-+Rivals+- A Lando Norris Fanfic

Chapter 7

The Next Day

I woke up wrapped in Lando's arms in my room. Lando was gingerly running his hand through my hair.

"Oh, you're finally awake," He said.

"How long have you been up?" I asked.

"Eh. Half an hour or so."

"Mmmmmm well I don't wanna get up yet," I said, laying my head down.

"Well we can't spend all day here, I do have to leave tonight," He informed me.

"We should probably talk..." I said sadly.

"Yea.." Lando said, hugging me a bit.

I sat up to be able to look at him.

"What do you want?" I asked. "You don't have to feel obligated or anything, everything I said last night can just be forgotten if you want."

"Is that what you want?" He asked, looking at me curiously.

"It doesn't matter what I want," I said, looking down.

"Well, I would quite like to be able to be with you. But, if you don't want that, then it's okay," Lando informed me.

"There's more to it than just what I want. We can't be seen together in public, we'll barely see each other on race weekends, I don't want you distracted on track... I just don't want anything to ruin what we have."

"The only time I'm distracted on track is when I think you died in a crash. Other than that, I feel like I drive harder when you're out there," He smiled.

I smiled at him, looking at him for a while. "Do you really think we'll be able to be together discreetly? And not let the driving get between us?"

"I'm willing to try if you are," Lando said, leaning towards me with a smug grin.

I smiled at him and leaned in for a long kiss.

"So are you gonna get all jealous every time I talk to any of the other drivers?" I asked.

"Oh definitely," He scoffed. "You're the only girl on the grid, and you're beautiful as hell! They're all gonna be into you. Though you may make them feel inferior when you start overtaking them all on the track."

"Now I know the best way to mess with you," I laughed. "I'll just go talk to everyone else."

"That's just rude," He laughed, and I laid back down on his chest.

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A Week Later

I just got off my plane and arrived in Australia. Today was Monday, and I arrived a couple days early because I was so excited about my first race. A few people from my team were going to be here as well, and we were going to start discussing moves we wanted to make on the car and different kinds of strategies.

Lando had also coordinated to show up to Australia early, so we could see each other incognito. He arrived a few hours ago, and we planned to rendezvous in my room. That wasn't going to be for a few hours, though.

Right now, all that matters is getting some food in my stomach. I stopped by a nearby store to grab a few things before I was dropped off at the hotel and after checking in, I ordered some room service.

As I ate, I heard a knock at my door. Lando shouldn't be coming over yet...?

I looked through the peephole and saw Penelope.

"Hey!" I greeted as I opened the door.

"Excited for the weekend?" She asked, walking in.

"You have no idea," I laughed.

"Some of the other members of the team are on their way up right now. Lots to talk about. Don't feel bad if you can't contribute much to the conversation, you don't really know the car too much yet, so you don't know what feels right or wrong in the car." She told me.

The other members arrived and we all sat down to talk about logistics.

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Hours Later

After what seemed like an eternity, the team finally left. Not that I don't love all of this; It's so exciting to talk about the car and brainstorm what we can do better. It just... felt like forever.

It's safe now. I texted Lando.

Within five minutes I heard a knock on my door. The second I opened it I was engulfed into a bear hug.

I shut the door with one arm behind him.

"I missed you!" He said.

"I missed you too you nerd," I laughed.

We sat down on the bed, him sitting criss crossed and my with my head on his leg. "My brain feels fried after that meeting." I said.

"Yea during our team meetings I have like nothing to say," Lando laughed.

"Today is probably the only day we're gonna see each other, yknow," I told him. "We can't be seen together on the track."

"Shhhh, I don't wanna think about that," He shushed me, stroking my hair.

I sat there, looking up at him happily. "I still don't like, really believe that we're dating. I can still only see you as my best friend."

"Well I still see you as one of the guys soooo," He teased.

"So that means you're dating a guy," I laughed.

"I really just played myself, didn't I?" Lando laughed.

I sat up and kissed Lando.

"Oh, yea, I forgot I get to do that," He smiled, placing a hand on my cheek and kissing me hard.

"Time to watch some shows?" I offered.

"Only if this is a pajama party," He said.

"Oh, definitely. But it seems like you beat me to it," I laughed, gesturing at his blue plaid pajama bottoms and plain white shirt.

"Hey man, I think ahead," He said, pointing to his head.

"Well, I did too. I got popcorn earlier, so you can go ahead and start making that while I change," I told him.

I went into the bathroom to change, deciding to wear my fuzzy blue pajama bottoms and white tank top. I went back out into the room, pouring Lando a glass of milk and grabbing myself an orange Gatorade.

Walking back towards the bed, I saw Lando already curled up in my fuzzy blanket. My laptop was propped open, presumably already with Netflix open, and Lando was scrolling through his phone. I smiled; He looked so cozy.

"You know you have to share my blanket, right?" I told him.

He snuggled into the blanket more. "Mine."

I laughed, "Fine, then no glass of milk for you."

"Okay fine, I'll compromise," He laughed, loosening the blanket from around himself. I walked over and handed him the glass of milk, wrapping the blanket around the both of us. As I settled down onto his chest, he grabbed the bowl of popcorn off of the nightstand and started up the show.