Lando's Love (2021)

Chapter 6

After two weeks of work on the simulator and hard training with Jon, I finally had five days off. Of course, Jon had planned a schedule of exercises for me to do like running and sit-ups, but it was lighter than usual.

It had been a long time since I had visited my grandparents. Mainly because of Covid but it's true that my life as a F1 driver doesn't help much to see family, especially when they live in another country. I love going to their house, it's like coming home. I speak Dutch, not very well and not enough to follow a discussion, but it's always nice because I try.

During these 2 weeks of work, I talked with Astrid. We got to know each other a bit better. She still lives with her parents, but she has a small flat in the city of her university, she lives there when she has to go to school, that is to say very little considering the current health crisis.

I can't wait to see her again! Some days I could hear in her voice that she was not well, but I didn't insist, if she wanted to talk to me about it, she would have done it, right? I can understand that she's not well and that she's fed up with the situation: she doesn't go to school, everything is at a distance, she doesn't see her friends and she lives, works, plays, and rests in the same place. Basically, I'm lucky, I live almost normally while doing my passion. Of course, we miss the fans but it's true that it's a good life compared to other people who are locked up at home.

Thursday morning, it's time to leave... Direction the Eurotunnel, I have my train at 10am. I didn't leave with the McLaren, I prefer to take my Skoda in these cases, it's more discreet. Once I arrived on the French side, I decided to send a message to Astrid to let her know I had arrived on the continent: "Hello my beautiful, I'm in France. See you tomorrow, I can't wait! 😁". And I prayed the direction of the small Belgian village of my grandparents. Once there, I barely had time to get out of the car when I saw the front door open on my grandmother.

(Sorry, I speak absolutely no Dutch so google was my friend on this one... Sorry if there are any mistakes)

"Hallo oma, hoe gaat het? Ik ben blij je weer te zien!" I say, as best as I can. "Lando, mijn schat! Ik ben ook blij jou te zien!" she replied. "Grandma, how about we go inside the house? It's cold outside to talk" "Sure, let's go inside, I want to know everything about that girl».

At dinner, my grandparents asked me a lot of questions about my whole life. I don't see them very often so I understand that they want to know everything. We talked for a long time and when the subject of the races came up, I offered them, as I do every year, to be guests of McLaren for the Belgian Grand Prix. We went to bed around 11pm and I fell asleep quickly looking forward to the next day.

I woke up early and went for a run to meet Jon's schedule. When I got back to the house I showered and put on black jeans and a Quadrant hoodie. We had an early breakfast so I could leave as soon as possible. I hit the road around 12:30.

When I arrived at her house, I noticed how quiet her little village was. I rang the bell but nobody came to open the door. So I decided to call Astrid in case I had the wrong address... She didn't answer but I received a message from her telling me that she hadn't seen the time and that in less than 5 minutes she would be there. I was waiting patiently when I saw first a dog and then a girl coming up the pavement. I got out of my car and smiled at her. "Hello Lando, I'm sorry, I didn't notice the time. How are you? "Hello Astrid, everything is fine, don't worry. I understand. How are you? "I'm fine, I'm fine... I'm glad I finished my classes today.

She took out her keys and opened the door. "Oh, one more thing! I hope you're not afraid of dogs. There are five in the house. "If they're all as small as this one, it should be fine" She looked at me and laughed slightly "No Sigma is the exception in the house, she's small but you shouldn't rely on her size. The others are all taller. "

We entered the house when I heard the other dogs come forward. "It's me guys" she said to them. I was amazed at how she spoke to them. She was going to a room that I suspected was the room of these dogs. She opened the door and I saw 4 big tricoloured dogs. Three were standing but one was lying down. I wondered how she could recognise them: to me they all looked alike. "Lando, this is Ixion, Leia, Epha, and Evora. You can go into the room, they're not bad. "I looked at her as she was surrounded by these loving animals. When I entered the room, one of them jumped into my arms. I questioned Astrid with my eyes to know what to do, "It's Leia, it's her way of telling you that she likes you. You can scratch her neck, she loves it. "

After she put them out, she went into the kitchen and asked me if I wanted something to drink. I simply said that water was enough for me. She handed me my glass and we went to the sofa. On the way to the sofa, I saw different pictures: there was one of her parents from their wedding day, there was one where Astrid is with her sister, they look very similar on these pictures, there were other pictures where Astrid is with dogs, or on holiday with her family. It looked like a happy family like in children's stories. She caught me looking at the pictures. "How old were you on this one? "I don't know, maybe 6 or 7, this is a picture that was taken when we were already living here so I was older than 5 but I don't know exactly. "Have you lived here all your life? "No, I lived the first 5 years of my life in a small town 45 minutes away. Then we moved here the year I turned 5. Since then, I've done my primary, junior and senior high school here. "I see, you all seem happy. "She looked at me with a sad smile. "Did I say something wrong? "

"No no, you didn't. It just wasn't always the case. Now it's better, but during my high school years, especially the last two, we were far from a happy family. My parents argued all the time, my father made me understand that I didn't study enough and that my grades were not good enough. Meanwhile, my sister thought that only her studies mattered because she had her exams at the end of the year. And I had to get up, get ready, go to school, do my day's classes, come home, take care of the dogs, cook for my mother, my sister and me, go upstairs to do my homework and sometimes, when I was lucky, I could go to bed before midnight. "It's true that a situation like that can't be easy. Especially in high school when we all question who we are and what we want to do..." "You get the idea. But let's stop talking about me. Let's talk about you. By the way, I usually go for a walk on Friday. "A walk? I'd love to, let's enjoy the nice weather. "

We took the two dogs and set off. First, we stayed on the road until we came to a path that went up to, I don't know where. We took the path. I was really amazed to see how the dogs and Astrid climbed: they all knew where to put their feet so as not to fall and climb quickly enough. When we got to the top, there was a big plain where the dogs ran and played together. "This is my little refuge. I rarely come in the winter because the trail is not very passable but once the good weather comes, I love to come. "The view was beautiful. "Anyway, let's talk about you, your family. ". "There's not much to tell, you know. I grew up near Bristol and Glastonbury with my parents, my brother and my two sisters. I left school when I was about 15 to go into racing. I live on my own now, Sasha is no longer here as he is either in Japan or following Formula E. And Carlos now lives in Italy and Spain. I still have a few friends near me, but I don't see them that much, we go golfing together sometimes. I spend most of my time commuting between my PC and the MTC. I go out to train with Jon otherwise. This is what my days are like when it's not a race week. "I see, I wouldn't like to be alone in a big house like yours. It would feel too empty. " "I get lonely sometimes, but I get used to it. "

We talked for a long time and went back to her house after an hour or maybe two... I don't know. When we arrived at her house, I saw that there was a new car.

~~~~~

A/N

Hi everyone. So, I'm in my exam week at the University but it's Friday which means I've done 5 exams out of 6. So now I have 3 days off
Other than that, thanks for the 176 reads. It means a lot to me and I hope you like the story.
Cheers