Driving back to the house she'd once shared with Tom was a surreal experience. Lando was clearly feeling it too, his knuckles turning white from the tight grip he had on the steering wheel.
"How did it go with Tracey?" He asked quietly, slowing down as he turned the car off the motorway.
"I still haven't made a decision." Aimee admitted. "We didn't really talk about work."
"What did you two talk about? You were there hours!" He asked. This was good, it was taking his mind off what they were about to go and do. He had been fighting the urge to just turn the car around and take her back to his flat the entire way there.
He wasn't sure he quite understood her insistence on going to retrieve her stuff. He'd lost count of how many times he'd offered to just replace everything for her. Nothing would make him happier.
"Er..." Aimee felt her cheeks flush. "She was filling me in on all the office gossip... and we were talking about you... us...?"
That had his attention. "Should I be worried? Why do I feel like I need Tracey's approval?"
Aimee laughed. "You do, she's basically my mum."
"She likes me, right?" Lando asked, glancing over at Aimee for confirmation. "I don't think I've ever been a pain in the ass to her, have I?"
"No more than you have to everyone else on the social media team." Aimee joked.
"Hey!" Lando protested.
"No, she likes you." Aimee reassured him, reaching out and squeezing his thigh. "You're safe on that front."
Lando breathed a sigh of relief. "It's just down here isn't it, on the left?" He asked as he turned off on to the residential street.
"Yep." Aimee answered tightly. The brief moment of joking had vanished and the earlier tension returned.
She had tried to get in touch with Tom to find out if he was still living there but he hadn't answered any of her texts and calls. She was hoping that it meant he wasn't going to be there. She was not ready to be faced with him again.
She was beyond confused when Lando pulled the car up outside her old house to see Jon stood on the driveway beside his car.
"What's Jon doing here?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at Lando as he switched off the car.
"I let slip what we were doing when I saw him earlier and he insisted on coming." Lando shrugged. "He said he'd help me lift anything because you're not allowed... but I think he might just be here to babysit me incase Tom shows up to be honest."
"He's a smart guy." Aimee agreed. "If he's here, promise me you won't start anything."
Lando made a sound that was far from agreeing to her request.
"Lando." She said sternly. "You know what, maybe you should wait in the car."
"I'm just saying he more than fucking deserves it." Lando shook his head angrily. "And you're out of your mind if you think you're going in there without me."
A tap on the window stopped the conversation, the two of them turning to find Jon stood next to the passenger side looking at them with confusion.
Aimee opened her door. "Hey Jon."
"Are you two going to get out or did you just come here to sit outside?" He asked, looking back and forth between the two of them.
"Just reminding him to behave himself." Aimee sighed, with one last pointed look at Lando, as she climbed out of the car.
"Ah." Jon nodded. "I have also delivered that particular lecture several times today."
"I don't think he's here." Aimee said. If she said if enough times she could will it in to becoming true.
"Let's hope not." Jon said, looking over at Lando.
It did briefly occur to Aimee as she took the keys out of her pocket that he could've changed the locks. But thankfully the key still fit and the locked door was hopefully a good sign that Tom wasn't home.
She had no idea what to expect as Lando opened the door, sliding in front of her as though he was expecting Tom to suddenly appear on the other side.
"Hello?" Aimee called cautiously as they stepped inside. Jon was right behind them, looking like he was ready to grab Lando any second and she couldn't say she blamed him.
Thankfully, they were met with nothing but silence. There was an audible sigh of relief from all three of them.
"Where do you want to start?" Lando asked when Aimee still didn't move.
She was just frozen, standing in the hallway looking around wide eyed.
A part of her had been expecting Tom to have smashed the place up and destroyed everything. But instead, the house looked exactly as it had when she'd left to go to Monaco. Like a moment frozen in time.
Her eyes trailed to the photos that lined the walls. Years worth of photos of her and Tom grinning back at her like they were mocking her.
"Aimee?" Lando put his hand on her shoulder.
"Right, sorry." She mumbled. "I uh... there's a couple of things in the living room my parents gave me. That's the most important. Then I guess it's just my clothes upstairs." She was wracking her brain trying to think if there was anything else she was particularly attached to.
"Okay, come on. Lead the way." Lando suggested.
"I can go and start on the clothes upstairs." Jon suggested. "We'd probably better not hang around too long, just in case..."
"Good thinking." Lando nodded.
"There's a suitcase under the bed." Aimee said quietly. "Just shove whatever fits in there and I'll leave the rest I guess. Thank you."
Jon disappeared up the stairs, with one last threatening look at Lando to behave himself.
"Are you okay?" Lando asked quietly, wrapping an arm around her.
Aimee nodded back at him through teary eyes. "It's just so weird being back here. It feels like another lifetime ago."
And perhaps in someways it was...
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.
