Mutual Friends | Lando Norris

Chapter 36 - Cry Me A River

Lando's POV

"Don't you fucking touch me," Liv exclaims trying to push me away. Her angelically beautiful face is somewhat enraged with glaring, hurt filled eyes.

In an instant, the tiny short hairs on my arms shoot up as panic washes all over me. I need to make her understand what really happened.

"Liv, it's not what you think." My voice is the polar opposite to hers. It is softer, pleading and begging with reason.

"You're right. It isn't," she says hastily. "This whole thing with you, with us, it isn't —."

"Don't say that. Anything but that." Her words are said from a place of hurt but the thought of where she was going with them, pierces me more than anything we'd been through that week.

"What do you want me to say Lan? That after everything that's happened I forgive you for cheating on me?" The feeling of genuine fear begins to form as the muscles in my back stiffen. Olivia continues speaking, "I just gifted you —"  but the words fall flat as she struggles to piece together a complete sentence.

With the seconds going by, things become even more tense between us so I take a step towards her again, trying to close the gap but Liv immediately raises her hands in front of me to create another barrier.

"I wanted you to have something that was important to me. I tell you that I love you," she says in a weak voice. "And your first reaction is to tell me there was a girl?"

Liv looks away at the romantic setting behind us and sighs. "In Mexico of all places? Like I didn't end up in hospital over there all in the name of some wacko girl being in love you?

"Liv please, you don't understand."

Zak's daughter turns on her heels without so much as a look at me and walks towards the glass walls to get a better look at the last of the dying sunset.

"I don't want to hear it."

"Don't be like this."

I walk up right behind her, close enough to smell the sweetness of her perfume but it's the quiet, silent sniffles that pull at my heart strings.

It seems like something we've done a million times before. I've always walked away at the moment of impact, the place where I could've potentially gotten hurt and blamed it on something or someone else. Leaving her alone and heartbroken to deal with the aftermath of my own insecurities and doubt.

"You should go," she says in a whisper. I stand there for a moment, staring blankly at the back of the girl who just professed her love to me. But soon it isn't enough to be close to her, I need to be one with her.

"I'm not going anywhere," I say.

"Excuse me?!" She says snapping back at me.

"Damn it Olivia! I'm not leaving just because that's what you're used to, what you've come to expect."

The words spill out of me like champagne showers shooting from a bottle. "Not everyone is out to hurt you. Has Zak done so much damage that you can't even see what's right in front of your eyes."

"My father has nothing to do with this," she says fighting back tears.

"Your father has everything to do with this," I say taking two steps towards her so we're only a few inches apart. "You expect the worst from people Liv and that's partly because of him, because of how he's conditioned the world to be around you."

"Well I'm sorry I don't come from a perfect two parent loving home."

Ever since the airplane ride, I'd been dreading having this conversation with her because I didn't know how I was going to tell her, how she was going to react to it but the one thing I know for certain is that I'm not going to let it come between us.