FOR HIM [Lando Norris] ~ Gridlock Series Stand Alone ~

12 Years Later

EVELYN

Just as Charles arrives, the smoke alarm is in full blast at my failed cookies attempt.

"Wow" he amused as he walks into the kitchen, "that's impressive, even for you"

He waves his hands dramatically through the thin layer of smoke.

"I don't even know what happened" I admit, pulling the charcoal flavoured failures out of the oven and throwing them into the kitchen sink.

"What were they meant to be?" He asks.

"Choc chip cookies" I say regrettably, knowing they are his favourite.

"Ohhh, Ev" he groans, "How did you manage to mess those up" he pulls the pre-made box up to me in disbelief.

"Okay" I sigh, grabbing it from him and tossing it in the trash. "I get it, I wasn't concentrating"

"You're terrible" he chuckles, grabbing the tea towel out of may hands and throwing it over his shoulder.

"Oh" I gush in excitement. "Max was meeting Carlos down at the track today with Landon, he's going to bring him around after."

"Carlos? Carlos Sainz?" he repeated excitedly.

"Yeah" I nod my head, leading us out of the kitchen and into the lving room.

"I haven't seen him in years" he exclaims.

"I thought it'd be good for you to catch up" I suggest, "Do you keep in contact with any of them?"

He shakes his head, "Not really. I mean, we follow each other on all the social media platforms, but we're just kind of busy doing our own thing" he admits. "It's kind of sad though, I wish we did"

We settle down on the couch, Charles sits toward the other end, far away from me. I don't like the way it makes me feel having him not close.

"What's the matter?" he chuckles, "You look disappointed?"

I shake my head, tightening my lips, "Nope, I'm okay" I lie.

"You look upset" he adds, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. I'm good." I chuckle shyly.

"Are we going to watch a movie?" he suggests, snuggling back into the couch, crossing his arms across his chest.

I have the urge to talk to him about my feelings, ask him about the possibility of us. Although what Max said made sense to me, as much as it shouldn't have, I've known that Charles has loved me for a long time, of course, I had loved him as well. I just never knew if that love was enough to turn it into anything more. Anything else. But it didn't stop the hesitations overtaking. I can't just expect for him to love me back, after all this time, in a way that might make something out of us.

He's done so much for me and especially for Landon, over the past 12 years, and even further back. I would feel like I was asking too much of him.

"Ev?" he whispers again when I haven't responded. "Hey, what's up?" he asks concerned, sitting forward on the couch and shifting himself closer to me.