peridot | lando norris

10|silverstone|

"wait, you drive for carlin?"

15 year old maeve was more than surprised to see lando at the dinner party. "i do. what about you? you didn't say you were quite into motorsport-" maeve let out and awkward chuckle. "let's talk somewhere else. my brother's glaring at me" she leads him towards the gallery that overlooks the hotel pool, outside the main banquet.

"your brother's here too? is he a driver?" "let me speak, lando" she calmed him down and he nodded. "right"

"this is, well... we're hosting the party." she explains and lando takes a moment to realise. "maeve clarke?" he says slowly and she nods. "yeah. i'm not here because i drive, please. the only vehicle i've come close to being in control with is my bike. you drive for carlin so, formula races...msa?" maeve asked lando, attempting to make conversation that was not about her family.

she didn't enjoy most people's company at these events, there were a few interesting people but they'd always be caught up with her parents since they were also the 'important' guests.

"yes actually. i recently started with single seaters. looking into msa and italian f4" he says and maeve smiles. "that's amazing. what's your number, if i may know?" he furrowed his brows. "that's smooth" maeve tilted her head in confusion. "what?"

"oh you mean my driving number- i mean i've had many different ones" he says, feeling embarrassed. maeve just gave him a smile. "okay, well the reason i wanted to know what to kind of make sure you're the norris that won the karting championship"

lando was taken aback, when the girl told him earlier that day on the tube that she didn't really know much about motorsport, he didn't expect her to recognise him for his karting achievement.

"i did win." he said and she hummed. "that's nice. um, i should probably get back inside now before someone notices i'm missing." she said, standing up straighter and fixing her dress.

"oh yeah- ofcourse. would you mind if we exchange instagrams?" she pursed her lips and looked at him. "i don't use instagram. we could exchange number though"

lando did finally get her number. she disappeared into the crowd and lando made his way back to his brother. "where did you mingle off to?" oliver asked and lando just shrugged. "just 'round"

he was able to spot maeve talking to different people, going around with a ginger ale in her hands, putting on a smile as she spoke. oliver let out a soft chuckle to himself when he noticed lando not so subtly glancing back at maeve every few seconds.

"made a friend?" "made a friend."

"where did you take off to earlier?" ronan asked maeve who looked at him with an innocent expression. "just out at the gallery. taking a breather. i had a long day and the tube was delayed-" his eyes widened. "i told you to stop taking the tube. especially when it's around mom and dad. i'd have driven you out from school if you'd told me" he said and she sighed.

"it's okay. the tube was fine and you'd have technically driven across the city and it didn't make sense. anyways, can you tell me more about carlin? i don't know what i can talk to them about besides the championships. like, there would be more to the sport that just going around in circles. what's their cars like?" she asked ronan who smiled.