Stay With Me- Lando Norris

20. Haunted

Aimee didn't sleep a wink, despite having Lando snoring softly beside her all night. He was fast asleep, oblivious to her fidgeting as her thoughts ran away from her. His presence beside her was comforting, but not enough to get her brain to stop. She was too scared to shut her eyes and relive her nightmare, so instead she'd stared at the ceiling of his sparsely decorated guest room the entire night.

He was still fast asleep when the sun finally began to creep towards the horizon and Aimee slowly manoeuvred herself out of bed. She hobbled slowly and very unsteadily on her crutches in the direction of his kitchen to make herself a coffee.

It was wishful thinking, that the caffeine might somehow combat the fact that she'd only slept for a couple of hours, but she was going to try it anyway.

She balanced precariously on one leg, having to let go of one of her crutches to free up a hand to lift the kettle and shuffled awkwardly over to the sink to fill it. She hadn't anticipated quite how much work simply making a coffee would be. She struggled to make her way back across the kitchen with the now-filled kettle, a groan of frustration escaping her that she couldn't even manage such a basic task.

Having finally managed to make herself a coffee, she was proud of herself for a fleeting moment before she stood there realising she didn't have a free hand to actually carry the coffee over to the sofa. The frustration completely overwhelmed her, and before she knew it the tears were streaming down her face again. She sighed in defeat, leaning against the kitchen counter as she picked up her coffee. She'd have to stand and drink it if she couldn't carry it.

That was where Lando found her when he woke a short while afterwards. He'd woken up confused for a moment about where he was, then had a small panic at the empty bed beside him as he remembered getting into bed with Aimee the night before. Logically thinking, he knew she couldn't have gone far. She was so unsteady and slow on her crutches there was no way she would make it out of his apartment, but the fear was still there.

"There you are!" He exclaimed in relief. "I thought you'd done a runner!"

He'd expected a roll of her eyes, maybe a laugh at his joke- because they both knew she wasn't going to be running anywhere any time soon- but she just looked down at the floor and didn't move.

"What are you doing standing?" He asked, crossing the room towards the kitchen. "You're supposed to be resting."

Aimee shrugged, draining the last of her coffee from her cup before she placed it back on the counter beside her. "I'm so fucking useless I can't even carry a cup of coffee so..." She mumbled. Her eyes filled with tears again and she blinked rapidly, willing herself to hold it together until she stopped looking at her. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd cried so much. She was pathetic.

"Hey. What's wrong?" Lando frowned, crossing the kitchen and placing a hand on her arm.

She flinched at his touch, the instinct ingrained in her, but he didn't remove his hand this time. "Talk to me, Aimee."

"I think I need to sit down." She muttered, fumbling for her crutches to support herself. It was probably the longest she'd been stood up for since she'd been discharged from hospital and her head was starting to spin. The last thing she needed to do was add to her embarrassment by passing out on his kitchen floor.

Lando stayed silent, worried that whatever he said was going to make the situation worse. Instead, he quietly passed her the crutches and then hovered just behind her, hand on her elbow ready to catch her as she slowly made her way over to the sofa. They were both relieved when she was finally sat down.

"Do you not have somewhere you need to be?" Aimee asked, finally looking up at him. "Qualifying?"

Lando nodded. "I'm getting ready in a minute. I'll make you some breakfast before I go." He leant over to pick up the tv remote and put it within her reach. "Do you think you'll be okay on your own for an hour before Mum gets here?"

"Your mum doesn't need to come and babysit me." Aimee shook her head. "I'm fine!"

Lando rolled his eyes at her. "Did you really think I was going to leave you here on your own all day?"

"I'll be fine!" She protested.

"You're clearly not fine because you've been stood in my kitchen crying all morning." He pointed out. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

"Later." Aimee deflected. "You need to go and get ready. You'll be late."

"I'm always late." He shrugged.

"I know." She rolled her eyes. "It's incredibly annoying." She wondered if he was aware of how much of her life she'd actually wasted standing around waiting for him to turn up at work.

He hesitated for a moment, then stood up and headed off to shower and get dressed. He'd try again before he left, and if not maybe his Mum would have more luck getting whatever was bothering Aimee out of her, because he just couldn't get his head around it.

****

"Lando?"

"Hey, Tracey, what's up?" He spun around to find the woman stood beside him.

She closed the distance between them, lowering her voice. "I just wanted to check in, Zak said Aimee is staying with you? How is she?"

"She's...." Lando stopped, running his fingers through his hair. What was he supposed to say to that? "She's probably about how I expected." He said eventually.

"And how are you doing with all this?" Tracey asked kindly.

He froze at the unexpected line of questioning. "I don't know." He confessed. "I haven't had time to stop and think about it. Trying to make sure she's okay and then with the race and everything... it's been a lot."

"You're doing a good job." Tracey squeezed his arm. "And if there's anything I can do, just say the word."

Lando thought for a moment. "Do you think you could stop by later and see her?" He asked. "She's not really talking to me about any of it and I don't know why. Maybe she'll listen to you?"

"Of course." Tracey nodded. "But first, get out there and do your thing! Good luck!"

"Thanks, Trace!"