Russell's Cousin- Lando Norris story

How long?

Lando came over the next morning to help you pack up final things and load the car. You were renting your apartment out to your sister, Elle who was in her first year at university, so she could have some space instead of being at home with your parents back in Bristol.

"I'll give you a call this evening ok? You know where everything is, love you" you said hugging your sister as you handed her the keys.
"Anna you ready?" Lando asked
"Always ready. See you soon Elle
"Lovely to meet you lando, look after Anna" Elle said as you left and you shot her a look to stop embarrassing you.

When you arrived at Landos he gave you a full tour of where everything is even though you had been to his before.
"So, you can take your pick of what room you want, either one of the ones at the front or you could have the loft, it would give you almost a full floor to yourself?"
"I think I'll take the loft for now if that's ok, it gives you space too" you smiled
"For now?" He replied wrapping his arms around your waist.
"Well you know, maybe it might just end up being one room occupied"
"Ah right, well for now then the loft is yours"

The main staircase upstairs was white and wooden which a white carpet which lando was very proud of for keeping so clean. And the stairs up to the loft were spiralled with the same fluffy carpet while the loft itself was amazing, there was a full seating area next to the balcony that went around the house and the bed was in front of double floor to ceiling windows which you needed to get some blinds for otherwise the neighbours would be in for a treat.
On the wall across was a TV and a cabinet under with all landos F1 helmets from last season.

They were all hand designed by lando and he had a team make them and sometimes he would help, he was very talented at that stuff and you usually found him with a pencil and paper when he wasn't doing much.
"What do you think of them?" He asked as he followed you up
"Oh I didn't know you was there I was just looking, these designs are amazing. Really, you have a talent."
"Thank you, ive always liked designing things. I think it's important I connect with my helmet and team"
"I agree, they are beautiful" you said but you felt your phone buzz in your back pocket.

"Hello?" You said, and you heard your mums voice on the other end. "Im at home, I'm good yeah just unpacking now, Elle has the keys to the apartment so hopefully she doesn't ruin it."
You spoke for a few minutes catching up when she said she would let you get back to what you was doing.
Lando just smiled at you as you put away your phone.

"What?" You said not knowing what he was looking at
"You said home" he smiled
"What do you mean"
"When she asked where you were you said home"
"I didn't even think twice about it, home is where you are and that's all I need" you replied
"Well I thought it was very cute. Anyways the last few boxes are on the landing so I'll go make some dinner if you want. How about spicy chicken and egg fried rice?" Lando asked walking down the stairs
"Oh please!"

—
You had dinner after you finished unpacking and lando gave a hand too. You were cleaning the dishes when the news came on for 10pm.
"Anna the news is on!" Lando called from the dinning room
"Oh shit what do they have to say now?" You said putting down the plates to sit in the living room

It was a briefing by the prime minister and it wasn't looking good, he was stood at a speaker welcoming everyone.
It all became a bit of a blur at one point, you couldn't really understand what you were hearing as it was like something from a film but then you felt landos hand on your knee to stop it bouncing with nerves.

You just looked at him and smiled not knowing what would happen with your jobs, F1, the country and your safety.

"Anna we are as safe as possible here, I promise you won't get sick"
"I just - i dong know what will happen and that's what scares me lando. I can't have anyone taken away from me"
"No one will we will be ok"

There was more words from Boris and then the big announcement came. "All exams will be cancelled due to the pandemic"

Cancelled.
Everything you had worked for.
All the essays.
Cancelled.

"I was supposed to take my exam for physiotherapy in May. That's it" you said starting to let tears run down your face.
"Shh Shh it's ok, they will sort it. They have to give you teacher assessed" lando said as he wrapped his arms around you to bring you into his chest.
"I worked so hard to meet the deadlines then they fuck it all over!" You cried
"Hey hey it's ok, they will give you what you deserve. You've done all the hard work it's only the exam left. They know your will get top marks." He hushed you like a child.

You sat there cradled into lando when you started to drift off to sleep and felt lando resting his head on yours.

—

You woke to find it was 1am and you had fallen asleep on the sofa together

"Lando?" You whispered "lan it's 1am"
"Mmm" was all he groaned as he rubbed his face with his yellow hoodie.
"I need to get to bed, are you coming up?"
"Yeah you might need to carry me"
"Carry you? You can walk yourself. I'm sorry lando but your a little bigger than me"
"Ok ok help me up" he said sticking his hands out for you to pull them

You walked up in front of lando and turned on the lights so no one slipped and died as this carpet was so soft you would slip and die.

You stopped in front of landos room while he caught up and you kissed him for the first time while living in the house. You could tell he was still half asleep but that he fully knew what he was doing.
"Goodnight darling" lando said hugging you
"Goodnight love" you replied as you gave him the squeeze back he gave you.

You didn't want to be alone without him but you thought you would give him some space as having someone in a house you've been alone in for a while must be strange to him. He was so tired he probably just got undressed and in bed anyways and you didn't want to disturb him.

You crept up to the loft to find all your fairy lights on and you bed ready with your pjs laid out.

Climbing into your new bed was luxury, lando had got thick duck feather duvets and pillows for all the rooms and fluffy fur blankets with each room having different colour coded blankets and pillows along the white bedding. The loft was a velvet green colour with grey blankets.

The room smelt of lando still, it must of been the helmets then. Not knowing how long it would be until the season would be back on was painful to think of as all you wanted was to be cheering everyone on and to see lando hopefully get a podium. But what was more painful was the man you loved was the room below you and you felt too awkward to jump into his bed for now.

🧡hopefully everyone is ok and keeping safe but after hearing the news about lando today I just want to remind you how important it is to wear your mask and protect others. In the UK today we found out that over 1,000,000 people currently have covid. This is 1,000,000 people too many. Furthermore, for every 1 in 50 people in the UK have been diagnosed as positive. We must wear our masks not just to see the return of F1 for the 2021 season but to save the ones around us who we love. Please contact me if you are struggling in lockdown no matter where you are in this world and I'll give you my snapchat to keep us connected. Love you all and thank you so much 🧡