For Real | Lando Norris

𝑭𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏.

Ophelia

"Hello?"

My heart starts pounding even harder when I hear the voice on the other end. For a moment I don't know what to say or how to react in general. Looking at my screen I start speaking, my voice trembling uncontrollably.

"Lando? This is Ophelia."

Silence. There is no reaction for a full minute. And then his voice comes back. "Lia, wow, uh hi. I wasn't prepared for you to call so out of the blue." He sounds very surprised and a little shaky as well. I let out a nervous laugh.

"I'm sorry. If I call you at a bad time, I can call you back?" I hear my voice a few octaves higher because of the tension that's building in my body. I can feel it growing from my legs, that feel like jelly, to my throat that's dry as a desert.

"No, no, god no I've been waiting for you to call." it comes out in such a hurry that he almost stumbles over his own words. "Uh, how've you been?"

"I've been fine, keeping busy with school and work mostly. You?" I answer and wait for his answer. Is he going to talk about him, his life, his world?

"Do you want an honest or a friendly answer?" I can't help but smile. I hear Lando from the text. In his voice I can hear the way he always spoke to me through text, but now I actually hear him instead of needing to imagine. "Honest, always." I answer.

I hear him breath for a second before he starts rambling like crazy. "I've been a distracted mess since you broke contact. I can't foccus on anything longer than a few minutes and then I start thinking about you and how I was so stupid to screw it up so massivily. My engineers were even complaining about it to Zak, our team boss. And it's weird because you weren't that big a part of my life, yet you were so important and I just need to say that I'm so sorry Lia. I didn't want to hide that part of who I am, and I still don't understand why I did it anyway, but I'm sorry and hope you can forgive me."

I leave the words hanging between us, taking them in one by one. Engineers... Zak? I try to think back to what Sabine told me about the McLaren racing team. Zak Brown is the team's principal and the direct boss of Lando Norris. I hold my breath and ask, "So, it's really you then?"

A confirming hum comes from the other side of the line and I let go of the breath I've been holding. "Okay." It's the only thing I can seem to get out. I get it straight for myself. Lando is the real Lando Norris. He is a Formula 1 driver for McLaren, a young sportsman that lives in Monaco. And he hasn't told me because... That he doesn't know.

"Okay, but why didn't you say anything. I asked you where you live, I asked about your job and why you travel so much. I gave you a lot of openings to start the conversation about who you really are, so why didn't you take those opportunities?" The hurt is clearly audible in my voice. I'm not fully trying to mask it. A sigh comes through the phone and I hear the creaking of a bed's springs.

"I know you did, and I know I deliberately avoided the topic. I don't.." He starts, but I cut him off. "If you know then you are untruthful and I don't if I want to da-, uhm be friends with someone who isn't fully honest with me."

"I'm honest now. Ask me anything and if you still want me to leave you alone then I will, but I refuse to believe I misread the feelings between us." I bite my lip. He is right and I'm being unfair. "Please sunshine," he says and I hear the smile in his voice when he says the nickname he has given me. That cracks me up, and I can't deny the mushy feeling in my stomach when hearing the word.

"You know that nickname is super corney?"

He laughs full out now, which sounds so pure and true that I can't help and laugh too. "You know you love it"

"If I was with you right now you would've winked, I can just hear it in your voice." I roll onto my back and look up at my sealing. He laughs again and I hear him sit down on what sounds like a bed.

"So, does this mean you believe me?" He sounds more confident than he did a couple of minutes ago. "I think I already believed you that day I found out," I tell him.

"I wanted to ask you by the way, how did you find out?" Now it's my time to laugh. "Yeah, I just spotted you on TV during that testing week in Bahrain and asked Sabine about you. She's a massive F1 fan and told me everything I wanted to know."

"So you know everything about me now?"

"I don't think so, I know what the press knows and your fans. I don't know everything about you yet." I say smiling to myself and then adding, "Although I maybe know more than I think, mister twenty-questions."

It stays quiet on the other end of the line. The moment I'm getting nervous that I may have said something wrong I hear Lando respond, more quietly than a moment ago.

"God, I really like you Lia."

I can't stop myself from blushing and feel the butterfly larvae settle in my stomach. The air around me feels hot and my head isn't working for a second as I take the words to me. His soft voice, so sure of what he says enchants me with every word he speaks.

"I know why I didn't tell you," he says nervously. "You look at me as a normal 22 year old guy, and even now you know, what you just said proves you're different. Amazing."

I giggle and ask, "What exactly did I say?"

"About not knowing me and only knowing what the press knows. I've had this image of the happy, smiling, British guy and I sometimes feel like I'm losing myself in that image. I am that, but I qm more than just that. You made me sane, and you still do." He says and I smile at his words. I roll onto my stomach again and look out the window.

"My pleasure sir, you can always make me compliments like that," I say flirty.

He laughs at that. "If you ask, you will never get what you want Miss... I still don't know your last name"

"My mom taught me that if you ask nicely you always get what you want, Mr. Norris." I counter him.

"Okay, now you have an unfair advantage, because you can just google anything you need to know and I need to ask you." He mocks and I hear him pouting.

"Yeah, then you shouldn't be a famous Formula 1 racer. But my last name is Richardson."

"Good to know. I'll still call you sunshine." I can hear the grin in his voice and roll my eyes.

"You're an impossible ass, you know that?"

"You love me." He says and I giggle again uncontrollably. This boy is doing things to me I can't understand, but I can't deny the feeling that my world is about to flip upside down. And I realize I don't mind it at all.

--
It was my birthday today and I loved writing this as a present to myself so hope you enjoyed the first talk.

Lots of love