Drive to Survive [Lando Norris]

-18-

So, Willow didn't get to lay low. In fact the first person she ran into that Friday morning was, of course as you may have guessed it, Lando Norris. It was during the breakfast buffet, where Willow liked to be as early as possible to avoid an extremely crowded room. 

And apparently Lando and a few other people from McLaren had thought the same thing, and now she had nowhere to run, as Lando approached her table with a tray of food in his hands. 

"Hey Willow, can I sit here?" he asked as if she had any choice. 

"Uh sure" she replied taking another bite out of her breakfast. 

She could feel his eyes on her, and her entire skin felt like it was on fire.

"Actually, I wanted to ask you something" Lando begun and Willow was forced to look at him noticing a little smile on his face. 

Oh fuck, here we go... 

"What do you wanna ask me?" she asked. 

"I think you know?" he said slightly raising his eyebrow. Willow thought she knew as well, but was too afraid to say so. 

"Hm, I'm not sure" she simply said. 

"Can we just talk later, please?" he begged and Willow let out a little sigh. 

"Yeah we can... tonight?" she asked since she didn't wanna ruin her Free Practice. 

"Sounds good" Lando smiled and continued to eat his breakfast. 

-- 

"It's good to be back on track, Mark. Is everything looking good?" Willow spoke over the radio, finally finding some inner peace as FP1 had just started. 

"Yep, it all looks good. Give it a go" he replied and that it was she did. 

She made the best out of FP1 trying to improve in all the corners where she had previously made mistakes back in F2 and F3. The car felt better each time she drove it, and it was definitely showing as well. 

She was putting up quite the fight and ended FP1 with P4. A strong and solid result making her happy. 

"Good job today, Will" Pierre said sitting down besides her. 

He still hadn't forgotten her cold tone last time they talked together, and he could still see it on her face. When she was driving her car, everything was good, but the minute she stepped out, it was like she became much more distant. 

"Thanks, you too" she replied not understanding why Pierre kept looking at her, "Are you okay?" she asked confused. 

"I'm perfectly fine. I'm just trying to understand what's going on with you, and why you don't wanna talk to me about it?" he replied still looking at her. 

Even though Pierre were a great friend to Willow, and she would take a bullet for him, then sometimes he could e a bit pushy. Willow knew that he was just trying to help and be a good friend to her, but sometimes it was a bit too much. 

"How many times do I have to tell you, I'm fine!" she said and stormed off only adding to Pierre suspicion. 

--

"Can you tell me a bit about your good results today? P4 and P5" the reporter asked Willow who was trying her best to seem positive about doing an interview. 

"Uh sure. Well the car is feeling better and better, and it seems like this is our stronger track than other tracks. And I don't know, the team is doing a great job, and therefore it went well" she replied mentally slapping herself for such a poor answer.

"And what about the pressure? Are you starting to feel it? maybe even feel a bit threatened about being the only woman?" Typical and stupid question. 

"I don't feel the pressure because I'm a woman. I'm here because I deserve it, and I'm beating half the grid so far. My gender shouldn't affect my racing" she said sharply. 

Thankfully this was the last interview of the day, and it had just about ended at the moment. Now all that was left for Willow, was going back to the hotel and wait for her conversation with Lando that she was not looking forward too. 

-- 

Willow hesitated for a few seconds before finally opening the door where Lando had knocked a few times. He smiled at her, and she let him in and the two of them sat down on the couch facing each other. 

Silence was all that filled the room. Willow didn't wanna start this conversation, and instead she was focusing on the ground. 

"You do know that we're gonna have to talk about it eventually, right?" Lando begun causing her to look at him and sigh. 

"I know" she replied but didn't say anything else. 

"Look, I didn't just kiss you because I was drunk, Willow... I did it, because I like you, a lot." he said making Willow feel even more nervous. 

"It's just hard, Lando" she replied feeling it difficult to find the words. 

"Why? I like you so I kissed you, and you kissed me back, so you clearly feel something. It seems simple enough to me" he said. 

"Well I wish it was that simple, but all this is so confusing to me, and I don't know what to do!" she replied both of them slightly raising their voices a tiny bit. 

"Then let me help you! Let me take you out on a date. let me show you all the things I'd do for you... 'cause I'd do anything for you, Willow. You make me crazy" he said and another silence filled the room. 

No one had ever said anything like that to Willow before. Absolutely no one. 

"That all sounds really good, but I'm new to all this. And I just need a bit of time. I just need a bit of time to figure myself out. The season has just started, and I can't already have this kind of drama on my life." she said almost feeling tears in her eyes, and Lando did too. 

"So that's it then? We're just gonna go back to being friends and nothing else?" he said wiping the single tear rolling down his cheek away. 

"It's for the best, Lando. I'm sorry" she said getting emotional. 

Lando stood up and took on last look at her. 

"Well, I can't just be friends with you, Willow." he said and walked out of the room slamming the door leaving Willow sat behind with a weird and empty feeling inside of her. 

What just happened?