Spellbounded

Chapter seven

I woke up the next morning, to the hum of music coming from downstairs. I rubbed my eyes, then stretched my arms above my head before flipping back down onto my mattress. Thoughts of the night before started to swim in my head once again, and flashes of Lando's fingers caressing my skin, his breath blowing softly on my neck, and his eyes staring into mine, our lips so close to touching, set my heart pounding in my chest once again.

I quickly shook my head, in an attempt to shake the memories from my head. It was late and in the heat of the moment. And for some strange reason, images of Pierre kept flashing into my head, in between thoughts of Lando.

What on Earth is happening to me?

I think my head might be one and truly broken beyond repair this time.

Yet flashes of my closeness to Lando last night kept appearing in my mind, and whenever I had managed to shake them from my mind, Pierre appeared. Our near miss in the corridor of the hotel looped around my brain, images of his eyes flickering to my lips made my heart leap around my chest. Ugh, I need to stop this.

I headed to the shower, hoping the hot water would help take my mind off the boys which frequented my thoughts.

After I jumped out of the shower, I popped on some comfy shorts and a matching top - deciding I would get ready for whatever Lando had planned for us later on. I checked myself over in the mirror, making sure I looked presentable and made my way downstairs. Upon getting to the bottom of the stairs, I surveyed the room, to see Lando once again cooking away at the stove.
"Good morning sleeping beauty," Lando smiled at me as he seen me appearing. "There's a coffee on the work top for you, should be just the right temperature to drink it now, I made it when I heard the shower turn off," he said as he turned back around to flip the bacon over.
"Thanks Lan, is there anything I can do to help?" I said, whilst taking a sip of my coffee.
"No, nothing you just sit and relax darling," he said shooting mt a smirk.

After a morning of coffee and bacon buns, Lando and I decided to get ready for the day. I settled on wearing a black dress which went down to my mid calfs, with slits on both sides, which went up to my knees. I paired these with a black belt, black converse and an cross body bag.
"Can you please tell me where we are going now?" I asked Lando for what felt like the millionth time.
"Fine, we're going to be tourists for the day! Take the tube into Central London and see all the sights!" He said excitedly.
"You do know that I quite literally live in London and I have seen all of the sights a million times right?" I said, giggling at how excited Lando looked.
"Yeah I know but have you ever just acted like a tourist though? We're so consumed in every day life, let's just have some fun and pretend to be tourists for the day!" He said smiling. I grinned back at him, enjoying the care free attitude he was bringing to my day.
"Sounds perfect Lan, let's go," I said, whilst pulling my sunglasses over my eyes. Lando followed suit, whilst also pulling a cap over his head as a way to try and disguise himself in the bustling city.

As the day went on, we crammed as much as we possibly could in. Starting with the London Eye and a trip down the River Thames, to see the sights. We then made our way over to Big Ben, taking our time to take as many photos together and of one another as possible - acting like proper tourists all day. We'd bumped into a few fans along that way, Lando snapping a few pictures with them but overall his sunglasses and cap were doing a good job. Our last stop was at Buckingham Palace, where we again took a bunch of photos. We then decided that it was time for a coffee and sit down break, and found ourselves a wide wall where we could have a pit stop.

I leaned my head against Lando's shoulder and closed my eyes for 2 seconds, thinking about the gorgeous day we had shared together. I felt Lando's lips press a gentle kiss onto my temple, which made my lips curl up into a smile, and my eyes jolt open. I moved my head from his shoulder to look up at him, to once again find him already looking down at me.
"How's your day as a tourist been then Miss Armstrong?" He smiled down at me, whilst placing his hand on my thigh.
"The best day I've had out in London ever Lan, I do think most of it is to do with the company I've had though," I grinned at him.
Lando smiled back at me, then turned his head to look back at Buckingham Palace once more. I followed suit, and we sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, needing a rest from the constant chatter and laughter we had shared throughout the day.

"God I've missed this Gee," he said, not taking his eyes off of the Palace in front of us. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion - missed what?
"What do you mean?" I said, turning my head to look at him. Alas, his head stayed firmly in place, his eyes never leaving the grand building in front of us. He took a deep breath in before saying his next words.
"This. Us. Spending time together. I don't know if you even noticed Gee but you really pulled away from me, well not even just me, from all of us over the past year and -" "Lan-" I interrupted.
"No Gee just hang on. I know it was hard, you'd been with him for so long but surely you could see that you were pulling away from us all. That relationship was toxic, so so toxic, and if I'm honest I'm glad he cheated on you becau -" Lando ranted on until I spoke over him.
"Enough Lando," I said in a quiet voice, turning my head away from him to look to my lap, tears threatening to spill at any minute. Then, Lando finally turned his head to look at me again.
"Georgina wait, I - I, I don't know why I've just said that, I didn't mean it," he stumbled over this words.
"You did," I said quietly, "you did," I repeated again, his words whirling around in my head once again, but these ones left a nasty sting, rather than making butterflies explode in my stomach.
"I want to go home now please," I said, pulling myself up from my sitting position.
"But I've made a reservation at that restaurant you loved a few years ago, you know the one with the carbonara you loved," Lando said, raising to his feet as well.
"You can go Lando, but I'm going to go home," I said, gathering my things up.
"I'm not letting you go all the way home on your own Gee, it's going to be dark soon and I don't trust the creeps on the tube," he said.
"I've done it plenty of times before Lando, Aaron was never bothered if I was coming home by myself. Go to your reservation." I said.
"I'm not him, Georgina. I'm not a knob," he said, pleading with me.
I let out a snuffled laugh at the statement, "okay Lando," I said, turning on my heel to walk towards the tube station. To my surprise, Lando was quick on his feet, following behind me.

The journey home was beyond quiet, both of us sat on our phones, or staring into nothingness. It was even worse when we got back to my house. Neither of us knew what to do. Lando sat on the sofa, so I sat on the breakfast bar. I was about an hour before I decided that I would break the silence by getting in the shower to clear my mind.

The hot water on my skin was blissful, and for the first time since Lando arrived my head felt empty. I stayed in the shower for a good amount of time, letting the water wash my worries, confusion and hurt away.

When I was done I got changed into some short pyjamas, threw up hair up and plodded back downstairs.

"Showers free if you want it," I mumbled to Lando, seeing him sat on the sofa scrolling through tiktok. "Thanks," he grumbled back, standing up and trudging upstairs.

Once out of sight I turned the tv on, flicking through to find an episode of Derry Girls to try and cheer me up some more, my mind then focusing on what I was going to have to eat. Just as my mind was drifting to the carbonara that I could have eaten already, a knock at the door pulled me out of my trance.