peridot | lando norris

3|london|

maeve pov.

"is this okay?" i asked ashton while fixing my bun. he glanced at me, taking in every inch from head to toe as he walked up to me, gently resting his palms on my hips. smiling, he lets out a soft hum. "it's perfect. don't sweat it, there's going to be too many people for anyone to notice" i roll my eyes at him, knowing how much it annoyed him. "it's my first time in almost a decade of meeting them. i'd rather not be taunted by my mum."

niamh was with lando in monaco for the week until her birthday next saturday when ashton and i would join them. we'd not celebrated every single one of niamh's birthday together, but we tried. it was possible most years since it was during lando's break but we've had a couple years where i've done it alone. i was hoping to not miss any , any time soon but i was dicey because things on my side were not looking good. last week, on wednesday, maire had called me in the middle of the night to tell me that mamo had passed away.

mamo, my grandma had been sick for a few months now so i knew it was coming. i'd visited her last month and i was grateful i did. she was the one person who checked up on me every once in a while. ronan and maire, were there, ofcourse, they were my elder siblings but one lived in a different time zone and maire, shee wasn't with my family that much because of her work and since her wedding she hasn't been the same. her wedding was the last time i met any of my family besides the two of them, and i was still with lando back then. we'd broken up shortly after and that didn't look too good on my end either.

growing up in the spotlight, raised to always be picture perfect, knowing what each fork was for, what purpose a conservatory served it wasn't the best place to be now that i live a life much different than that. in a way, one could saw all of great britain knew of lorcan clarke and noreen clifford. both sides of my family, we had a rich history, traces of royal blood and a shit ton of money. i'd seen more money in one place growing up than i could imagine spending, nevertheless, our parents raised us to be hardworkers. we weren't given anything without having to work for it. i mean sure, i had some perks but going to a boarding school and using the tube like any other london kid was the largest part of my life. untouched from all the roots.

it was quite the lonely life growing up that way. my parents were at work, my grandparents would travel and send post cards and my siblings... well either they were too old and already in their own work or my younger brother, was too young at the time to do anything with me. we had our moments together, i hung onto the rare instances all of us were together, messing around like kids.

anyways, the reason i was dressing up with ashton was to go to my father's 60th birthday gala, and i mean gala gala. it was being hosted in honour of my grandmother, a charity event followed by dinner. a bunch of art auction, lots of history resurfaced at events like these. growing up, these were quite frequently done, my grandparents were quite the philanthropists.

i used to love these auctions, especially when mom would give my siblings and i budget to spend as well, knowing we'd be putting that money into the charity fund anyways, it was a good way to learn to value art and money.

i hadn't been to one in quite a while, because i wasn't invited but with mamo, things were a little bit different. i'm sure she's the only reason i got the invite. maire had called me to give me a heads up about the invite, she's snuck out amidst the discussion to let me know it was tentative and extremely important that i showed up. ashton wasn't going as my plus one, he had an invite too.

i first met ashton when i was 12 years old. his parents are really close my parents so we'd see eachother at events like these. he trained and did his associate training under my mom. i was dating a lawyer who was way too deep into my family. i thought of it as a red flag at first but, i couldn't deny the pull i felt. ashton was a good man, he always was. but something, wasn't sitting right lately.