Secrets || Lando Norris

064

Elianna

"It's lights out and away we go here in Zandvoort, Lando Norris had a brilliant start as per usual, with his teammate Oscar Piastri right behind as the two McLarens lead the race, the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso also coming in hot! What an excellent start!"

The commentator's voice roamed through my apartment from the TV as I brought some fresh lemonades for me and Amanda down to the table. I've been feeling tired from all the travelling and had a lot to catch up on, so this time I wasn't attending the race in person.

However, that didn't stop me from watching the broadcast - and posting it on Instagram to do my duty of the PR relationship, of course. So me and Amanda planned to spend the entire afternoon together; cook some food, watch the race, and gossip as per usual. Over the past few weeks when we haven't been able to hang out, there were so many things we had to go through now. To be fair...there's always a lot to talk about even when we don't see each other for a day. We say it's a girls thing.

The race seemed to go pretty smoothly so far, I often checked Lando's on board - which was on my laptop - and he seemed to have no struggles. We shared a couple of messages before the race, where I mostly made fun of him for being late because he overslept. He told me he needs his beauty sleep in order to win. His PR manager Zoe - bless her - was apparently fuming over it but he didn't care.

It was probably half of the race when it started raining in Zandvoort, making the drivers pit and change their tires. Some of them were struggling more, some less. But unfortunately for Lando, he was the one that struggled more, as the car didn't seem to perform as he initially expected, making him drop to sixth place after pitting. He managed to gain two positions after some time, but it wasn't enough to end up in the top three.

So in the end, it was Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo, who took the places on the podium.

"Aw, what a shame for Lando," Amanda said, as she placed her drink on the table and got comfortable on the sofa, the ceremony playing in the background.

And I already knew that he would most likely be blaming himself for not performing well enough as he usually does. Even when it was fourth place and he was still getting points, his self criticism would cloud his mind. I sighed and gave Amanda a sad smile, before taking my phone and sending him a quick message.

"Yeah, but he'll be back next time," I shrugged and placed my phone down, "Anyway, do you want to get coffee?"

"I wonder why are you even asking," she gave me a smile and stood up, taking her things and heading to the small hall in my apartment. I went to the bathroom and put on some lip gloss before following her and we headed out.

It was after five in the afternoon and the streets of London were busy as usual as we walked through them. When I got to know Amanda and we started hanging out before or after uni, we usually explored local cafés and food spots, which there is undoubtedly a rich amount of places that you can choose from. But there is one specific café we always go to, so that was also the place we went to today.

I ordered latté and sat down at a table in a corner so we would have more privacy, whilst I waited for her to get her order. I checked my phone and saw no message from Lando, which I understood was because he was probably busy with interviews and debriefs.

"So...you still haven't exactly told me how it is currently between the two of you," Amanda sat down on the opposite side of me and smirked at me, "Come on, spill now."

I smiled sheepishly and took a sip of my coffee, remembering how my view changed on him throughout the summer. "Well, it's been great I think. Being with him definitely wasn't something I'd expect to happen but I can't complain."