Muppet - Lando Norris

Chapter Two

"So... where did Murphy find you?" Emerson and Isla were sat on one side of the table while Lando and Murphy were on the other. Since she didn't have any cold groceries, Murphy put everything in my car and walked with Lando to the restaurant where they were meeting her friends.

Thankfully, this town was so small that crime was relatively low and everyone knew pretty much everyone. Because of all of that, Murphy felt comfortable walking around after dark if she was with other people. Theoretically she shouldn't trust Lando at all, but something about him drew her in. Maybe the way he protected her in a way no one ever has been able to.

"Well technically I found her." Lando admitted, scratching the back of his neck.

"Okay, that's not creepy at all. Murph, where did you find a British man when we are literally in the middle of nowhere, USA?" Emerson was the most skeptical of him of all of us, per usual.

"At the grocery store." Murphy shrugged and went back to pointing out all of her favorite things to get to Lando. Lando and Murphy briefly made eye contact where she tried to convey 'please don't tell them what actually happened ' through her big green eyes, leading to a subtle wink from the boy.

~

After a few minutes, the conversation picked up on its own and before long Lando was making the three girls laugh and they were entertaining him with stories from high school.

"And so little miss Murphy thought that it would be a good idea for all of us to go out to her car together for lunch even though we knew the admins were going to be all over the student parking lot. So we literally ended up hiding in her car for the rest of the day and we all got grounded because the school called our parents and let them know we skipped class!" Emerson told Lando as they all laughed together. 

"The one time she convinced us to break the rules. From then on she let us handle being the masterminds." 

"I just didn't want to have to sit at lunch and deal with Riley's yapping." Murphy huffed. 

"Who was Riley?" Lando asked.

"Riley was this guy who was obsessed with Murph. Andrew definitely beat him at that game was Riley was a front runner in his own right." Isla explained.

"What kind of obsessed?" Lando continued questioning.

"Oh my God-" Murphy groaned, her hand touching Lando's bicep in an attempt to get him to stop his question but it was too late. A small smile swept across his face that Murphy couldn't see and Emerson and Isla couldn't miss.

"He would leave these very endearing notes in Murphy's backpack after homeroom, which was the only class they had together. And on top of that, we only had homeroom like once every couple months so that was not something that happened often." Emerson picked up.

"At lunch, we would sit with this bigger group of friends that we were a part of that included Riley and he would always try to sit right next to Murphy and talk to her about whatever he could to keep their conversation going." It was Isla's turn to explain some more.

"He was very sweet but he would not quit asking me out even when I told him no over and over. Even while I was dating Andrew!" Murphy's hands went to her face as she explained her piece of the story. 

"Well can you blame the poor guy, MK?" Lando questioned, mostly to himself but Murphy definitely heard it. She turned to him and just searched his expression for something and he held her gaze without wavering.

"Wellll... as fun as this dinner has been, I think Isla and I have something important to do." Emerson sputtered out.

"Right! Somewhere we have to go like right now!" Isla's eyes lit up with mischief.

"We'll take care of the bill, you crazy kids keep having fun!" Emerson winked at them before her and Isla scurried off like little mice. "And we will get your car, Murph! I still have the spare key in my purse."

"I'm sorry about them, they are forever plotting something." Murphy said with pink dusting her cheeks as Lando let a giggle slip out of his mouth. Murphy turned and just took him all in. Before her brain could talk some sense into her she blurted out, "Do you maybe want to go walk on the beach for a little while or something?"

"Only if you're comfortable with that. I'm actually renting a place on the beach so I've been able to see some of the beach." With that they began gathering their things and making their way out of the restaurant, Lando holding the door for Murphy.

"How long are you going to be in town?" Murphy asked him as she brushed some hair out of her face that was blowing in the wind.

"About a month. I needed a break from... home." As they made their way towards the street and onto the sidewalk, Lando positioned himself between Murphy and the road even though the girl wasn't paying much attention to the intentional positioning.

"I know the feeling."

"Oh yeah?" Lando cast his gaze towards the small blonde. Something about her not only drew him in but also made him want to do everything in his power to protect her from the world. Especially his world even if he wanted her in it just as desperately.

"I mean you see how small this town is. I adore it most days but sometimes I just want more. Not necessarily like a big city or like huge house or anything like that. It just seems like I'm already lagging behind like what the other people that I graduated high school with are doing..."

"I don't see anything wrong with that. You seem to have a good head on your shoulders, MK."

"Are you from a big city or small town?"

"I would say probably a medium city. I recently moved away from it though but I don't know where I will end up after this break."

"You must have a really good job if you can just casually not come to work for a month."

"Yeah my bosses are really accommodating, but this break stemmed from a work injury so I think they feel like they owe it to me."

"Wow, I couldn't even tell you were injured!" Murphy looked up from her shoes that she had been studying to take in Lando now. She saw the little scar across the bridge of his nose and that was the only evidence of an injury to his face. 

His super cute face.

"It's mostly all hidden by clothing, though I did break my nose. But this scar isn't from this injury, it's from an incident that happened while I was with some friends." He pointed to the little line that she had just been admiring.

"What do you do for work?"

"I drive cars." He shrugged.

"Oh, like a taxi?" She tucked some hair behind her ear as she looked at him again.

"Something like that, MK." He took in a deep breath. "I think you and your friends would like my best friend, Max." 

"Is he here with you?"

"No he's back home... I haven't exactly been a good friend ever since this accident."

"Want to talk about it?" This was the sentence that he really noticed that her slight American Southern accent poked through on vowels.

"I just am not speaking to anyone like I should. Especially not the people who were by my side for weeks after the accident." Murphy could hear the emotions creeping into the tone of his voice.

"Well everyone makes mistakes, Lando. Plus, you definitely should get some grace seeing as you are obviously still recovering from this accident in some ways." Murphy shot a smile up his way, hesitating only for a second before she reached out and wove their fingers together and gave his hand a squeeze.

Only, when Murphy went to pull away, Lando held firm. His hold was only enough to let her know he didn't want her to let go, but if she was uncomfortable she could have easily gotten out of it.

But she held on too.