The Chequered Flag || Lando Norris

42 | You're a Fixer

"So..." Kate said as I opened the door.

"So..." I replied.

"He okay?" She asked as she set down the dish she was cleaning and started to dry her hands.

"Ummm.. Yeah?" I said, then then dragged a hand over my face, trying to wipe the exhaustion off my face, "Yeah. I think so... I think so."

"Yeah." Kate said as she walked over to me to give me a hug.

There was a minute of silence where Kate seemed to be on the verge of asking me another question. Finally, she said, "Are you okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"I've seen the comments..." She said carefully.

"Oh." I said. I thought for a minute before quietly nodding, "Yeah. I think so."

I gave her a weak smile and she looked at me like an animal that she had just found abandoned on the side of the road.

"I'll be fine." I shook my head, "Don't worry about me. How are you?"

"You have nothing to worry about." Kate responded.

There was another stretch of silence between us and Kate started walking back to the dishes before she turned back around to face me, "What are you going to do?"

I looked at my best friend, all the swirling thoughts in my mind came to a halt and I started to choke up, "I don't know."

I felt so weak. "I don't know if it's better to try to stay above it or if I should try to change their minds. God! I literally had this conversation with Lando this weekend and I told him to ignore everyone that didn't know him because they didn't matter. To let his actions speak for him, to prove them wrong that way."

"Good advice." Kate said, crossing her arms and looking at the floor.

"That's just the problem, Kate. I know I should take my own advice... I just–I don't know if I can."

"You are a fixer." She said with a small smile. "But, Cami, I'm not sure this is really something that you can fix. The people who you'd be looking to change the minds of are either crazy, jealous, or too grumpy about 'drama' to see that you're a good person and you're good for him."

I nodded. I knew she was right. "Can you look for me?" I asked quietly.

"At what?" She asked.

"Everything." I replied. "I want to know–I have to know. I just don't think I can bare to actually look at it."

"Of course." Kate said, then ushered me to sit on the couch.

I gave her my phone, and she sat there for a few minutes, going through everything.

"I mean, it's early." Kate said, "Most of the people that have seen this are his crazed fans..."

She didn't want to tell me. "Kate. You need to be straight with me."

"Cami..." She said, the hurt evident in her eyes

"Kate." I said firmly. "How bad is it?"

"You have fanpages already..." The statement's unfinished nature evident.

"And?"

"And Kym's video where he talks about you is highly complimentary..."

"Kate. Please, just spit it out."

"There's two sides of the spectrum," She said, and took a deep breath. "People are either saying you sound way out of his league–good on ya!"

Her attempt to make me smile entered the room and was met with only my clenched jaw, preparing for the worst, "The other side, Kate." I wasn't asking anymore.

"You are getting death threats." She said, searching my eyes for any sign of how I was taking this.

"Already?" I said with a feeble laugh.

"Already." She said.

"Well." I put on a small smile and met her eyes, "At least I can only go up from here."

"And you will." Kate said, her eyes serious. Then, she clapped her hands and exclaimed, "Ice cream!"

I decided I was going to take my own advice. Fuck anyone who chose to look down on me, I was my own damn person and only the people who knew me got to influence what I thought I was worth. I would keep doing what I wanted to do and they would have to cry about it.

Because I would not cry over what they said.