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"MY mother was in absolute tears when I told her. She took it worse than Max. I'm super surprised at how Max was though, he was so excited- I honestly expected him to faint in front of me." Nia joked.
When she didn't get a reply off her friend, she turned her head, frowning. Thea was zoned out, a piece of her brunette hair between her fingers. "Thea?" Nia said, buffing her friend with her foot.
Thea came out of her daze by the contact and looked over to Nia. "Yeah, no sorry, I just zoned out for a second."
Nia placed the back of her plan to Thea's forehead. "Sweetheart are you feeling okay?" she asked. "You've been off all week."
Thea smiled. "Yeah I'm fine." she brushed off.
Nia took her hand away from her friends face and gave her a "I know you're lying" look. "Thea what's going on?"
Thea bit her lip, debating whether or not to tell Nia what was really on her mind. In the end she caved, knowing that Nia would get it out of her one way or another, and that telling her might be a good idea, instead of bottling up her feelings inside.
"Lando and I- we- we nearly kissed."
"What!?" Nia shrieked. She jumped up from the sofa, her jaw slack. "What- what do you mean almost? Why didn't you?"
"The phone rang, it was awkward after that." Thea shrugged.
Nia scoffed. "Oh what! Whoever called you was a complete arseh-"
"Nini you called me." Thea interrupted her friends rant with a slight smile as she watched Nia's face drop.
"Oh. I'm sorry." Nia ran a hand down her face "Damn me and my awful timing." she sank back down onto the sofa and held her hands out, gesturing Thea to tel her everything. "Well?"
Thea sat up straighter as she explained every to her friend, who was eagerly hanging onto her every word. "Well, we were talking about you and the pregnancy, and then we were mucking about. He started flexing his arms unintentionally," Thea cringed at the memory, "and he caught me staring."
Nia raised her eyebrows, smirking slightly at her friend. Thea rolled her eyes but continued on, "He teased me about it and then when I went to walk away he pulled me back. I don't know what happened next he was just so close and then-"
"-And then the phone rang." Nia finished. Thea nodded. She ran a hand through her long hair. "I still don't get it . I mean- since when have Lando and I been like that?" she questioned, more to herself than anything.
Nia rolled her eyes at her friends obliviously. "Thea sweetie we've all been rooting for you two the moment we first saw you together."
Thea frowned. "Really?" she wondered.
"Yes! They way you acted around each other, stuff you did, the way he looked at you... we could just tell." Nia said knowingly. "Have you never thought about it before?"
Thea shook her head. "No, I always just thought we were really close friends."
"Do you want that though?"
Thea hesitated. She didn't actually know what she wanted. She loved Lando to absolute pieces, and she loved being around him, but she'd always known that as friendship. She'd never really seen him in a romantic light. That being said, before they had kissed, Thea had leaned forward. She wanted to kiss him.
And it wasn't the first time they'd had a moment. As she thought, her mind drifted back to when he'd picked her up to travel to Silverstone. By his car, they had nearly kissed. She wanted it then too.
"I don't know." Thea answered at last. "I love our friendship, it's so important to me," she paused.
Nia noticed, "But...?" she encouraged.
"But I did really want to kiss him." Thea finished.
A wide smile grew upon Nia's face, but it dropped again when she noticed Thea's expression was still down. "Hey, what's wrong?"
Thea shook her head slightly, "I don't know, I think it's pointless thinking about it, I mean it's not like we're even gonna' get together."
Nia shrugged. "Well why not?" she questioned.
"Have you seen the people who follow him?" Thea said, letting out a shaky laugh. "He's got some great fans but also very creepy ones. Every day I get an average of 10 follow requests from Lando's fangirls, who somehow managed to find photos of me, and judge me. And that's just being Lando's friend." Thea spilled. "I mean, what if we start dating, and somehow they find out and I get attacked. Nia you know how I feel about the press and attention from people-"
Nia placed a hand on her friend's shoulder, stopping her mid rant before she got out of control. "Thea, those 12-year-olds shouldn't stop you from being with the person you want to be with."
Thea sighed, feeling herself getting emotional, "I know but, Nini the things they've said, they've said I'm not pretty or, not 'good enough for him'- and under normal circumstances I wouldn't care but-"
Thea took a deep breath, not knowing she was holding back all this emotion. "All my life, I've wanted to look my mother. To me she was- the image of beauty, and now I finally do, and I've got all these people telling me I don't look pretty. It just makes me overthink, do I not look like my mother like I thought I did? Did other people not see my mother like i did?"
"Hey," Nia said, pulling Thea over from the end of the sofa into a hug, "Of course you're beautiful, and you're mother, is beautiful. And you look the spit of her." Nia stroked Thea's soft hair, and the James girl felt a few single tears from her eyes. "Thea there is no one in the world more perfect for Lando than you."
Thea sighed. "You're gonna' be an amazing mum." she joked, letting out a breathy laugh. Nia laughed to, hugging Thea even more tightly.
