My Best Friend's Neighbour - A Lando Norris Story

005 - "I'm still here..."

We all jump into an uber and head back to my apartment which has been covered with balloons and banners.

I can't help but smile when I see the effort that has put into decorating the place. I wonder how Reine and Kingsley pulled it off.

We all head into the living room and turn on some music, chatting and singing along to the tracks.

Max and Pietra join us a short while later, the pair equally as drunk as the rest of us.

Reine furrows her brow at me mischievously before gesturing to the room down the hall, "are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Blind Karaoke?" I question, giggling to myself.

"Oh my God yes!" Pietra grins, standing up and making her way down the hall to grab some shot glasses and a bottle of liquor from my cabinet.

We all make our way into my home studio and Kingsley sets up the equipment.

"What's blind Karaoke?" Lando turns to Max and asks, making himself comfy on the sofa.

"Oh so basically we all take it in turns to sing a song." He replies, trying his best not to slur his words.

"But the fun part is we don't know what song we're going to sing. Us musical folks picks a song to play and the person singing it has to guess what it is." Reine follows up, explaining the rest of the rules of the game.

"Only issue is, Mills is a bit of a music prodigy, so she almost always wins." Theo grumbles.

"Sounds fun!" Lando chuckles, "so who's first?"

Kingsley elects himself and he hops up toward my little makeshift stage testing the microphone.

Reine, Theo and I whisper for a few moments before we take our place behind our respective instruments.

Noah Kahan - Dial Drunk

The room fills with cheers and applause as Kingsley recognises the song straight away and he doesn't miss a single beat.

My brother goes next, and Kingsley, Reine and I attempt to think of an obscure song to throw him off track.

We play the beginning of the track and my brother draws a blank 

"Rules are rules Theo." Reine chuckles, as she hands him a shot.

We plays a few more rounds, each person nailing their attempt. And the only people who are left to sing are Lando and I.

He performs an almost perfect rendition of an Eminem song, causing a standing ovation by us all.

Stand on stage still clutching my guitar when Reine begins to play the song, chuckling to herself mischievously.

"Hang on isn't this..?" I mutter, turning redder by the second as realisation dawns on me what they're playing.

"Oh come on Mills." Theo suggests, "it'll be like old times."

"Definitely not!" I retort, annoyed with the situation I'm faced with.

Reine grins, "don't be boring Mills."

"What's going on?" I hear Lando ask Max who shrugs in response.

"This is going to go terribly." I groan before picking up my guitar. "Plus picking a song I wrote is sort of against the rules."

Risk - Gracie Abrams

I begin singing, cautiously at first, trying my best to remember the lyrics that I wrote so long ago, Reine joins in singing the harmonies and suddenly I've transported back to being 18 and singing this song in a run down practice room in London.

By the bridge we're all jumping along to the beat and singing like our lives depended on it. It feels great, I can't remember the last time I felt so free.

The song comes to an end and I can't help but burst into laughter, "What-what's so funny?" Pietra asks concerned.

"Writing a love song for a guy I just met. How fucking insane was I?" I choke out in between fits of laughter.

"Well it worked didn't it?" Kingsley grins, raising his eyebrows at me playfully.

We all make our way off stage and head back into the living room to order food, I briefly disappear into the kitchen to get a glass of water in a pitiful attempt to sober myself up.

"Can I have a sip?" Lando asks, leaning against the door frame.

I chuckle and hand him my half empty glass. "Help yourself."

"You okay?" He asks, gulping down the rest of my water. "Your eyes look sad."

"Yeah I'm just tired." I lie, faking a smile which he sees through right away.

Lando pauses for a second, "you're a terrible liar you know that?"

I chuckle weakly, avoiding eye contact with him. "I've had an amazing birthday don't get me wrong. Just not exactly how I pictured it to be, Reine is the party girl not me. And it wasn't cool what they did to me up there?"

"I figured there was a story behind it. Care to share it with me?" Lando asks, leaning on my counter top.

"I wrote that song about Kingsley when we were in uni. Little lovestruck teenager." I scoff sarcastically.

"You wrote that song?" Lando questions in curiosity.

I nod in response, not knowing what else to say.

"Millie do you have any idea how talented you are? Like Reine is good, but you're something else entirely. Why did you choose to be a producer instead of an artist?" Lando rambles.

I chuckle slightly. "I would never make it as an artist. I hate the thought of fame. I create music because I love the process behind it, not because I want to make bank. Plus it wouldn't be fair on Reine."

Lando moves closer to me and offers a sympathetic smile. "Why do I feel like you're one of those people who puts everyone else's needs in front of their own?"

"Because I am." I groan dramatically.

"Do me a favour? Put yourself first for a change." He growls into my ear, sending chills down my spine.

"I just like making sure people are happy." I mumble back, trying to justify myself.

His smile softens, "I get that. But who makes sure you're happy?"

No one has ever asked me that question before. I don't really know how to respond. "Shut up."

"That's what I thought." He grins triumphantly.