My Best Friend's Neighbour - A Lando Norris Story

006 - "this changes everything..."

I wake up the next morning rather confused.

I don't know if it's from the black spots in my memory or the smell of Vanilla and Musk lingering in my room.

I sit up and rub my eyes. Yep. This is definitely my room.

My throat is drier than the Sahara Desert and I'm about to clamber out of bed to get a drink when I notice a glass of water and two pills on my bedside table.

I gulp down the water and tablets, letting out a big groan.

God I forgot how much hell hangovers are.

I pull myself out of bed and check the guest bedroom, and spy Kingsley and Reine sound asleep.

How cute.

I head toward the kitchen, ravenous with hunger and to my surprise, see Lando with a strew of pots and pans ordaining my counter tops.

"What are...?" I blurt out before I'm interrupted by a yelp from his direction.

"Erm... breakfast?" He stutters, trying to regain composure.

I try and stifle my laughter however a faint smile escapes my lips. "I take it you don't cook very often."

"Is it that obvious?" He mutters in embarrassment.

"Uh-uh. That's cornflour." I point, "Give it here."

"How you feeling this morning?" Lando asks, taking a seat at the breakfast bar.

"Like shit. How about you?" I ask, pulling my hair into a bun and using a chopstick to secure it in place.

"I'm all good, I didn't drink that much to be fair." He chuckles. "Max and Pietra on the other hand. I'm surprised they even made it back across the hall."

"Wait you stayed here?" I ask confused.

"Yeah, you sort of didn't let me leave." He chuckles awkwardly, turning a slight shade of pink.

"Oh... ohhhh..." Realisation hits me, "oh God we didn't?"

"No. Oh my god no! " Lando blurts out. "We just talked, and played board games. You're surprisingly bad at scrabble."

"I'm amazing at scrabble." I defend. "So where did you sleep? Because I know the guest bedroom is taken."

"Oh so you know about that?" He flashes a concerning look in my direction. "Does it not bother you?"

I look up from the frying pan in confusion, "Why would it bother me?"

"Oh I don't know, I'd find it pretty weird if my boyfriend and best friend stayed in bed together..." He mumbles, avoiding eye contact.

I place a stack of pancakes on the plate to my left and grin slightly. "You're gay?! Oh my god, love that for you!"

"No, no I'm not gay! I was on about you!" Lando blurts out, turning an even more potent shade of red.

"What?" I pause for a second, thinking about what he could of meant. "Kingsley isn't my boyfriend. I mean we dated in uni but that didn't..."

"Wait what?" Lando interrupts. "I thought you two were like a thing."

"Not anymore." I reply, placing another lot of batter into the pan.

"And you're cool with them..." He asks took aback by my admission.

I shrug, "Kingsley and I were just kids it's not that deep. Plus I don't really like most people apart from them so they're stuck with me unfortunately."

"You're really not a people person are you?" Lando smirks, looking over at me.

"It's not even that, it's just...." I stop myself and sigh, "Never mind. It doesn't matter, it's stupid."

He turns to face me and offers a sympathetic smile. "I bet it isn't."

"Reine is beautiful, Kingsley too. I don't look like them. And that's ok. I'm just so used to other people treating me like I don't exist because I'm not the beautiful one that I've just become invisible you know." I mumble, looking at the floor and shuffling awkwardly.

"But you are beautiful." Lando blurts out. A second later it dawns on him what he previously said and I can see his expression change.

His eyes go wide and his cheeks turn a very bright shade of pink.

"Thanks Lando, but you don't have to pander to my insecurities." I chuckle awkwardly, not really knowing how to react.

He looks at me and clears his throat, trying to compose himself. "Amelie. You are beautiful, never let anyone make you think any different."

Our eyes lock together for a second too long, before I break our eye contact, "Well, thank you, but I recommend you see an optician, your vision is clearly not great!"

"Just shut up and accept the compliment" Lando laughs as he bites into his pancakes. "Oh my god these are amazing."

A small smile escapes my lips. "They're just pancakes. Anyway, why aren't you at work? You on annual leave or something?" I ask curiously.

"Yeah winter break. Not back until like mid February." He chuckles slightly.

"Fucking hell Lando, what sort of car mechanic are you?!" I blurt out.

Lando stays silent for a moment. "Well, you see the thing is I'm not a mechanic."

I look at him in confusion. "But you said you work with cars?"

"Yeah I do. I race them." He chuckle awkwardly, avoiding eye contact.

I think for a second. "Like NASCAR?"

"Formula One actually." He smiles, "I race with Charles, we're just on different teams."

"But Charles is famous, he's a celebrity!" I exclaim. "Are you famous too?"

"Erm..." Lando chuckle awkwardly. "I guess so."

I exhale hard, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know." Lando shrugs. "You were very apparent about your dislike for motorsport, and fame. And I just sort of liked it you know? Knowing that you liked me for who I am not what I do."

"Who said I like you?" I tease, trying to ease the tension.

"Very funny." He mocks. "This doesn't change anything does it?"

"Lando are you kidding?! This changes everything." I mumble, trying to process the information. "I mean I'll have to start watching the F1 now won't I?!"

"Yeah I guess you will!" Lando grins, a wave of relief washing over his body.