Deals with Daisy // LN4

90 ~ Tesoro

Daisy's POV

When the lights go up and the movie ends, Lando doesn't remove his hand from my leg. Instead, he uses it to pat lightly against the inside of my thigh, subtle and polite applause while I sit up straight and clap excitedly for the both of us. I knew that Lando was waiting for me to look at him and because of that, I forced my attention to my other side to congratulate Laurent. He's gracious enough to thank me while dropping a knowing look down to my Lando's hand on my leg before smirking at my unamused face.

It had always been his favourite hobby to point out how possessive Lando would be about me. I'd always been determined to categorise it as protective and we'd had many an argument and debate on that sole topic. I'd argued it with a lot of passion and even spent nights in his guest room because of that topic alone, not that I ever let Lando in on that particular crevice of our relationship. It was safe to say Lando wasn't doing a good job of helping my cause right now, not that I reckon he cared in the slightest given the smug look on his face.

I stand up, trying to get the looks from both of them to drop off their faces as I move on to congratulate more of the actors who I'd gotten close with while we were together. I feel Lando staring at me as I make the rounds before ending up back talking to Laurent, the conversation immediately and quietly turning to Lando as he hovered nearby before Laurent offered for me to join him at the afterparty. It could be considered innocent except for how he got purposefully louder just as the invite came and I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel like playing with Lando a little as well. In an act of small revenge for the continued separation of church and state, I gave Laurent a kiss on either cheek and left my hand resting on his shoulder as we had the most shallow conversation in the world, both drawing it out simply to annoy Lando. Even if we'd broken up, Laurent seemed to enjoy annoying Lando, perhaps now more than before, which was understandable.

It was very effective because, within a minute of my hand lingering on Laurent's shoulder, Lando's hand decisively reached around my waist. His hand moves to lie protectively over my stomach, as though feeling he needed to remind me of his presence. It was difficult to forget that when he looked so damn good in a suit but I was feeling stubborn and I was damn sure not going to admit to that.

"Alright... well, we have to get to the opening ceremony..." Lando says lamely. I think we both cursed when we sensed the cameras brought in to capture the success of the evening were now getting to the leading man standing with us. Lando's hand drops from my waist, my irritation spiking momentarily as I tilt my head to the side and try and think about what Lando is saying a little more.

"Well I mean, technically the race won't start for another hour, let alone finish for four. So it wouldn't hurt me to stay awake a little longer, I could go to the afterparty after the ceremony. It would be good for those of us without the adrenaline in the car," I test him, watching his jaw tighten as Lando narrows his eyes at me. "And you know I'm not working so perhaps I just need to-"

"Stop right there missy, thanks so much Laurent for your great movie, really - I'm expecting an Oscar for you but I'm going to just shut that down. We need to get to the track for the opening ceremony. Have a great night and yeah... see you around," Lando interrupts, pulling lightly on my hand as he walks off in a huff and I follow him in laughter, waving goodbye to an amused Laurent who is then quickly surrounded by other people wanting to congratulate him and get tickets to the party we had just declined. Due to the fuss around everyone else, Lando and I find it easy to relocate Max and make a quick exit from the venue without any more fuss or attention from anyone else.

The moment we stepped out of the building, our minds switched from the glitz and glamour of the night, immediately and completely moving onto the next matter of the weekend, the race... and potentially the championship. It was as though the fresh air hit us like a bucket of cold water and we woke up with a start to the reality that this was game time and everyone knew what it was that they were meant to do.