Anti-Stall

Warmth.

Montreal, Canada

Sunday went by faster, smoother and more pleasant than I was hoping. Once again Erica was kind enough to assign me tasks within the unit so there were no chances of me seeing him.

Lando stopped by in the morning to say hi and see if I was still calling "strangers with weird names", to his disappointment I was done with the task and actually had to entertain them.

After the race, I was exhausted from being on my feet the whole time and couldn't wait to get back to my room and sleep the exhaustion away.

I left the paddock earlier than the rest of the people, I couldn't wait to gather my things and leave this city and the false hope it had filled my heart with.

As I packed my suitcase after changing out of my uniform I got a phone call from pops confirming my flight timings, he asked me how Lance was. I told him it was a tale for when I got back home.

With a suitcase of unwashed clothes, a heart full of unwanted attraction, head full of memories and eyes glistening with tears, I left for home. Oh Montreal! You treated me well but I feel bittersweet about you.

                                       ************

I was back home with so many stories to tell, I didn't know where to start. First I slept away the lag of the time zone differences.

"Good morning sunshine!" Pops greeted me with a head pat.

"Good morning pops." I sighed rubbing my eyes.

"I've made pancakes for breakfast, Mom is on her way back! Let's surprise her." He beamed.

"Sure!" I hopped out of bed.

"Eat your breakfast, shower and then we'll leave for the airport." He instructed me.

"Aye aye captain!" I beamed following him to the dining room.

We ate pancakes and I filled him in about all the work I had been doing and how curious Lando made me feel like I was doing a very interesting job.

I showered and then we left for the airport, the drive to the airport was really fun thanks to karaoke. We played familiar songs that put a smile on our face and sang along as loud as we could.

We made a quick stop at the florist so that Pops could get her a bouquet of her favourite flowers, that made me smile. It was such a small act of love but the thought behind it was so pure, he told me that seeing these flowers would make her smile and that would make his day.

We got there just in time, she was already out of the terminal and looking for a cab when I yelled mom and ran towards her.

"Natalie! Paul!" She smiled pulling us both in for a hug.

"I got you a little something." Pops grinned giving her the bouquet.

She looked at the flowers and then looked into my dad's eyes, her eyes were filled with love for him and the little things he did for her.

"Alright you sappy couple, let's get going." I broke the silence.

The first thing Pops did when we got back home was settle himself on the sofa in the living room. My girls have come back to me after such a long time I bet they have lots to say! He explained.

"I'm sure Nat has a lot to say, don't you?" Pops asked me.

"How about we let mom relax and talk about this later?"

"Oh I'm very relaxed! Come on! Tell us!" Mom exclaimed as she sat back in her armchair.

"Where do I even begin, oh it's all a mess." I sighed looking at them.

"From the start of course!" Pops giggled.

"Not the time for dad jokes Paul!" Mom scolded him.

I poured my heart out to them, about how I felt like I was the luckiest girl alive, the places he took me to, the fun we had until it all came down, crashing and burning.

"That young man is going to face my wrath!" Pops exclaimed.

"Pops, it's okay. I took care of it, I don't think I'll be talking to him ever again."

"How are you planning to avoid him? You work at the same place for God's sake!"

"I've found new friends and I can just ignore his existence like 'friends' from college."

They both gave me hugs and we sat in the living room making plans for tomorrow, nothing special we were all at home together at last.

"As always we start the day with my special pancakes!" Pops smiled.

"And then we garden!" Mom chimed in.

"And then we eat some more!" I grinned.

"Kiddo your phone's ringing!" Pops said literally throwing my phone at me.

"And if the screen broke it would have been my fault." I rolled my eyes.

It was an unknown number, I answered the call anyway.

"Hello? Is this Natalie?"

"Yes this is she."

"Oh hi! It's me!"

"I'm sorry I don't know who this is?"

"It's me! Lando! How do you just call up numbers? Even though I knew it was you I got so nervous."

"Oh hi! Well, it takes work!" I laughed, "so what's up?"

"I got your number from Arthur, we're both in London tomorrow so we were wondering if you'd like to hang out with us."

"Of course I would!"

"we spend the day here and then on Wednesday we fly to France!"

"You get access to the VIP airport don't you?"

"Yes!" He giggled, "what about you?"

"On a Wednesday morning the week after you both leave, I drag myself to the airport, then the flight has a four hour layover in Paris, then we fly to Marseilles and take a one hour drive to Le Castellet." I explained to him.

"Woah! That's... a journey."

"Yes it is." I laughed, "Alright see you on Tuesday!"

"Yeah! Bye bye!"

I told them that Lando and Arthur were coming to London tomorrow so they wanted to meet, I added that I was going to be home the whole week so we could do family things through the weekend too. They were happy to see that I was socializing and said that I didn't have to justify wanting to hang out with my friends.

"Bring them home if you can! Especially that Erica of yours, she seems to be your work mom." Mom joked.

"Can we actually invite her over for lunch? She loves good food and company.' I suggested.

"Sure thing Kiddo! Just ask her when she's free and it's a date!" Pops beamed.

It's days like this that make me realise how fortunate I am, I have parents that love me to the moon and back, I have Erica who would move mountains to make sure I'm okay and I have friends like Arthur that make sure I'm always having a good time. One silly boy not assuring me that he felt what I felt towards him was not the end of the world.