

His smile couldn't be bigger as he showed me his sim setup. He raised his eyebrow and looked at me. "So in order to drive your Mclaren, I first have to practice here?"

He nodded enthusiastically. It was cute actually, he ditched his team celebrations to be with me.

"Alright, step aside" I said laughing, pushing him a little to the side.

I did a few laps, but I had to admit that I sucked. Lando wasn't helping me very much, he just watched me and laughed. What a great mentor he was.

Lando put his arm on the chair of his sim as he was looking how I crashed, again. He laughed as he kneeled next to me. "You do know you can turn the steering wheel, right?" I rolled my eyes at his comment.

"No really? I didn't know that" I said sarcastically. Honestly, I wasn't too bad at driving, but I obviously never drove an F1 car before.

"So" he said as he got up. "You're definitely not ready to drive my Mclaren yet" he said.

If he only knew I actually drove a Mclaren and Ferrari before.

"But I have something that's right up your street" he offered his hand as he looked at me. I titled my head but still grabbed his hand, he pulled me up and we were only inches away from each other.

His thumb brushed against my hand and I recognized the look in his eyes.

No don't do this, don't fall for me. I'm a mess, my life is a mess and you're so perfect.

I cleared my throat a little as I took a step back. "So what do you have for me Mr. Norris?" I wanted to defuse the situation. I was trying to make this less awkward, for both of us.

But maybe I had to stop doing that, maybe I had to let things be awkward. Awkward wasn't always a bad thing.

"Follow me" he said with a smirk on his face. It was obvious that he planned something, something mischievous maybe? "Let me introduce you to my baby" he said as we walked in the garage of his apartment building.

He was pointing at a little baby blue car. Surely he was talking about the car behind that one right? "What is this?"

"This?" he put his hand on his chest, as if I just had offended his first born. "This is my Fiat Jolly" he said as he walked to the little car. "And you get to drive it"

"Lucky me" I chuckled, grabbing the keys from his hand. I had to admit that I never drove such car before. It was definitely gonna be a first.

It was actually quite relaxing to drive the car. We were getting a lot of stares but we just waved at everyone, laughing at their confused faces.
This was way better than driving the Mclaren for sure.

Lando put his hand on the headrest of my seat, looking proudly at me. "Are you coming to Baku?"

I shook my head. "No I'm not" I said, quickly looking at him. He looked disappointed by my answer, but honestly what did he expect? I had no business there. "Why not?"

"Why not? Because I have my own work to do" I chuckled a little, again, trying to make it less awkward. "I just have a couple of things to deal with" I explained further.
He nodded understandingly.

Even though I didn't want to admit it, I'd rather go with him than stay here. But I couldn't. I had to face my demons.