Love Is In the Snow {Lando Norris & Max Verstappen}

Chapter Seventy-one - We are in this together

Lando

When I wake up again I'm still lying on Vera her belly and she is still asleep. She still had one arm around my back, and she has the other hand on mine. I keep lying still hoping Vera will sleep a little longer and I don't wake her up. I keep thinking back about what happened last night and how Vera calmed me down again. She, literally, is the best thing that happened to me in a long time. When I woke up last night and even the fresh air didn't help I got really scared. I've never had a nightmare and panic attack as bad as this one and it scared me even more than I already was because of the memories. I turn my head so I can look at Vera hoping I didn't wake her up. I keep staring at her and admiring how beautiful she is.

"How long have you been staring at me?" I hear Vera say after a while still with her eyes closed. "Not that long" I lie. "Oh yeah, because I think I felt you turn your head probably half an hour ago or something" she says with a smirk and my face turns red immediately feeling caught. "Did I wake you up?" I ask her to avoid her statement. "Yeah but don't worry about it. How are you?" she asks me while putting her hand in my hair again leaving the other around my back and I have to admit, it feels great. "I'm okay, I'm sorry for last night, I really didn't want to wake you up, but I'm also a bit glad I did because I don't know how I would have gone through that on my own" I tell her. "I already told you last night, you should wake me up if something like this happens. You shouldn't go through it on your own, trust me" she says finally opening her eyes. "How did you get through it?" I ask her carefully. "The first few times were hell, they mostly happened when I got home from school or when I was just lying in my bed at night, because I always used to overthink everything and got bullied a lot at school and apart from Lynn I didn't have any friends in school. Lynn wasn't in my class, so I only had someone during the breaks and during the class I had no one. There used to be a period where I used to cry and have a panic attack every day after I got home from school just because of the people in my class. After a while it got less because I learnt to ignore all my classmates and what they said about me, but some days were worse than other and sometimes I still wonder how I got through it all at that time and I know how important it is to have people around you that you can trust and you can go to when something like this happens because I had no one and I really wished I had someone" she explains to me a few tears falling again after hearing her story. "But you had Lynn right?" I ask her and she shakes her head. "Lynn doesn't know about any of this, I was always good at hiding this from everyone, because I didn't know what people would think of me once they knew, especially since what people said about me caused them" "You had to go through all this alone?" I ask her surprised and she nods. "That is why I know now how important it is to talk about it with someone you trust."

"Thank you" I say to Vera after a few minutes of silence. "Thank you for calming me down, for understanding what I needed last night and just for being there for me" I add. "You don't have to thank me, I'm happy I could be there for you even if something like this happens. Just promise me one thing?" she tells me, and I nod. "Whenever something like this happens again, just wake me up or call me or at least talk to someone about it. If you don't want it to be me I understand and wouldn't blame you, because we don't know each other exceedingly long. I just want you to promise me that there is at least one person who knows about this, and you will go to him or her of it happens again okay?" she asks me. "I promise... and I would actually really like that person to be you, because you know what it feels like and what to do and I trust you." I tell her hoping she won't mind. She smiles and nods. "If you want me to be your person to help, I would be happy to do it. No matter if we're together or we are in different countries you can always call me at any time if you need help or just want to talk about anything, even if it isn't about a crash but about something else. I'll always be there for you" she tells me, and I can't be happier right now. "Thank you" I say to Vera. "We should make some breakfast" Vera tells me after a while just lying in each other's arms, enjoying each other's presence. I nod and get up. We both put on some joggers and a sweater before heading to the kitchen to prepare some food. While Vera is making some eggs I walk up to her from behind and put my hands around her waist. "You know the same goes for you right? Whenever you need me for something you can always come to me or call me or whatever you need, no matter where I am or what time it is, I'll always be there for you even if it is during a race weekend" I tell her. She turns around and nods. "I know and I'm really grateful for that" she says and pulls me into a hug. We stay in each other's arms until Vera had to do the eggs, so they won't burn.

We finish preparingthe rest of breakfast before sitting at the dinner table and eat or breakfast.I have to try really hard not to stare at Vera. After breakfast we clean up andI walk to the couch. Once I sit down Vera immediately sits next to me andcuddles up to me. I put my hand around her stroking her back softly and we justlay there in silence in each other's arms. After a little while I notice Verafell asleep and not long after I feel my eyes getting heavy and not much laterI fall asleep too.