The Intern || A Lando Norris Fanfiction

53. Jona

"He really likes you." Ria says as we're sitting at the sports bar. Lando and Niran taking on Max and Emily in a game of pool.

"You can tell?" I ask her.

"You're all he talks about when we're having a casual conversation." Maria says, but quickly shuts up when Lando walks our way.

"Do you want to play?" he asks me and Ria and we both agree. Swapping in for Lando and Niran.

"I'm gonna beat you so bad." Emily says, staring me down as if she was getting ready for the hardest battle of her life.

"Em, you and I both know you suck at pool." I tell her, making Max chuckle. "See, even Max already realised that." I say pointing to him his cheeks turning red.

As we're playing pool, I steal a glance at Lando every now and then. Wondering how I'd ever gotten this lucky. I walk over to one of the tables, where my drink is standing when I can overhear Lando and Niran's conversation.

"I don't know, but I am pretty sure she's the one." I hear Lando say to Niran.

"I can tell you're totally happy when you're around her." Niran answers.

"I know. It all feels amazing. I was even looking at engagement rings last week." Lando says to Niran, making me choke on my drink.

I quickly recover, walking back to the pool table.

He's looking at engagement rings.

Is he going to propose?

***

"We need to talk." I say to Charlotte, dragging her away from Charles to a more private place on the paddock. Leaving Charles standing there confused.

"What's wrong?" Charlotte asks worried.

"Lando's been looking at engagement rings." I tell her, her face turning white.

"How'd you know?" She asks.

"You knew?!" I ask in disbelief.

"Don't tell Lando." Charlotte starts. "But he asked me to take a look at some he had seen. So yes I knew he was looking. Now how'd you find out?"

"I overheard him talking to Niran last night." I admit. "I wasn't really supposed to hear it, but I did. And I think he knows I did, but we haven't spoken about it."

"So what do you think about it?" She asks, getting slightly excited.

"I don't know, I've always said I might want to take it slow. But I feel like I'm at a point that I could say yes. I'm graduating after this internship. So there's barely anything holding me back." I explain to Charlotte, a big smile on her face.

"Don't tell Lando you know, let me take care of the rest." She says, before we say goodbye, and I head out to the McLaren garage. FP1 about to finish.

"You did amazing." I say to Daniel as we're walking to the media pen.

"Car felt great." He says, a smile on his face as it was a while since he outperformed Lando in anything on track.

At the media pen, people seemed to be interested in me as well. Especially when Lando walked over to me, to give me a quick kiss. "Come do a few interviews with me." He whispers. "Let's get rid of the last bit of rumours."

And that is how I ended up in front of the camera of ViaPlay, SkySports and ESPN. I have to admit all were very kind and respectful. Not pushing on answers I did not want to give.

"The media loved your stunt this morning." Zak says, walking up to me as I am waiting for Lando to finish up. So we can go to the hotel.

"I know." I say a confident smile on my face. "It was Lando's idea though." I tell Zak, wanting to give Lando full credit.

"Well, it was definitely some good publicity. I like it." He says, before walking away. I look around the garage, when Lando's face appears.

"I'm ready." He says, and we start walking to the exit of the paddock. "I'm sorry if you didn't want to the interviews. I didn't realise that you might not have been comfortable with it." He says.

"Don't be, I enjoyed it. It was nice to clear things up a bit." I tell him getting into the car and driving off to the hotel.

***

"I don't think we've ever had this many people in the garage on Lando's behalf." Alana says on Sunday, as we're standing in front of the crowded family and friends area.

"I don't think either." I say, looking over at Flo and Oliver, Lando's parents, Quadrant and Emily. All watching the tv with full focus as Lando's doing his warm up lap.

Lando's second home race, as he likes to call it, did not go as planned. Starting on a tenth place was already not ideal, but the race didn't go much better for him, finishing in a twelfth place.

"So what's the plan for this week?" Lando asks sitting down on my bed late that Sunday.

"Not much." I admit. "I've got a soccer practise tomorrow and Wednesday, that I'd like to join and then a game on Friday evening." I tell him. "Having a Dutch GP, means I can actually do a full week of all that." I tell him.

"We're going to the hotel near Zandvoort on Thursday right?" He asks.

"Yep." I answer.

"Good."

***

It's Wednesday afternoon when my phone is ringing, my favourite Australian driver's phone number appearing on my phone.

"Jona." Daniel says excitedly when I pick up.

"Daniel." I say, more curious as to why he's calling.

"I'm in Rotterdam tonight, we're going out. Care to join?" He suggests.

"I've got soccer practise first." I tell him. "But after that Emily and I will join, don't think Lando will though. He's looking into some warehouses for Quadrant tonight."

"Great, well see you tonight." He says before hanging up.