It's never as it seems [Lando Norris]

Chapter 2

Emilia looks at her notes with a frown, twirling a strand of hair while looking around the warehouse of Ikea. "Well, I'm fucked" she sighs, chuckling slightly when she looks at her phone again. She decided to go furniture shopping on her own, thinking that she wouldn't get a lot of big pieces anyways since the basics are in her apartment already. That wasn't the case now that she actually went through the entire store. A reading chair, three small tables for her plants that her parents brought last Friday and a new cabinet for under her TV, because she doesn't want it to be on the wall. Those were only the 'big' things; she also got a rug, a new mirror, various bathroom items and kitchen supplies. She walks towards the package for the chair, groaning when she sees how big it is. A grin forms on her face when she recalls Max' words from last week, dialling his number while leaning on her cart.

"Hi Emmie, miss me already?" Max' voice sounds through the phone, and she hums with a laugh. "I actually need your help for something" she answers, chuckling when he lets out a sigh. "You only want to be my friend when you need my help, absolutely distasteful. What's up then?" he asks her, laughing when she tells him that she got too much at Ikea and that she's unable to bring that all home. "You're so stupid! You always buy way more than you think beforehand, I thought you knew that by now? How old are you now Em? You've been living with yourself for quite a while" he responds, laughing harder when she curses at him. "Can you just come and help me out please? I'll make you dinner" she says, smiling when he answers that he's already grabbing his keys.

A smile grows on Emilia's face when she hears Max talking, but it turns into a confused one when she hears another voice. It sounds familiar, but she can't really remember where she heard it before. "There you are! You could've picked us up at the door of this place, I feel like we lost the route 5 times" Max says when they walk into the right hall of the warehouse. "I literally texted you where it was?" she answers with a laugh, showing him her screen before looking at Lando with a smile. "Hi Lando! I didn't know you were joining as well" she says, looking at him curiously when he blushes with a nod. "Y-yeah" he says, clearing his throat, "Max dragged me. He said you're making dinner?" Max lets out a groan and looks at Lando with a shake of his head, "I would never do something like that Em. We're obviously here because we're your friends."

With a lot of sighs and laughs the three of them make their way through the Ikea warehouse, putting all the packages into their carts before Emilia pays and they make their way towards the cars. "You both came with your own car?" Emilia asks, looking at Max and Lando with a shake of her head. "Mate, I didn't know how much stuff you bought, figured this was the safest idea. I wasn't in the mood to drive back and forth" Max answers, waving her scoff away before they start to figure out how to fit everything into the cars. Emilia lets out an annoyed whine, leaning against a package that doesn't fit the way she wants it to. "Let me help you, I think that if we turn it slightly we can fit it in" Lando's voice says next to her. She looks up at him, staring at his face for a few seconds before she nods silently. He takes the package from her, moving some things around before shoving it in the car. "Thank you" Emilia says, putting her hand on his shoulder while she smiles at him. "No problem, Emilia" he says, smiling at her slightly before he takes the shopping cart towards the others.

The two boys are building her chair while Emilia builds the TV cabinet. Max put on one of his playlists and he and Lando are humming along to the songs. Building the cabinet turns out to be a challenge, especially because it is quite heavy. A huff leaves her mouth when she lifts the cabinet up, groaning when she puts it on the right spot. She wipes the sweat that's forming on her forehead away with the back of her hand, putting her hands on her hips while she looks at the piece of furniture. "I think it needs to go a bit more to the right" she mumbles to herself, walking towards the couch to sit down to see where the cabinet needs to go. "Yes, definitely more to the right" she nods, standing up again to move it a bit. She takes her hoodie off afterwards, waving a bit of cool air towards her face and neck. She clears the packaging for the cabinet before building the last small table, since Lando and Max did the other two already.

She looks around the living room satisfied when all the new pieces are on their place. Max is making sure her TV works while Lando is clearing up the packaging. "I'm very happy right now. It looks exactly like I imagined" she says with a breathless voice, smiling at Max and Lando who look at her. "It looks nice yeah! You're seriously out of shape though that you're this breathless, aren't you an athlete?" Max says with a grin, chuckling when Emilia makes her way towards him. "I can assure you Maxie, that I am very much in shape" she says, lowering her voice a little before winking at him. Her eyes lock with Lando's when she turns around, his expression unreadable before he turns around and walks towards the hallway. 'Why did he look, annoyed?' she thinks to herself, a frown appearing on her face. Max shakes her from her thoughts when he tickles her sides, laughing when she lets out a squeal. "What are you making for dinner Em?"

Emilia makes her way towards the kitchen, looking in the fridge before looking at Max who followed her. "I can make whatever, what are you in the mood for?" she asks, leaning against the kitchen cabinet while Max looks in the fridge as well. "I don't know actually. Can you make pizza's?" he asks, chuckling when Emilia rolls her eyes at him. "Yes I can, the question is more if I want to make pizza's" she replies, looking at Max who nods slowly. "Do I need to beg now?" he asks, groaning when she nods with a laugh. "I literally helped you out on my day off and I still need to beg?" he mumbles, looking at her with a pout. "Okay, you're right. I'll make pizza then. Let me see if I have those bases for pizza, otherwise I need to run to the store quickly" she replies, shooing him away before leaning down to look in the fridge. "Nice, I still have three!" she says happily, taking them out before looking at Max. "Get Lando here so you can pick out your toppings, please."

"U-uh, thanks that you want to make dinner but I just got a text from my trainer so I can't join. He says that I need to uhm, come and meet him" Lando says unconvincingly when Max drags him towards the kitchen. "Mate, what are you on about?" Max says, looking at Lando with a 'what the fuck' look on his face. "Yeah, I-I'm sorry, maybe next time" Lando stutters, seemingly uncomfortable when he looks at Emilia before quickly looking away. "Oh" she says, looking at him with a soft smile, "that's okay, you gotta do what you gotta do. I was looking forward to eating with the two of you, but I guess I'll survive with Max then." Lando lets out a hum, mumbling something under his breath that sounds like 'figured' before he walks towards the living room to grab his hoodie. "Well, have fun" Lando says, waving at Emilia and Max before he walks towards the hallway. Emilia follows him, watching him get in his car before he drives away.

"That was a little weird" she says when she walks back into the kitchen, looking at Max who nods. "Yeah, I don't really know what that was about. Maybe he's just nervous? He sometimes needs a bit of time before he feels comfortable around new people" he answers, furrowing his brows a little while he looks at Emilia who starts with preparing the pizza's. "Yeah, I guess" she says, moving around the kitchen while she tries to get Lando out of her head. She takes a seat next to Max at the dining table after putting the pizza's in the oven, leaning her head on one of her hands while she looks at her friend. "Maybe he doesn't like me that much" she says, giggling when Max makes a weird face. "That's definitely not it, trust me. He literally jumped up when I said that I was going to help you out at Ikea. Maybe he really had a text, I don't know. I'll ask him later tonight" he answers, before asking her what movie she wants to watch while eating their pizza's later.

"Let's watch Notting Hill, I saw you looking at tiktoks with Julia Roberts."