Lando's Love (2021)

Chapter 9

"LANDO NORRIS! I hope for your sake that you are ready to go! "I heard Astrid on the ground floor. "Uh... Soon? "I answered her. It's not that I'm late, or maybe a bit, but it's not my fault! I'm looking for my passport, I keep forgetting it. And maybe I haven't closed my suitcase yet either... We're supposed to leave the house for the airport in 5 minutes and I'm not ready to leave unlike Astrid who had the intelligence to prepare all her stuff yesterday. But well, McLaren is used to me being late and they can't leave without me, it's kind of me who drives their car...

"You're almost ready, right? Then why isn't your suitcase finished and what are you looking for? "She startled me. I turned to see her in the doorway, she was actually laughing at me. "My passport but I just found it and my suitcase is still open because I had put my hoodie in it when I wanted to wear it on the flight. ". "Well, if you're done now, you'd better hurry up, we're due at the airport. Are you always like this when you have to leave? "Like what? "Like this: pack your suitcase an hour before you leave, look for your passport, end up leaving late..." . "That's right, I'm always like that, but McLaren is used to it, so I suspect that they don't give me the right meeting time anymore, hoping that I'll arrive on time like that. " . "That would be clever of them indeed. Come on, let's go. ". I closed my suitcase and went downstairs to turn off the heating. I checked that everything was unplugged, except my fridge and we went out to put our stuff in my Skoda. I looked at Astrid: "Do you want to drive? ". She looked at me and smiled slightly "No, I learned to drive on the right side of the road. " . "In that case, you will drive in Bahrain. ". "Okay, come on, it's time to go. ". We left for the airport and arrived on time; I think I can thank Astrid for that. And we were off for a 7-hour flight... I love flying but sometimes it's long. I settled in my seat with Astrid next to me. She had her white jumper and had put on her headphones. I saw her chatting with friends on a group. She smiled at each new message and laughed slightly at some of them. Her friends called her on Face Time. She picked up the phone knowing we had another 30 minutes to wait before taking off. I saw different faces, I recognised 2 of the 3: there was her friend Clarisse who I had already met and Anais, she had told me about her when I had asked her about the pictures in her room. The other two girls I didn't know. But they spoke together in English.

ASTRID

Hi girls, how are you?

CLARISSE

Astrid, what are you doing in a plane?

ASTRID

I'm leaving for the F1 winter tests in Bahrain.

ANAIS

I'm sorry, what?

???

You didn't tell us?

ASTRID

Calm down Lili, I have a bigger surprise for you than that.

LILI

What could be better than going to Bahrain for the winter tests?

ASTRID

What could be better? I would say going with a driver...

LILI/CLARISSE/ANAIS

WHAT?

She turned the phone towards me.

CLARISSE

Astrid, why didn't you tell me you were still seeing Lando?

LILI

You know Lando Norris? When? Where? How?