L is for Love ♡ Lando Norris

27 | She needs help

♪
Jon Bellion - All Time Low:
'Now all your girlfriends say that you don't want to see me, you're the reason that I just can't concentrate.'

The heavy feeling on his heart had only become stronger when Lando saw Lexi with the same guy again, walking through the hotel lobby to the elevator. He had his arm around her again and she didn't seem too fussed about it. He had gone to his room and cried all night, thinking she had moved on already. How could she forget about him that quick? Of course, he didn't know what really happened, but seeing him going upstairs with her, couldn't be anything good. Today was race day so he tried to get his mind off her, but he knew she would be all around him in the garage this morning taking pictures. He had told Jon to try and keep her away from him as much as possible and his trainer had said that he would keep an eye out.

Lando was currently sat in his car, about to drive to the grid when he spotted Lexi in the corner of his eye. She took a close up photo of him and when she lowered her camera, she smiled. He looked away and closed his visor so she couldn't look at him anymore. He really needed to concentrate right now and her showing off her happiness really didn't help him. The engine of the car was fired up and he got the signals to drive away. Lando cruised through the pitlane before he stomped on the gas and speeded down the track. This was what he needed, he was certain the anger inside of him would give him a boost for the race and he wanted to take advantage of that.

Lando was right. At the start, he was able to pick up a few places so he was 4th. For the rest of the race, he had been behind Bottas and after his second pitstop he was on fresher tyres, so he could hunt him down. Lando was impressed by their pace this weekend, but he knew it was mostly his anger that made him this quick. When the last lap started, he was 0.8 seconds behind him and Lando knew it had to be now or never. He followed him closely through Eau Rouge and the DRS on the Kemmel straight gave him enough speed to outbreak into the chicane. Lando came out ahead of Bottas and he fought him off for the rest of the lap before he crossed the finish line. "That's a podium Lando, P3, well done!" He heard Will, his engineer say over the team radio. Lando put his fist up in the air and was the happiest he had been in a while.

The podium went by in a blur. Lando got his trophy and sprayed some champagne with Lewis and Max but he wasn't really focused anymore. He just wanted to go home. Afterwards, he met up with the team for the usual photos. Lexi was standing before them and they were all waiting for him. They started clapping when Lando sat down and he saw Lexi's proud face. He couldn't handle it right now but he had to be happy for the team. He hugged all of them after the photos were done and walked off to his driver room. "Yes boys, that was amazing!" Jon said when they entered the room and fell down on the seats. "It was amazing, I was so angry that I can't remember anything". Lando laughed and he knew it was Lexi who gave him this podium. But not like last time.

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Lexi had seen his glare at her this morning before the race. She didn't know why Lando was so angry at her. 'Had Daniel told him about last night anyway? He promised he wouldn't' She was so happy for him when she saw him cross the line in P3. Lexi had taken some amazing photos and she promised herself to send him some later this week. When Lando arrived for the team photo, he glared at her again. What had she done? He was so nice to her on Friday and now he wouldn't even look at her. Lexi knew she had to talk to him about Mark, so when she saw him walking towards his driver room with Jon, she followed them. When she was just about to knock she heard him say: "I'm glad I saw her kiss him yesterday, otherwise I wouldn't have ended on the podium today. But I don't want to see her face again for a while". Lexi's heart sank. She turned around and ran to the exit of the paddock. He had seen Mark kiss her yesterday?

A couple of days later Lexi sat on Liv's sofa crying. She didn't know what to do anymore and she called her best friend to come and pick her up. She told her everything about Mark, their 'date' and him forcing himself on her this past weekend. Olivia was furious and couldn't believe this happened. "So Daniel saw us and he yelled just before Mark could really do anything. He ran away and I ran inside my hotel room. Daniel knocked on my door and stayed with me the entire evening until I was asleep. It was really kind of him to do". Liv had moved her arm over her best friends shoulder and she rocked her back and forth. "It's all okay now, he's never hurting you again. I'll make sure of that". Olivia grabbed her phone and googled the phone number of Autosport. "Yes hello, my name is Olivia Smith and I'm a friend of Lexi Abrams. I just wanted to tell you that one of your editors has sexually assaulted my friend at Spa this weekend". She waited and listened for a while before she spoke up again. "Yes, Mark Kimble".

"Thank you Liv, you didn't have to do that". Lexi said when her friend hung up the phone. "That's what friends are for, babe". Lexi told her about Lando and that he had seen Mark kiss her. She also told him about how angry he had sounded in his driver room and she really wanted to tell him the truth but was afraid to do so right now. "It will all be okay. You just need some time to get back to yourself and he needs some time to cool off. I promise you can talk to him soon okay? Are you staying over tonight? I'm making lasagna". Liv tried to change the subject and was happy to see a smile on her friends face again. She knew Lexi loved her lasagna. "Oh please, I haven't tasted that in forever!".

The evening went by quick. Kyle had joined them for dinner but had moved over to his Xbox quite quickly after that and the girls had a movie night in Liv's bed. They talked for hours and hours until Lexi started to get a little tired. "I'll go to bed now okay? I need to be up early tomorrow again. Thank you for dinner and the help with everything. I love you". She hugged her best friend and went to the guest room next door. Lexi plugged her phone into the wall cuddled up into bed. She turned to her side and fell asleep right away. She didn't hear the phone call on the other side of the wall anymore. Olivia had been planning this in her head the entire evening. Now Lexi was fast asleep, she couldn't hold herself back anymore. "Hey Lando, it's Olivia. Can you meet me at the café near your house tomorrow? I need to talk to you about something".