LOCK UP - Lando Norris [BOOK 2]

27

EVELYN

I never gave much thought to the ending. I never thought I had too. I spent my entire life watching 20 individuals cheat death on a day to day basis that I never gave much consideration to my own humanity.

The moment of impact hit me like a tonne of breaks, but I never felt the weight of the accident. It was the weight of my memories and my relationships that crushed me when the world turned to black.

It's true what they say, your life flashes through your mind when confronting the end. But flashes isn't the right word. My memories chose to torture me in a slow motion montage, teasing me with the faces and the moments that I held deep in my heart. Moments that I thought my brain made no connection too were actually stored away for safe keeping.

I'm taken back to 2021, the moment I laid eyes on Lando for the first time. The moment for me, I fell in love. I didn't even know him but it didn't matter, I knew right then and there that every possibility of love laid bare with this man.

I was inside the Red Bull hub, just finishing up my lunch before making my way over to the garage to start the next qualifying session. I could see a lot of the drivers making their way up the pit lane in their fireproofs, their overalls hung tight over their hips. And I noticed the rookies.

I'd been around the game long enough to have a knowledge only basis of the grid and I could spot the new comers from a mile away. It was in their walk. They walked like newbies.

And then I saw him.

His smile.

The way that even from as far away as I was, it captivated me. And that was it. The damage was done. I was hooked.

I had always believed in love at first sight. I had read it enough in every romance novel ever told and expected it in every film. You can pick it, the very moment that the main characters are on the same frame in the film, bam, there's your lover.

I have no idea what it was about this new rookie, coming into my frame, that sent me absolutely crazy over this boy.

And then he looked up. And our eyes met.

His smile haltered from the amusement from whatever was happening around him, and I saw it happen. I saw the moment the smile changed from mucking around with the boys, to acknowledging my presence.

His smile was suddenly for me.

I asked about him, anytime I could, I asked every single person around about the boy with the curls and they told me his name was Lando. And he'd be driving with McLaren.

Suddenly I was very interested in the McLaren garage.

Through that entire season, and the beginning of the next, I watched. I watched him from every position and angle that I could that wouldn't categorise me as creepy.

We had interactions, you'd say hello to the group I was standing with or apologise when you accidentally bumped into me that time we both were at the paddock pen. Your eyes caught mine every now and again, more often when we were surrounded by the rest of the grid. But they'd only catch, you'd never hold the gaze.

But then Charles told me you asked about me one time too. Asked if it were true, that I were Max's sister. And made a joke about how the resemblance wouldn't have suggested that.