"wait you were serious about that?" i ask sean as we're preparing dinner, he just told me about a house
"yeah" he shrugs cutting the onions "for work you know? its close to monaco so its practical plus annie's firm has an opening in the monaco office" sean keeps explaining
"carlos doesnt even live in monaco" i try to reason with him, when he bought the house here in london he was convinced this is where he wanted to settle down, that was 3 years ago.
"he has an apartment there" he replies
"and you're a hundred percent sure you wanna move there?" i ask again
"yes may" he turns to me leaving the knife in the cutting board "annie's parents have just bought a house in nice too and" he keeps his voice down "i may or may not have a ring hiding in a watch box waiting" i look at him with a raised eyebrow, its no surprise he wants to marry annie, they've been together forever but i dont see why they need to move
"okay but why do you need a house in nice to get married?" i ask him, also in a hushed tone
"she's always talked about wanting to settle down near her parents" my brother will go to the moon and back and collect a few stars on his way down for annie if she ever asks im convinced "trust me i've been thinking about it for a while and i've come to realize that moving to nice is a win win for everyone"
"alright if you're sure" i give him a hug
"as much as i love to see you guys being loving siblings i wouldnt want for that to burn" mom says walking into the kitchen motioning to the meat i've been cooking
"dont worry im watching it like a hawk" i say chuckling giving her a side hug once she stands next to me
"i've got this" mom pushes me away with her waist and i sit on the counter watching them cook
"maya" annie says walking in "i wanna know where you went the night of the club"
i roll my eyes and my mom looks up "you didnt come back?"
"oops?" annie says sitting down on the opposite side of the counter in a stool
"i think you shouldnt worry about it" i grab a slice of carrot that sean just cut and pop it in my mouth
"no, please we want to know" sean teases
that morning when lando dropped me off annie and sean were still in their room while my mom, peter and gracie had still been sleeping so no one knew how i'd gotten home
"mmm i dont think i want to tell you" i say back
"oh c'mon sweetie give us the tea" mom speaks and we all laugh "is that not the right term?"
"that was perfect use of the word jade" annie says once she's done laughing "may you heard your mom share the tea"
"do you guys hear gracie? i think she needs me" i say ready to get up and leave
"nice try" my mom stops me "peter took her out to get dessert"
i huff knowing im not getting out of this, but also knowing that telling my family might be for the better, because they are the ones who are always there for me when anything happens and if im going to try something with lando i need to know the safety net that is my family will be there to catch me if i need it
"i was with lando" i grumble quietly
"excuse me you were WHERE?" annie exclaims, i dont look up from my swinging feet so i dont know what the rest of my family looks like but i can imagine annie with her mouth open
"did you say lando?" sean laughs
"oh i love lando!" mom says "he's a sweet guy"
"okay stop it" i say looking up, all three of them have smiles on their faces
"you and lando huh? i cant say i didnt see that coming" sean tells me
"what do you mean?" i ask with a frown
"babes that boy has been giving you googly eyes ever since you met" annie explains and mom nods "everyone knows how much that guy likes you"
"its not like that" i say and i can feel them stare at me with curiosity "we're not dating or anything like that, not yet at least, we're just taking it slow and seeing where it goes"
"i think thats great baby" mom taps my thigh "im happy for you"
"so double date?" annie asks with a smile
"calm down cowgirl she just said they're taking it slow and knowing my sister that means THEY havent gone on a date yet" sean tells annie
"i was just saying" annie shrugs
"MOMMY LOOK WHAT DAD AND I GOT" grace runs into the kitchen with a bag in her hands "LOOK"
she pulls out a tub of cookie dough and excitedly waves it in front of my mom's face who laughs "thats wonderful my love" she kisses her head "why dont you put it in the freezer so it doesnt melt before we eat it?"
gracie nods and moves to put her tub of ice cream in the freezer, peter follows behind putting 3 more tubs of ice cream in it, one of them being pistachio, my mom's favorite, no one else really liked it and in fact peter hated it but he'd always get it because mom loved it.
"dinner's almost ready" sean announces "who's setting the table?" he asks but stares at me when he says it
"yeah yeah i got it" i get down from the counter
"so i was thinking we could spend the last week of summer break in nice" sean asks as we're nearing the end of dinner
"oh that sounds great" annie beams "we can all stay with my parents!"
"that sounds wonderful!" mom exclaims "i havent seen shelby and tom in forever" peter agrees, tom and shelby are annie's parents and are pretty close to mom and peter.
"great!" sean says "bee? what about you?"
"sure" i shrug, im not a hundred percent sure this is the best idea but not much can go wrong, its pretty quiet and secluded at tom and shelby's ranch in nice and the view is amazing so i accept
"perfect i'll book us all flights for tomorrow night?" sean seems eager and my family agrees so i do too
later that night i get a call from lando, who i'd been texting with throughout the day "so eager to get away from me?" his voice booms through the speaker on my phone, i am making my suitcase.
"well i had no plans to go anywhere anytime soon but sean had other plans" i tell him "nice will be a good change of scene"
"its also close to monaco" he says, i dont know what he's hinting at but i have a feeling im about to find out "i live in monaco" there it is
"dont you have things to do here?" i ask knowing that there's quadrant content he's talk about that needs to be done
"i'll be mostly done with it all by the day after tomorrow and the rest i can deal with remotely" he explains
"so what are you hinting at?" i ask closing my suitcase and placing it down next to my door
"monaco is a lot more private than london" his voice softens "we can hang out without worrying too much about people"
i'd love to hang out with lando and i know i promised i'd try but the suggestion of going out publicly terrifies me. lando is right, monaco is much more private but everyone in that country knows lando norris and there's no way we'll pass by completely undetected.
"stop all that thinking" he speaks up "you're gonna hurt your pretty little mind"
"shut up" i roll my eyes even though he cant see me, he's lightened the mood just like that
"if you dont wanna go out because you're scared of people seeing us than we can just chill at my apartment" lando says
"now what are you suggesting mister norris?" i joke and hear him chuckle on the other side "but maybe"
✐ᝰ
i've had the most draining weeks of my life both mentally and physically so sorry for the long wait and it will probably take a bit til the next chapter
