Stay With Me- Lando Norris

30. Watch my shattered edges glisten

"You ready?" Lando asked, opening her car door for her.

"No." Aimee confessed, taking his outstretched hand as he helped her out of the stupidly low McLaren he'd driven them in. "It feels weird being back."

His hands fell to her waist to steady her as she stood up, grabbing her crutches. One more week to go until she got her cast off and she could get back to walking properly and she couldn't wait.

"It's just Tracey." He reassured her. "You'll be fine."

"Yeah." Aimee mumbled, stepping to the side as he reached around her to shut the car door.

They fell into silence as they slowly made their way through the doors of MTC. Lando didn't actually know what Aimee was going to tell Tracey. The topic of her return, or potentially not, to the McLaren social media team was a subject that had been avoided like the plague on the drive over from Monaco.

He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.

"There she is!" Tracey was waiting for them in the entrance as they walked in. "How are you doing? You look so much better!"

"Yeah, getting there I guess." Aimee shrugged.

Lando gave her arm a gentle squeeze. He'd known the second the words left Tracey's mouth the answer she was going to give. She'd been getting increasingly impatient and frustrated with the pace of her recovery, to the point he'd decided it was easier just not to mention it.

Perhaps he should've warned Tracey....

"I'd better get going." He said, glancing at the clock on the wall. He was already running late, as per usual. "Call me if you need me?"

The quick kiss on her cheek as he turned and ran off to the sim had Tracey raising an eyebrow.

"I think you and I need to have a proper catch up." She said, Aimee's face turning scarlet. "Can you make it as far as the canteen to get a coffee?"

"Sounds good." Aimee nodded, slowly stepping forward.

A slow walk was good, it would give her time to come up with something to tell Tracey about what was going on with her and Lando. Aimee wasn't even sure if she knew herself what to call it.

Tracey was chatting away as they walked, filling Aimee in on all the latest office gossip, but she wasn't really listening.

By the time they reached the canteen and Tracey went off to get them coffee while Aimee found a table, she still hadn't decided what she was going to tell Tracey.

"So..." Tracey asked, sliding a coffee across the table between them as she sat down opposite Aimee. "Spill!"

Aimee's fingers traced the lid of the coffee cup, avoiding Tracey's eyes. "I haven't quite decided what I want to do about work." She sighed. "I'm sorry, I know it's a pain for you."

When she glanced back up Tracey's expression had softened, a sympathetic smile on her face.

"To be honest, I thought you were going to come here and tell me you were leaving so I'm happy you're reconsidering at least. What's changed your mind?"

Aimee shot her an awkward smile. She had a feeling Tracey already knew the answer to that particular question. "I uh..." Aimee searched for the words.

"He's persuasive, isn't he?" Tracey laughed. "So you two are together?"

"No." The words shot out of Aimee's mouth a bit too quickly, surprising herself as much as it did Tracey. "I don't know." She admitted.

Tracey waved her hand, gesturing for Aimee to keep talking as she sipped on her coffee.

"We haven't spoken about it." Aimee admitted. "I don't know how I feel about it."

"Come on, out with it." Tracey prompted. "My lips are sealed, I won't tell a soul. I promise."

"God I've missed you." Aimee laughed quietly.

Tracey laughed quietly, shaking her head. "I told you that you'd miss me too much to leave."

"I don't know why I feel like this." Aimee sighed. "I like him and he's been so, so good to me... but with everything that's happened, the idea of any kind of relationship makes me want to run a mile."

"For what it's worth, I don't think you need me to tell you Lando would never treat you like that." Tracey said softly.

"I know, I know." Aimee agreed. "It's not that it's..." she stopped, not having the words to voice the thoughts that had been spinning around in her head for weeks. Ever since this whole thing with Lando had started it was all she could think about.

"It's...?"

"I love him, Tracey." Aimee sighed. "I love him, and he deserves so, so much better than I can ever give him. I'm a mess, I was a mess before I met Tom... I think that's probably how I ended up in that whole situation in the first place and Lando doesn't deserve to be dragged into all that. All he's ever going to see when he looks at me is the version of me that Tom beat the crap out of and he for some reason feels like he needs to rescue."

Tracey was quiet for a long moment, Aimee sipping nervously at her coffee as she waited for her friends verdict.

"Do you want my honest opinion?" Tracey asked eventually.

"When have you ever held back before?" Aimee joked.

Tracey laughed quietly, it wasn't wrong. "I think you're happy with him, and you're trying to find a reason to sabotage it now because you don't want to get hurt again." She said slowly. "I've seen the way he looks at you, Aimee. He might not have said it, but he loves you too. He was driving himself insane worrying about you in Monaco. You deserve someone who loves you like that. You deserve to be happy, no matter what Tom might've made you think."

The tears that had been welling in Aimee's eyes as Tracey spoke spilled down her cheeks.

"Oh, sweetheart." Tracey rounded the table and wrapped an arm around her.

"Sorry." Aimee choked out. "I don't know what to do, Trace."

"You don't have to figure it all out right now." Tracey reminded her. "Just talk to Lando, he'll understand. You've been through a lot, and we're all here for you. No matter what."

"Best adopted mother ever." Aimee joked through a tearful smile.

Tracey laughed, hugging her a bit tighter. "You always were my favourite daughter. Now, come on. Less tears, tell me about Monaco."