L is for Love ♡ Lando Norris

6 | Ready for love?

♪
AJR - Turning Out:
'I thought I recognized when love was true, but I'm confused. Am I ready for love or maybe just a best friend, should there be a difference, do you have instructions?'

"Lex? You left your phone downstairs and I think someone is trying to contact you!" her little brother Joey said standing in her doorway. "Here you go, I brought it with me". Lexi thanked him while moving away from her laptop where she had been editing pictures all evening and looked at her phone screen. She had 1 missed call, a voicemail message and a couple of texts she hadn't read yet. She decided to start with the text messages. There was one from Liv, thanking her for the photos she took of her last night. The other one was from Lando. A small smile crept on Lexi's face when she opened it. They had been messaging a lot these last five days and progressed to the stage of actually texting instead of using Instagram DM's. She chuckled when she read what he had to say:

Lando 🕺:
Just nearly burned my house down. Forgot my food was in the oven until I smelled something burning from upstairs.. It's a thing I do. Hope your evening is better than mine! x

Lexi 🧡:
The amount of luck you have is incredible. I should take you with me to buy a lottery ticket. Then I wouldn't have to work all evening 😟 x

After that, she checked her voicemail inbox. There was a message from someone named Helen, who said she worked at McLaren's marketing department. "We've seen the pictures you shot of Lando and Daniel last week and we think you really captured our team's spirit and the message we want to bring across. We would like to discuss the possibility of you working for us as one of our team's photographers with you. Please let me know if you are interested and when we can call to figure out the details". Lexi couldn't believe what she was hearing. 'A job offer? At McLaren?! This could not be happening'. she thought. But deep inside she was really proud. She did this all by herself. No one had mentioned her to them or recommended they should check out her work. She had an assignment, took some amazing shots and they liked what they saw enough to offer her a job.

With her phone still in her hand and a huge smile on her face, Lexi ran downstairs where her dad was sitting on the sofa. "Dad, you.. won't believe.. what just happened.. to me!" she yelled completely out of breath. "Wow, calm down! I can't understand a word you're saying". He let out a small laugh and Lexi took a seat on the sofa next to him. "Just listen to this!" she played the voicemail message again for him and his eyes went wide when he heard the words coming out of the phone. "Are you serious? But that's amazing! I knew my daughter was a visual genius, I'm so proud of you Lex!" he hugged her and Lexi could see the tears forming in his eyes. "Thanks, dad, but I need to discuss this with the Autosport team first. Of course they are offering me a job and currently I'm only an intern, so it would be a big step forward.." "Sure honey, just sleep on it and call them in the morning to discuss it. Just know, we will support you in whatever you decide to do". Lexi gave her dad another hug and went back to her room. She had a lot to think about.

The next day was Thursday and Lexi knew Lando would be leaving to go to Imola today. She had sent him a text to wish him a safe flight and asked if he was available to talk this evening because she had some big news to share. She just got home from her internship at Autosport and she had discussed the offer McLaren had made her and they gave Lexi full permission to end the internship a little early. They were all really proud of her and totally understood this was a big step forward in her career. She thanked Jackie and Benji and they decided this would be her last official day. It felt strange to think about that chapter being done, but Lexi was really excited to start something new. She had a meeting over the phone with Helen earlier that afternoon and they agreed the next race would be her first assignment. She would have to come in a little sooner to get her work clothes and all the passes and paperwork she would need, but that was fine.

After dinner, Lexi went up to her room, changed into something cosy and cuddled up into bed. Right when she was comfortable, her phone started ringing. Lando was FaceTiming her. They had never done this before, so the nerves shot up her spine when she saw his name on the screen. "Hi.." she smiled shyly at him and her hand did a little wave. "Hey, how are you?" he said. He looked a little sleepy, he must have had a busy day. Lando was also laying in his bed and she loved the look of the messy curls on top of his head. "I'm great, just had my last day at my internship". Lexi said while trying to keep a straight face. He picked up on it right away though. "What do you mean last day? I thought your internship didn't end until June?" They had discussed this in one of their many late night text conversations the past couple of days. "Yeah, it was supposed to but I got offered another job and I took it". She still didn't give anything away and he started to smile. "That's so cool! Tell me everything. Is it another magazine? Will you still be an intern? What did they say at Autosp.." "It's at McLaren!" Lexi said while he was busy asking all kinds of questions and she could see the shock on his face.

——

"At McLaren? Are you serious? This isn't a prank, is it?" Lando got even more confused with every question he asked. 'How is that even possible?' He thought. Lexi started telling him everything and by the look on her face, she was really happy with the offer. Of course he was happy for her too, the shock just had to wear off a little. They would be seeing a lot more of each other. A warm feeling spread through his chest and this feeling became even stronger when he saw Lexi all cuddled up in her bed looking at him with her big brown eyes. "So pretty.." he whispered. "What did you say?" He could see the blushes appearing on her cheeks and he could feel his own burning too. "I ehh.. I said you look really pretty right now.." For a moment, Lexi stayed silent and Lando was about to check his volume when he heard her speak again. "You look pretty cute too". He could see she was really shy but he just gained the last bit of confidence he needed to ask her something he had been thinking about all week. "Would you like to have dinner with me some time next week, when I get back from Italy?"

Lexi smiled and it was his new favourite thing in the world. "Are you asking me on a date?" she said and his answer reassured her: "Only if you want it to be a date". he said. "Sure, I would love to". They stared at each other in silence for a while until Lando let out a yawn. "Go to sleep, you have a busy weekend ahead of you. I will talk to you soon". Lexi promised him and as much as he didn't want to say goodbye to her, he knew it would be for the best. "I'm really happy for you Lex and I can't wait for our date next week. Sleep tight and I will text you tomorrow". They said goodbye and waved at each other before Lando ended the call. 'Well, that escalated quickly'. But he was happy it did though. After brushing his teeth, Lando got back into bed and heard his phone beep. He had received a text message:

Lexi 😍:
I can't wait to see you again 😳 x

Lando ✌️:
Me too. I meant it when I said you looked really pretty. Especially your eyes, they have been on my mind all week.. 🤭 x

Until now, their conversations had been just friendly so Lando hesitated a while before he hit send on that message. After seeing her pretty face and hearing her laugh during the FaceTime call, his feelings for her had been confirmed and he thought they had been messaging each other enough for him to finally ask her out. With a big smile on his face and her eyes on his mind, Lando fell into a deep sleep.