Monza - {Lando Norris}

Chapter 36

We walk into the glamorous decorated restaurant as smooth jazz music is being played from the band from the back of the restaurant, we walk up to the waiter table and wait for a couple of seconds before being approached by a mature looking male "Welcome guys, have you guys booked a reservation with us tonight?" The man opens up the book that sits on the table as Lando speaks up to say he has booked a reservation under the name Norris, the man drags his finger down the page which is full of multiple different names as I look around to see the restaurant quite busy "Yes! Perfect, if you both would like to follow me" The man quickly closes the book before picking up two menus and begins to walk to the front of the restaurant which to my joy is a lot more empty as the people are gathering around the medium sized dance floor as they dance along to the jazz music. We get shown to our seats as the waiter sets down the menus "Can I get you both anything to drink for the time being?" He politely smiles as he takes out a small notepad along with a pen from his pocket as he keeps his gaze on me before flickering over to Lando who quickly reads the drink menus "I would love a glass of red wine, thank you" I smile at the waiter as he jots my order down before he turns his attention back to Lando "Change hers to a bottle of red wine, the best you have and for me I'll have the best beer that you have, thank you" Lando taps the menu as he speaks keeping his eyes on the waiter as he proceeds to jot Lando's words down "Perfect guys! I'll have your drinks with you in a couple of minutes" I keep my eyes on Lando as he looks down at the menu as soon as the waiter walks away but I can't help but feel awful at the thought that he's spending so much money on me "Seriously Lando? The best bottle of wine, god knows how much that will cost you" I attempt to keep my voice down as I don't want to create a scene but I've never had anyone spend this much money on me before and it frustrates me that I don't know if I'll ever be able to repay him, Lando finally looks up from the menu as his face has a gentle smile covering it "Honestly Lando, I really do appreciate it and everything but I don't need you spending this much money on me. I feel awful about it" Lando reaches his hand over and places it on mine as it rests on the table "Sofia, we've already talked about this, we've agreed you'll get the next one and if you can't then you can just get the one after that. We're a team, I look after you and you look after me, I just want us both to be happy but mainly you because your smile brightens up my day and brings me a happiness that I honestly can't explain. Please don't stress about it too much, let's just enjoy this night and then we're headed off to Singapore, I love you Sofia" We hold a moment of twinkling eye contact and we both share a knowing grin that we both understand that we belong to each other, Lando's grin growing bigger by the second and I know that he only smiles like that with me and it brings a warmth to my heart and a blush to my cheeks "I love you too Lando" The waiter interrupts the moment as he comes over holding a tray with our drinks along with our cutlery "The wine for the gorgeous female" He sets the bottle of wine along with a wine glass in front of me "And the beer for the handsome male" He sets it down in front of Lando before putting his tray underneath his arm and taking out his notepad once again "Can I get your order or do we need another minute?" I hadn't the chance to look at the menu whereas Lando had and before I can say anything Lando begins to say his order to the waiter as I swiftly glance down the menu looking for anything that calls out to me, I overhear Lando ordering himself some rice dish along with chicken and vegetables, he has to be careful with what he eats now since the race is upcoming, the waiter finishes writing down Lando's order before he turns to me "And for you my lady?" I take one more glance down at the menu before ordering the salmon, rice and vegetable dish "If possible could I just get a tiny bit of lemon squeezed over the salmon, not too much please, thanks" Lando raises his eyebrow at me as he hates fish and his face isn't being to subtle about my choice as I restrain myself from laughing at his facial expressions as the waiter begins to lift the menus off the table.

"I hope you know I'm not kissing you after you eat fish you weirdo" Lando lets out a small laugh before taking a sip of his beer as I go to pour some of the wine into my glass but the bottle is quickly removed from my hands as Lando begins to pour it, he swirls it around in the bottle of the glass before bringing it up to his lips and taking the smallest possible sip before his face screws up in disgust "How do you drink this stuff, I'm actually dating a weirdo" I smile as he drinks his beer in an attempt to get rid of the taste "I'm going to kiss you in badness now" I grin as Lando shakes his head in disgust at the thought of it "And also, red wine is so much nicer than white wine, honestly, white wine just tastes like vinegar" Lando fixes himself in the seat so he's more propped up now as he rests one hand on the table and the other looks to be resting on his knee "Eugh!" Lando sticks his tongue out as if he's being sick "I'll never drink wine, I don't have a clue how you drink that stuff" I take a small sip of my wine and smile as the gorgeous taste fills my tastebuds "I love red wine, it's really the only drink I really like apart from a couple of other things but that's really about it... Are you nervous about Singapore?" We had been talking about the upcoming race whilst we were on the beach and Lando told me everything I needed to know, mainly it being a street circuit making it that much harder to get overtakes done and since Singapore is such a hot and humid climate, it's makes it quite a difficult race for all involved "I'm always somewhat nervous before a race but I think we're capable of getting a good result from this race, both me and Daniel. The engineers have been working really hard since the last race so to answer your question... it's a bit of both I would say, are you excited to go to Singapore. We still have to do this triple date with Daniel and Max, he's been blowing my phone up asking about it" Lando lets out a small laugh as I fiddle with the knife and fork sitting in front of me "I think I'm quite nervous for it, I looked up the race highlights for it last year and it just looks so stressful, honestly I don't know if I'll be able to watch the full race" I let out a confident laugh but my insides have been so stressed since seeing the race highlights from last year, I mean 20 cars going at such high speeds on such a small track, no chances for overtaking, it worries me but I don't want to let on to Lando about my true feelings for this race "And yeah, I really am excited to get to Singapore and see the culture in person, it interests me." I keep direct eye contact with Lando as I continue to rhyme on "I'm also excited for this triple date, Heidi messaged me on instagram the other day to say that Daniel hadn't shut up about it so we had to get a move on with it so yeah I'm happy to do it, it will be nice to meet your friends privately, instead of being in the paddock with so many cameras around us" Lando taps his fingers on the table in a musical rhythm before stopping once the waiter is stood at the side of the table holding two plates, the smell fills my nose and I can't wait to dig into the food. The waiter sets the plates down "Can I get you guys anything else?" Both me and Lando shake our heads "Enjoy guys! I'm just over here if you need anything" He walks off and we waste no time digging into the food, I internally scream with happiness as I taste the salmon and there's the perfect amount of lemon on it, not too much that it makes my face scrunch up and not too little so then I can't even taste it. We quickly finish our food and then sit in silence for a couple of seconds as we finish off drinks, I take the napkin up to my mouth and lightly dab around it, careful to not ruin my makeup as Lando basically scrubs at his face with his own napkin. We begin to talk amongst each other before the waiter approaches us once more "Was everything alright for you?" We both nod our heads as I smile up to the waiter "Would you like the dessert menu?" I look over to Lando who seems to be mentally fighting himself over the decision "Not for me, thanks. The food was absolutely delicious, give my thanks to the chef" The waiter nods his head as a small smile covers his face before he turns to Lando "No dessert for me either, thank you" The waiter begins to lift the dirty plates off the table "Could I get the bill please" Lando chimes up and the waiter nods his head before he walks off, I watch as he makes his way through the busy restaurant as he balances the plates on his arm as he holds the glasses in the other. In no time the waiter comes back with the bill and Lando quickly grabs it once it's set down on the table, probably so I can't look at it and nearly cry at the price of it, Lando opens it up before reaching over and placing a mint that came with the menu in front of me as he pops the other one into his mouth "Back in a minute" Lando gently gets off his seat and begins to make his way back to the waiter table at the entrance of the restaurant where the waiter takes his payment, I pop my own mint into my mouth as I watch Lando walking back towards me "You coming?" Lando reaches his hand out to me and I grab it before I grab my handbag that was sitting around the edge of the seat and we make our way towards the exit "Have a good evening guys!" The waiter enthusiastically shouts at us as we walk out into the warm air of the night and make our way back to the resort and in good timing as I feel myself begin to sway side to side as the effects of the red wine kick in.