I can do it with a broken heart (Lando Norris)

22. The Great War

"Somewhere in the haze
Got the sense I'd been betrayed"

Hannah had not been at all surprised to find Cassie standing in the dressing room waiting for her when she arrived at her final media appearance the next day. She was booked to appear on a late-night talk show with another small performance.

Cassie had been calling her nonstop since the first radio interview and Hannah had continued to ignore her. Then the calls had silenced for roughly the time it would take her to fly from New York to London, so Hannah had an inkling that she was on her way to yell at her in person instead.

Cassie had clearly come straight from the airport and Hannah couldn't help but smile, she didn't think she'd ever seen the woman look so stressed and dishevelled.

"Hi, Cassie. What a surprise." She couldn't contain her sarcasm.

"What the actual fuck, Hannah?!" Cassie hissed, conscious of the fact they could easily be overheard by anyone walking past the door. "Why have you not been answering my calls?!"

Hannah shrugged. "I needed a bit of peace, this was supposed to be my time off if you remember?"

Cassie glared at her. "You know how this works, Hannah. You have to play the game, and do the promotion."

Hannah raised an eyebrow at her. "And is that what you've been doing? Playing the game?"

"What is that supposed to mean?" Cassie asked.

"I saw Lando, while I was in Monaco," Hannah told her, watching Cassie's face carefully for some kind of reaction. She didn't want to have this out with her now, here of all places, but she couldn't help herself.

"And?" Cassie shrugged nonchalantly. "He's no good for you, Hannah. But if you want to keep banging your head against the wall then I'm not going to stop you."

"Except you did, didn't you?" Hannah asked. "Because I asked when this interview was booked when I got here, the same with the radio one and they said it had all been arranged last minute. You didn't forget, you just booked them to get me out of Monaco and away from Lando."

Cassie hesitated for a moment, mouth open as if she was going to speak but hadn't quite found the words yet. "I'm only doing what's best for you, Hannah."

Hannah laughed sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "You always say this, and why do I get the feeling that this time it's not true?"

"Oh grow up Hannah." Cassie snapped back. "What did you think you were going to get out of this little rebellion of yours? Do you think anyone wants to hear about how sad the millionaire singer is that she has to get up on stage and dance around for a couple of hours every week before she goes back to her million-dollar mansion? Do you think that's going to make people like you?"

There was a very timid knock at the door before Hannah could reply, a nervous-looking member of staff poking their head around to tell her she was on in five minutes.

Hannah thanked them, turning back to Cassie on her way back to the door. "I'm not done talking about this. Don't go anywhere."

****

Lando wasn't normally one for watching these talk shows, but when he'd seen it advertised earlier and saw Hannah was tonight's guest he couldn't help himself.

He watched as she was introduced, walking out and taking her seat beside the host. She had a big smile on her face as she waved to the audience but he knew her well enough to know she looked stressed, he could see that ever-present frown line on her forehead was back. He watched as she sat there, listening to the host speak about her tour, the movie and albums, fidgeting nervously with her jewellery.