GRIDLOCK - Lando Norris [BOOK 1 Gridlock Series]

33

I feel absolutely nauseous. I've never felt more nervous and anxious in my entire life. I'm lying awake in my hotel room bed, eyes glued to the ceiling and my mind travelling at a million miles per hour.

I let my head hand heavy to the left hand side to peak a glimpse at the time

4:03am

I groan loudly to myself.

The thing about the Abu Dhabi race is that it happens under the lights, so I have all day to wait until we get any sort of release on this pressure. Not only that, I'm having anxiety about what will happen when the race is finished.

It suddenly feels like it's never going to end.

Reaching over and grabbing my phone, I'm blinded by the screen light as it illuminates. I scroll through some of the notifications and let my finger land on the one from Lando. The one alerting me to his newly uploaded picture.

My phone screen displays his happy, confident face, standing track side with his signature 'Lando Norris - LN4' hoodie on, a pair of black shades with some inspirational quote about how confident he is.

I can't help it, my finger double taps against better judgement and a glowing heart appears underneath the picture.

Suddenly, the phone vibrates in my hand and his name appears in the top quarter.

I'm on the roof, come up - Lando

Why is he up so early?

Slipping myself out of bed, I throw on my oversized black hoodie and leave my black bike shorts I was wearing to bed on. Tiptoeing out of my room and down the hall way, I make my way to the top floor.

As the elevator alerts me to the destination, I step out and follow the corridor to the end, where I know the staircase leads to the roof.

Pushing open the door, I'm met with the cold morning air, but there's no light peeking through yet. The stars still cover the blanket of sky in front of me.

I can make out Lando's figure in the corner of the roof, leading against the concrete railing.

"Morning" I announce as I wrap my arms tighter around myself from the chill.

"Morning" he responds in a chirpy tone.

"Can't sleep either?" I ask him as I position myself next to him, leaning my back against the railing.

"Haven't gone to bed yet" he answers.

"Lando!" I gush, "you have a huge race today"

"Really? I didn't know" he dumbfounds at me.

"You need your rest" I shake my head, ignoring his humour.

The smile slowly fades from his face, "Every-time I close my eyes, I saw the accident" he mumbles.

My heart aches for him. The confidence of the person in the picture is not the person standing before me.

"Oh, Lando" I sigh.

He immediately tries to shrug it off, "It's fine"

"It's not" I shake my head.

Lando's eyes find mine instantly and they shorten straight away.

"I don't want to be afraid" he confesses.

I try to reply but he cuts me off. "I can't be afraid"

"What's making you afraid?" I ask.

He lips part to speak but it's like he's battling with his own answer.

"Crashing? Or getting hurt?" I ask.