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

12 Years Later

LANDON

"Are we doing it today?" I ask in excitement. 

He chuckles at me, "Not exactly today, but we need to get the plans underway" 

Charles has picked me up from school and we have stopped into the shops on the way back to our house. He's agreed to ask mum to be his girlfriend, but apparently it's done differently than how we do it at school. You have to like plan this big event, and it's all got to happen slowly and stuff. 

When Lucy wanted me to be her boyfriend, she just found me on the playground and told me that we were now boyfriend and girlfriend, and that's it. It was as easy as that. I'm not sure why Charles can't just tell mum they are dating and leave it at that. 

"Do you think she'll like these ones?" he asks, pointing to a bunch of yellow roses. 

I look at his disappointed, "Yellow roses resemble friendship. You don't want to be her friend" 

He looks at me confused. "What?" 

I roll my eyes and pull him toward the other end of the shop. "You don't need to like celebrity love her, she's not that kind of girl. Stay away from roses, pick something better." I instruct. 

"Right, better" he nods in understanding. 

We stand there gazing at the assortments of flowers, both of us clueless, but I'm getting the feeling he's a little more clueless than I am. 

"Where did you learn that anyway?" He asks, "About the yellow roses?" 

"Lucy" I inform, reaching up on my tip toes to look at the ones at the back. "She told me that for valentines day, I had to bring her flowers. She gave me a list of the ones I wasn't allowed to get" 

"She sounds...." he begins. 

I shoot him a look in warning. 

"Sweet?" he shrugs in caution. 

"She is" I bite back. "What about these?" 

"What are they?" he muses. 

"Excuse me?" I grab the attention of the lady behind  the counter. "What are these?" 

"That is our lotus flower bouquet" she informs us. 

"What does a Lotus represent?" I ask. 

"Sorry?" she asks, confused. 

"Yellow roses mean friendship, what do Lotus flowers mean?" I repeat again. Some florist

"Oh, they say a lotus represents new beginnings. It is believed the shape represents, umm" I can see she's conflicted on the description, looking uncomfortable that I'm here. 

"What?" I ask frustrated. 

"Like what a mummy carries her baby in" she explains. 

"I'm 12, not 2" I sass, earning me a light shove from Charles. "Sorry, you were saying?"

She offers an uncomfortable smile, "Similar to that of a womb, the lotus flower is believed to resemble rebirth, new beginnings, fresh starts, that kind of thing" she informs. 

Charles and I exchange a look between us. 

"They're perfect, we'll take them" I announce. 

Charles chuckles at me, handing over his credit card whilst the florist wraps up the bouquet for us. 

"Thank you" I accept as I retrieve the flowers and study them closer. 

"What do you think, huh? Think she will like them?" he asks me as we leave the shop. 

"Yeah I think so. But you're going to need chocolate too" I inform him. 

"Chocolate? Don't we only buy chocolate if we're sorry for something?" he quizzes. 

"You should be sorry for something" I tease. 

"What for?" he asks, generally shocked. 

"Because you dated Charlotte and not mum" I inform him. 

He doesn't respond, but I can tell he's trying to hide a chuckle. "Chocolate it is then" he agrees. 

Standing in front of the chocolate section of the shop, we consider all the options in front of us. 

"She likes the plain one" I inform. 

"Yeah, she likes the caramel too" he adds. 

"And the peppermint" I say cautiously. 

We eye each other and I can tell we are thinking the same thing. 

"One of everything?" I ask. 

"One of everything" he agrees as we begin to collect 1 bar of each flavoured chocolate, ending up with about 20 bars in the basket. 

"Do you think we got too much?" Charles ask, hiking the basket up onto the register. 

"It's fine, its chocolate. She'll keep it in the pantry" I let him know. 

"Chocolate belongs in the fridge" he corrects. 

"No it doesn't. Don't be weird. I'll change my mind about wanting you to date my mum" I mock. 

He holds his hands up in defence. 

On the drive home, I hold the flowers between my legs as the 2 bags of chocolate rest on the back seat. 

"Hey Charles?" I ask. 

"Yeah buddy?" 

"If you date my mum, does that mean you'll be my dad?" 

The question had been bothering me for some time. And I had looked up some things on the internet about step parents and being adopted and stuff, and I didn't know if that was something I wanted. 

I really liked Charles, and I knew that he liked mum. And I really did want them together, but I didn't know how that made me feel about dad. 

"No, mate" he answers confidently. 

"Okay" I whisper. 

"I love you, and I will always be here for you, just like a father would I guess, but you have a dad. And even though he may not be here. I knew him well enough to know that he loved you.  And he would be so proud of the boy you are. And I know for a fact that he would have been the coolest dad ever. No one will ever step in and replace him. They couldn't. It's not possible" 

I nod my head in agreement, and silently, his answer made me happy. I always like the way Charles spoke about my dad. 

"Was he excited when he found out mum was pregnant with me?" I ask. 

"Oh my god" he half shouts, "Was he ever. It's all we heard about. I really don't think he got through a conversation with anyone without bringing you up. He was so proud" he gushes and it fills me up with warm fuzzy feelings. 

"I know mum called me Landon because of him. But if he didn't die, what do you think my name would have been?" I ask. 

"Oh, you are definitely like a Fred or a Dwayne" he teases. 

"Ewww" I let out in laughter, "You look like a Peter. Or a Cedric" I mock. 

"Cedric?" he asks, reaching his hand over and tickling my stomach. 

"I'm going to call you Cedric from now on" I joke. "Cedric Leclerc, it has a nice ring to it" 

His hand moves faster across my ribs and I chuckle in amusement, squirming around in my chair. 

"No worries Fred Norris" he fires back. 

We continue mocking each other the rest of the way home and my stomach is in stitches and my cheeks are burning in pain. 

I really love this life.