My Best Friend's Neighbour - A Lando Norris Story

002 - "He's a Formula Two driver or something..."

It's the day after the incident. I'm heading back round at Max's place, and I've brought flowers.

Not for Max, obviously. They're for his next door neighbour. I still feel awful about what happened and even worse for how I acted in the aftermath.

Plus I'm hoping this token of good faith may persuade Millie into liking me. She doesn't seem to be my biggest fan currently.

I on the other hand, definitely am a huge fan of her.

Max still finds the entire situation hilarious, he is utterly convinced I have met the love of my life. He won't stop banging on about it, despite my protests.

I climb the stairs of the complex, and nervously knock on Millie's door, nervously waiting for her to answer.

I'm just about to give up when the door opens,
the hazel eyed girl looking at me in bewilderment. "Finally figured out how to use doors?"

"Hi, sorry again about yesterday. I bought you flowers..." I grumble, holding the bouquet in front of me. "A token of my apology."

"Flowers? Well aren't you the most politest criminal in Monaco?!" She asks, admiring the bouquet.

She takes a brief glance at me and gives me a sympathetic smile, "well I guess you should come in whilst I find a home for them."

Enchanted by her sudden warmth toward me I enter her home, with permission this time. "You're Millie right?"

"Amelie, Millie is just a nickname. Tea?" She asks politely, heading into the kitchen.

"That's a stupid question." I chuckle following her closely behind, "just milk, no sugar."

"You got it!" She replies, making the pair of us a cup of hot tea. "So Lando Bob, what brings you to Monaco?"

"Work I guess, you?" I smile softly.

"Oh, I was born here!" Millie responds, finding a vase and placing the bouquet in them.

I furrow my brow slightly in confusion, she definitely has a strong English accent. "Really? Sorry your accent kind of threw me off a little!"

"Oh my parents are American, and I went to boarding school in London, sort of picked up the accents." She pouts, before jumping up to sit on her countertop. "So Lando Bob, what do you do for work? Must be pretty good to move out here!"

"It's just Lando. Bob is a stupid pseudonym I use sometimes." I chuckle awkwardly.

"What like a fake name? Why?" She asks curiously.

I shrug, trying to come up with an excuse as to why I have a fake name. "Funny innit. Don't meet many 25 year olds called Bob."

Millie flashes me a confused glance. "You don't mean many 25 year olds called Lando either."

I nod in agreement. Trying to hide my widening grin. "Exactly."

She looks at me with what I can only describe as humoured pity. "Has anyone ever told you you're a bit weird?"

"All the time." I chuckle, rubbing my palm against the back of my neck.

"You didn't answered my question, what do you do for work?" Millie asks once more. Jesus this girl asks a lot of questions.

"I erm... work with cars I guess..." I mutter, not entirely convincing myself.

"Like a mechanic? I know who to call when my shitbox inevitably breaks down again." She chuckles, raising her brow at me. "Must be a pretty good one to live out here."

I bit my lip softly whilst looking to the ground, "Yeaaahhh... so what do you do?"

"Oh, I'm a music producer, it sounds a lot more glamorous than it is." She scoffs, taking a sip of her tea.

"Oh cool, anything I'd know?" I ask curiously, shooting my gaze upwards to meet hers.

"Erm, Reine Thompson, I produced her first album. Done some stuff for Taylor Swift too. Oh, and Charles Leclerc, he's a bit of a celebrity round here apparently." She shrugs her shoulders signifying she has no clue who he is.

"Oh yeah, I know Charles!" I reply, before realisation dawns on what I've just said and I fidget in anticipation. "I mean... know of him."

Millie takes another sip of her tea, "I'm pretty sure he's like a NASCAR driver or something. He owns a lot of nice cars."

"Formula One actually..." I correct her, trying to contain my laughter.

"Same thing right?" She shrugs. "Just loads of men driving round in circles."

"It's a bit more complicated than that." I snigger, unable to contain my laughter any longer. "Monaco is literally the home of F1."

Millie rolls her eyes at me. "I don't see the appeal myself."

"It's the pinnacle of motorsport. You should give it a watch sometime, you might be surprised." I snigger slightly to myself.

"I think I'll pass, that sounds like the opposite of what I consider a good time. So, you and Max, I'm guessing you're close due to your penchant of walking into his house?" She asks, furrowing her brow at me slightly.

"He's my best friend. Known him since we were kids. We work together too." I smile, trying to prise my eyes away from hers.

She jumps down off the counter and leans against the door. "Oh I thought he was a streamer, does he work with cars in his spare time?"

"Oh no, not anymore. I stream with him sometimes, we have like a content creator startup thing." She sure knows a lot about him, funny that he's never mentioned her before. "So have you known him long?"

"Yeah a couple of years I think, I'm friends with his girlfriend, he's friends with my brother. They stream sometimes." Millie smiles, handing me a slice of cake.

"Oh I see. Small world." I chuckle slightly.

She remains silent momentarily, appearing deep in thought. "I knew I recognised you. I've seen you on a couple of my brother's streams."

my eyes shoot up in intrigue. "Who's your brother?"

She takes another sip of tea. "Theo, he plays like mimecraft or whatever it's called."

"Yeah I know Theo." I chuckle, placing my cup into the sink. "He's a nice guy."

Millie glances at me, "Small world indeed."

I glance at my phone and notice the time, I've been here nearly an hour now. Time really does fly when you're having fun I guess.

"I should probably get going, Max will be wondering where I am. No doubt I'll see you around!" I grin, making my way toward her door.

"Yeah just let yourself in next time, I know that's kind of your thing!" Millie smirks, following closely behind, "see you around Lando."