Glass House - Lando Norris

Chapter 9

Lando dragged his suitcase all the way to the boarding room and his eyes immediately found Charlotte's. He was about to greet her when she suddenly landed a slap onto his shoulder. "You gave me a heart attack," she said.

"Those bags under your eyes are telling me you didn't get enough sleep, Charlotte." Lando replied to her.

"You bet. I could barely sleep a blink because of you," she folded her arms. Oh, this can't be good. "Charlotte.. I- I'm sorry for what happened. She needed my help," Lando stammered.

Her loud sigh could be heard clearly and the two took a seat next to each other while waiting for their flight. "I know, but I'm still figuring out how we are going- I mean the press conference and all." Charlotte sounded concerned, naturally.

"Look at your face. You did good with that makeup," she pointed at his face, "But even I still can see it clearly. And before you ask again, there's no way you're not going to show up in the press conference."

There was a pause. "So... I'm just going to have to tell the truth, then." Lando mumbled. "No. You are going." was her quick answer. "However, you can still dodge the question."

The flight was not very long. Lando sat next to Charlotte and she briefed him how to answer the media people correctly. The press conference went quite smooth just as Charlotte pictured it. Lando perfectly answered all the questions except about the whole stream incident.

"I will not comment on anything unrelated to the race. I might have some injuries, as you can see here," he pointed at his black eye, earning a few chuckles from the media. Thanks to his casual and comfortable aura at the time. "But I'm positive that these minor injuries will not affect my performance. My personal life is not that interesting anyway. So, are there any more questions about the grand prix itself?"

He met Charlotte at the exit of the press conference room and she threw a thumbs up at him. "You did so well!" she was honestly pretty surprised at how Lando could pull that off smoothly. Lando chuckled and said, "You have no idea how nervous I was to be honest."

They walked together towards the McLaren's motorhome. "So, now that we have free time, are you going to tell me what really happened that day?" she asked.

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Severine made sure she had all her things in her duffle bag before putting it into her car. Darlene waited for her at the porch. "Ready to go?" she asked her friend.

Darlene nodded, "But Rine, I think I'm just gonna take the bus for today. It's all the way around to the campus, and your polo range is in the other direction, you know."

"No. no no no. I will drive you, okay? I've calculated the time, it should be fine." Then she ushered her towards the car.

Darlene frowned. "Rine, you remembered what we talked about during breakfast?" Severine immediately stopped on her tracks. Yes, Darlene just said she had enough of being a burden to everyone and she wanted to do at least a few simple things on her own, such as bringing herself to the campus.

"Yes, I remember. But, just make sure you wait in the parking lot by 4, okay? I'm gonna pick you up. Not to babysit you or anything! Because after the practice I'll be hungry and I want you to eat with me. And that's not a question." Severine said smiling.

Darlene cupped her friend's face and shook it quickly. "Of course. I'm a very punctual person. Don't ever doubt that." The two friends laughed together and Severine opened her mouth to speak again.

"About Devon..." she started. Darlene couldn't help but froze a little when she heard that name. "Don't think about him. I'll take care of it. You just do your stuff and relax, okay?"