Stargazing | Lando Norris

twelve

"YES" the cheers could be heard around the garage when Charles successfully overtook Checo for p2. It was only 3 laps remaining and his pace looked way better for the moment so it looked really good for his chances at taking home second place. Max was 12 seconds ahead so a win seemed nearly impossible but she was happy for them both, she knew Charles would be happy with p2 after how badly the car had performed at the start of this weekend and she would never not be happy for Max.

Even though the rest of the garage was buzzing with excitement already celebrating the podium to be, she couldn't help but stand there biting her nails while staring attentively at the screen before her. Lando was in a battle for p5 right now and she caught herself taking a sigh of relief when he came out the chicane in front of the aston martin, she hadn't even realized she had been holding her breath.

With a wide smile she ran towards the front of the podium ready to greet her brother and friends once they made it to the parc ferme.

The crowds cheering got louder than ever as the three drivers pulled up to their designated spot and her heart filled with pride as she saw both her brother and best friend getting out of the cars hugging each other. Max quickly spotted his team jumping on them celebrating his victory meanwhile Charles found my eyes and hastily made his way over sporting the biggest smile I've seen in a long time.

"Congratulations Char I'm so proud" she beamed at him before crushing him in a hug.

"Thank you Ella" he said ruffling her hair just the way he had done so many times before when they were kids earning the playful glare he got.

"Yeah that's enough appreciation from me go to your team now" she laughed shoving him in their direction and he happily obliged jumping at them getting pats on the back from the joyful engineers.

She got her phone out to take a photo of the sight, forever wanting to remember the pride and happiness on her brothers face, as she captured the moment she didn't notice the dutchman sneaking up from the other side making her almost drop her phone as he greeted her.

"Max what the fuck" she gasped, mostly to get some air back in to her lungs after the fright he had given her and he just brightly smiled at her clearly proud over the fact he succeeded in scaring the living shit out of her.

"You should've seen your face" he laughed at her and she glared at him in pretend rage but couldn't keep the act up for long before breaking out in a big smile.

"You won" she stated grinning widely at him and he just nodded back at her a smile evident on his face as well.

"I won" his eyes full of pride and happiness.

"I always knew you would" she shrugged her shoulders making his smile even bigger.

"Me too, no way I was going to lose when my biggest supporter was on site" he said embracing her in a big hug laughing at the slap she gave him in return.

"Come on get your sweaty ass off me and get to your podium" she shooed him away with a big smile on her face, content with the pride filling her at the sight of the two most important men in her life chatting on their way to the cool down room. The feeling only growing bigger for each second she got to see them drenching each other in champagne up on the podium.

She was rushing around her hotel room trying to find something to wear for tonight, the victory today of course called for celebration and she was looking forward to dance her problems away for the night. Since she knew she had to face them all tomorrow morning when their flight back to reality were scheduled. But that wasn't something she would dwell on tonight so she downed the glass of wine she had been sipping on and finally decided on a black dress, can't go wrong with that really can you. Before she had the chance of judging herself in the mirror to hard she quickly stuffed her bag with all she might need during the night and left the room to meet the others down in the lobby.

"HI LAN" she shouted over the loud music and chatter the club they had chosen to spend their night in offered. She hadn't seen him since before the race so she quickly scanned him to get a read on how he might be feeling but the bad lighting shifting in all different colors and the alcohol flowing in her system didn't make for a great assessment.

"Hey Ella" he smiled at her standing closer to her to be able to speak in a more reasonable tone.

"Good race today" she said catching his eyes watching them intently to see if he would let anything slip in how he might be feeling.

"I dropped two places" he just replied instead, not seeming either happy or too sad about it, just stating facts.

"Yeah no you dropped 12 places actually" she replied matter of factly knowing that he was down at p15 at one point in the race. He looked at her with an amused grin his eyebrows shooting up not expecting the blunt answer.

"But you made it back up in to the top five again despite a bad strategy call so yeah good race" she shrugged her shoulders blocking all his possible ways to look down on him self.

"You really do know how to make a guy feel better about himself don't you" he grinned at her and even though she couldn't assess his mood earlier she could tell his spirits was way higher now. She mentally pat her self on the shoulder happy she could brighten his mood.

"I'm just proud of you" she stated smiling at him and she could tell his smile grew even bigger before dragging her closer to his own body and pulling her in to him in a hug.

"Thank you Ella you don't understand how much that means to me" he whispered in her hair close to her ear, hadn't it been for the song ending at that very moment she wouldn't have heard him. She just hugged him tighter to her taking in the moment, it felt really good knowing you could make a difference to somebody. He started swaying them in pace with the music and she smiled widely enjoying the moment letting everything else blur out in the background.

She had danced with Lando for a while until Kika had showed up with a bottle of tequila telling both of them that 3 shots was mandatory. They had laughed at her but taken the shots nevertheless before following her back to the table where some of them were sat chatting and laughing.

"And then she just screamed whatever curse word she could come up with before slamming the door in my face" Max explained with big hand gestures while everyone died of laughter, including myself even if it was on my expense. Somehow the conversation had turned in to sharing embarrassing story's of Ella hour and both Pierre and Max had jumped at the opportunity.

"Omg I have a good one" Charles exclaimed from the other side of the table and everyone turned towards him attentively, clearly amused by my humiliation.

"Well don't share my darkest secrets please and thank you, I'll be at the bar" I smiled at him before departing the table who already had begun the story of when I was 9 and had a screaming match with one of the other kids dad after I had lost my race because of his sons actions. I shook my head laughing remembering how angry I had been.

"Remind me to never make you angry" a voice sounded behind me as I was leaning against the bar waiting for my drink to be ready.

"Hmm good plan" she smiled as she turned around to meet Lando's grinning face.

They chatted for a while at the bar before returning at the table with hands full of alcohol, much to the others delight. She could see Kelly giving her a look she couldn't really interpret at the moment but decided not to ask about, she would tell her what se wanted if it was important.

And with that thought she dragged anyone who was up for it to the dance floor where she spent the remainder of the night having fun with her old and newfound friends. Enjoying life before the struggles she knew was waiting for her tomorrow.