hidden desires |lando norris|

•4•

it was tuesday morning and zara was getting ready to go out to lunch with her brother, joe had promised that when she were to come back from la he would take her out so they had time to catch up with each other. he had also promised that he would make less plans with their mom as to see each other the most they could over the short time zara was staying in england.

when she was ready she messaged her brother she was leaving and made her way down to the cafe down the road to her apartment. it had always been their go-to hangout spot and was convenient for both, given the short distance it was from their homes.
zara had gotten their in a matter of minutes and saw her brother already waiting at a table for her with his head down, presumably on his phone.

"helloo"
the young woman said walking towards her brother with a bright smile spread across her face
"erm.. sorry i think you've got the wrong table"
the man said as he looked up at her sharing the same wide smile
"oh, my apologies sir, mind if i join you?"
she said pulling out the chair opposite joe and sitting down in it, putting her bag besides her
"i do actually, maybe you should leave"
joe had replied handing the younger a small menu that she didn't need as of their frequent trips to that very cafe.

--

the two of them had been sitting there talking for almost 2 hours when joe got a call and left the table to take it.
"so,,change of plans we're gonna go back to mine now."
the man said as he walked toward their small table with a frown displayed on his face
"that is if you can"
his head was down and he was typing furiously on his phone with a sense of urgency almost
"oh yeah i can, why the sudden change of plans?"
the males actions seemed off to zara and she was worried something might have happened that needed both of them to go back to his apartment.
"no reason just thought we could watch a film or something"
he said finally looking up with a toothy smile on his face
and with that the two of them left walking back towards joes apartment.

--

zara hadn't been to joes apartment in a few years, given they normally went to her place so it came as a bit of a surprise when he had asked to go round to his but nevertheless she was grateful to be seeing her brother again.
what zara didn't expect when she walked in would be her mother sat in the living room.
panic flooded her thoughts and the colour drained from her face.
"i should be going, i need to double check some things with gina"
the short woman said as she walked straight out the room and back into the hall, going towards the door
"wait, zara come on i just think you two should talk you haven't seen each other in ages"
her brother said following her out, joe hadn't known why his sister and mum weren't talking but just assumed it was because of a petty argument. truth be told he had asked his mother to come to his house to see her but the lady was hesitant, still she gave in and came so why couldn't zara just be the bigger person and just try to get along with her for two minutes.
"maybe that's for a reason joe"
said the woman reaching to grab the door handle to get the fuck out of there, she didn't want to see that woman ever again and especially not the day she comes home
"oh i'm sure you can get over yourself and talk to her for ten minutes"
said the man standing a meter or two away from her in the same hall
"get over myself?! how, you have no clue what any of this is about so don't get involved! i don't want to see her end of"
zara said opening the door, she couldn't do this today, she was still tired from the flight and didn't need this right now
"ok well maybe you can explain! then i'd know why your being so petty and won't talk to your own mother!"
joe was now walking out the door to follow zara, he needed answers for whatever had been going on between the two females and it was getting pathetic
"joe this is non of your business! just let it go, i'm going home"
said the woman walking away and back in the direction of her own apartment, joe groaned and walked back inside his own house slamming the door behind him, why had she gotten so angry over this it's not like it could've been that big of a deal and even if it was, they hadn't spoken to eachother in years so they would've had time to cool off from it and they could just talk to eachother.

--

"well zara maybe it's time you tell him, i mean it's been three years since the last time it happened and he deserves some sort of explanation"
as soon as zara got home she started crying and thought she needed someone, but of course all of her friends were still in la so she thought she should call her best friend blair as she would know what to say to calm the girl down
"i guess, i just.. i thought he would be able to tell something happened between us but he just thinks i'm being petty"
the girl said to her phone besides her wiping a tear, she was sat against the end of her bed with her knees up to her chest and her phone on the floor besides her
"well your mom always loved him and he always got the attention so maybe he just can't think of his mother doing anything bad"
blair had known about zara's family situation and knew how sensitive of a topic her mother was for her so she was grateful that she called her about it because knowing zara she would've just tried to deal with it herself and that always ended with everything being ten times worse than they were to begin with
"i guess.."
"well just to remind you i'll be flying in tomorrow night so we'll go out thursday to distract you, how about that?"
blair had known just what to say to calm zara down and to try and talk through it all, to which the latter was glad of
"ok, thanks blair, i'll call you tomorrow love you"
"i love you too"