Having to try and avoid both Jon and Lando had made Aimee's day significantly harder than it needed to be, but she was managing it. It was quite helpful that the two were never found far from eachother at least so she could generally avoid both of them simultaneously.
The team party had gone well. Both drivers had arrived with their trophies, given a speech to the team and they'd all had a little toast to what was to come in the next race. She'd busied herself taking photos and filming clips to use on social media, Tracey having banned her from handing out drinks on the basis she couldn't lift her arm to do so.
There were still plenty of people milling around chatting, although the crowd had thinned out a little as the afternoon wore on. She'd seen Tom a few times, he'd given her a little wave from where he'd been standing with his friends from Oscar's team, but otherwise left her to it as she moved around making sure she'd got plenty of shots of the whole team to use.
She was sitting in a quiet corner scrolling back through her camera reel to check she had everything when Lando and Jon had cornered her. She'd been so engrossed in what she was doing she hadn't noticed until they'd already sat down.
"If it isn't my two least favourite people, and together too." She greeted them sarcastically.
"Hey!" Lando protested. "You can't be mean to me it's my party!"
"It's the teams party." She reminded him. "Oscar beat you, and I am the one who organised most of it. So I say it's the teams party."
"Ah, see I missed this last week." He laughed. "You coming to the next race?"
"Yes."
"I don't think you'll be flying anywhere with a broken collarbone." Jon raised an eyebrow at her.
Aimee shot him a look that could've killed.
"A broken what now?" Lando looked her up and down and then back to Jon.
"It's fine." Aimee brushed it off. "It doesn't even hurt now, I just shouldn't have tried to carry that box earlier that's all."
"Did you go get X-rays?" Jon asked.
"When do you think I found time to do that and sort all this out." Aimee rolled her eyes at him. "It'll be fine. I don't want to waste their time. You said you didn't think it was broken anyway."
"No, I said I couldn't say for sure without an X-ray and that you really should go get it checked out." Jon corrected her. "If I realised you weren't actually going to do then I'd have taken you myself earlier."
"Oh it's fine, just leave it." Aimee sighed. "Is this why you both came over here? To ruin my peace and quiet."
"I just came to say hi, I missed you last week." Lando held his hands up in surrender. "But if I'd known about this then yeah I would've."
"It's fine, it's really not a big deal." She repeated again.
"If it's nothing then you won't mind going to get it looked at." Lando countered, Jon nodding in agreement.
"Will you both leave me alone if I do?" Aimee sighed.
"It depends what the outcome is." Jon countered. "And I'll need actual proof that you went."
"Oh you'll have proof, I'm taking her now." Lando said, getting up.
"No, I don't need you to take me." She shook her head and just stared at him as he stood in front of her.
The main hall had emptied right out while they were talking and apart from her team slowly packing things away there weren't many people left.
"I'm taking you, because I know you won't go if not." Lando said quietly. "Come on, get up and let's go."
"I can't, I need to help clear up." She protested.
"Oh yeah because you carrying things went so well earlier." Jon rolled his eyes at her. "Will you just quit being so stubborn and let him take you?"
She looked back and forth between the two of them again, trying to work out what would create less of a scene. They quite clearly weren't going to let it go.
"I need to be back home before he finishes work." She pleaded quietly with Lando. "I don't have time to sit around there for hours waiting."
"Come on, let's go." He picked her bag up and was already striding towards the door.
"I'll let Tracey and that know where you've gone." Jon offered. "Keep me posted."
****
The drive to the hospital was almost completely silent. Lando kept opening his mouth to speak and then stopping himself again. She knew what he was going to say, he wanted to ask what happened and how she'd hurt herself. She found herself wondering how much he'd already fold Jon, because the man hadn't really questioned how it happened or her decision not to get it looked at which was surprising.
"Are you okay?" Lando asked eventually, breaking the silence.
"Great, everything is wonderful." She joked, cupping her elbow and trying to move her arm into a more comfortable position.
"You should've called me." He sighed.
"You were halfway across the world racing." She pointed out. "And we aren't friends, Lando. You're not the person I'm going to call in the middle of the night when-"
"When what?" He raised an eyebrow as she stopped short.
"Just leave it." She sighed.
"We can be friends, Aimee." He said softly. "I'd like it if we were friends. I know I maybe haven't been very understanding and I'm sorry if it's come across as judgemental but I am here okay, whatever you need."
"Take me home then?" She asked hopefully.
He rolled his eyes. "Nice try. You and I both know Jon would kill me."
"Did you say something to him?" Aimee asked curiously. "Because he never even really asked how I hurt myself. I had a whole story ready to tell him."
Lando shook his head. "No, I wouldn't. I promised you I wouldn't. But he's a pretty perceptive guy. God knows I've tried to hide enough things from him in the past and he always manages to work it out."
"I need to come up with something you can tell him then." Aimee said quickly, her stomach twisting itself into knots at the thought of Jon putting two and two together. It was bad enough that Lando knew, she couldn't have the whole team knowing how pathetic she was.
"Hey, it's okay." Lando said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "He won't tell anyone, he's a great guy. I think he's just worried about you and I can't say I blame him."
Lando had found it incredibly distracting not having her around at the weekend. He'd settled a little once he'd realised Tom was on the other side of the garage working and she wasn't with him at least, but there was an uneasy feeling that had settled over him all the same. Then he'd got behind Tom and his mates in the queue for lunch and seen her boyfriends bruised and split knuckles and known something had happened.
He wasn't sure as long as this carried on he'd ever be able to shake off that part of his brain that was worried something was going to happen to her and he wasn't doing enough to stop it.
YOU ARE READING
Stay With Me- Lando Norris
Fanfiction*Completed* After discovering that one of his coworkers is in a desperate situation, Lando makes it his mission to try and help her. Except she doesn't want his help, and does everything she can to push him away.
