peridot | lando norris

20| monaco|

lando pov. 

i turned 30 yesterday but somehow i felt like i was 16 once again when i saw maeve at the country club.

i wasn't expecting them to be there, a wise idea would've been to ask her where melanie was spinning her off to but i didn't want to impose anything. she's an adult who probably knows just as much about monaco as i do so it wouldn't be right since i wasn't in a place to ask her about it. 

carlos and i'd met up after a pretty long time, outside of events. i wasn't expecting him to not ask about maeve but it being the very first question for him to ask right as i was about to take my first shot was a little too humbling.

"so, i saw that nini and maeve were there yesterday" i took a deep breath and hummed. "yeah,  and? spit it out carlos, i know what you're thinking -"

"she's so damn pretty, how do you keep fumbling with her? and her other ex, sorbet? i still don't know his real name" i take my shot, the anger towards ashton definitely fueled it. "que va!" carlos lets out a whistle. "hate him that much?"

"you don't need to know his name and yes. and i dont know! i don't know how to like, ask her" i feel even dumber saying that. it's not like i can't plan a date, i just- like carlos said, i keep fumbling with maeve. but there's 3 logical issues here - 

a) she just got out of a long term relationship 

b) we've dated before 

c) it'll be messier if we got together and broke up especially with the extent of media involvement in my life right now. we'd be giving niamh hope and it's wrong, and well the most obvious one - i don't even know if maeve would like me now.

"how'd you do it the first time?" i pursed my lips as he took his shot. this could be discussed in the buggie.

"i was 16, we hung out a lot and it was sort of over text. took her to an arcade because i had only been to one handful of times and she'd never tried it. pretty sure i can't do that now." do arcades with paper tickets even exist anymore? it's not the same with the digi-cards.

"hm, well since we're still speaking hypothetically, bring her to ibiza" i rolled my eyes and gently kicked his calf  "absolutely not as a first date- wait why are we discussing about maeve!" i exclaimed and he grinned.

"you never shut up about her." "you began the topic" i concluded and he groaned. "because i was curious was last night was about. now that that's over, what do you do to bond with a baby?" i furrowed my brows. where did a baby come from?

that was an odd question coming out of carlos. "hm? like visit them often, try to make peace, talk around them so they get comfortable to your voice but why are you asking me this?" he had a shy smile on his face.

i hadn't seen him smile like a total idiot in a while and it was a sight to see. "nav's pregnant" my eyes widened and i plastered on a smile. my best friend was having a kid, finally. 

"oh my, congratulations. yeah, you're gonna need a lot more than what i said. but, just trust the process and talk to your mom. they're the best ones to ask" i tell him and he nods. "it's just, like not unexpected but..."

"unreal? yeah wait till the baby's born and it'll hit you. i was, not gonna lie, but pretty empty when maeve told me, and i mean i was 17 so it felt anything but right i will admit to that but, i knew i couldn't act like that for maeve's sake. we'd fought about it but it wasn't what you'd think. but when niamh was born, i was the first to get to hold her. i sat with her on my chest the entire time until the nurses had to pry her off completely."