Aimee's mum had barely let her out of her sight in the two days since she'd unexpectedly showed up back at her childhood come. Aimee couldn't say she blamed her. The last time she'd walked out of that door she hadn't come back for three years.
She was vaguely aware of her Dad in the background on the phone to her older sister, Sophie, giving her a quick rundown on what had happened. Aimee didn't listen too closely. Even if her parents said they understood, she wasn't sure if Sophie would ever forgive her for missing her wedding, and she didn't want to think about it.
"Aimee, you need to eat something." Her mum reminded her, sitting down on the sofa beside her and handing her a plate of toast.
Aimee took the plate, sitting it on her lap and continued staring blankly at the wall. She hadn't slept at all the night before and in an attempt to give her brain something else to do, she'd turned her phone back on which had been a mistake.
The second she switched it on it had been flooded with messages pleading with her to get in touch with someone and let them know she was okay.
"Aimee?" Her mum prompted, and it wasn't until she reached out to wipe away a stray tear from her daughter's cheek that Aimee realised she was crying again.
"I miss him." Aimee said quietly. "I knew it was going to be hard but..." she shook her head. She hadn't been expecting it to be this hard.
She picked up the toast her mum had made and took a bite as an excuse not to keep talking. She wasn't sure she wanted to have this conversation, to acknowledge quite how heartbroken she was and that she had no one to blame except herself.
"Sophie's going to stop by later, if that's okay?" Her mum asked. "She's missed you."
"She's not angry?" Aimee asked hesitantly.
Her mum shook her head. "She was, to start with. None of us understood, Aimee. Seeing you and Tom together, none of us ever would've guessed something like that was going on and
I guess it just looked like you'd decided not to come. That your job was more important than your sister's wedding."
"I tried so hard to be there." Aimee choked out. "I never would've missed it."
"We know that now, and I'll always regret what we said to you and making you feel like you couldn't tell us the truth." Her mum sighed, wiping Aimee's tears again. "But you're here now, that's what matters. We'll get through this."
"Can I stay here for a bit?" Aimee asked hesitantly. "I had to get rid of the house in Woking after Tom... I was staying with Lando in Monaco. I left all my stuff there, I didn't really think any of it through. I just panicked and ran."
"Of course you can, we can sort out getting your stuff back at some point if that's what you want." Her mum reassured. "Just don't worry about any of that right now."
****
Lando had been so incredibly hungover the day after the race that he couldn't even begin to try and fight Carlos off when he'd turned up to take him to the airport with him.
Lando had woken up face down on the sofa in Lily and Oscar's room, his knuckles split and bruised, with a black eye already forming and a plaster stuck over the split in his eyebrow, with utter confusion about what had happened.
"Here." Lily had handed him a bottle of water and some painkillers. She turned to Oscar. "You were supposed to keep him out of trouble."
"I look my eyes off him for two seconds." Oscar sighed. "How was I supposed to know he was going to be there?"
It was at that point that the memory returned to Lando of Tom's smug face smirking at him in the club. "I'm going to kill him." He muttered.
"No you're not." Lily told him sternly. "Carlos will be here in half an hour, you're going to shower and then go to Scotland and play golf with him."
Lando shook his head, which just caused the pounding headache to intensify. "I don't want to, I need to-"
"You can call Max on the way to the airport." Lily plucked his phone out of his hand, seemingly being able to read his mind. "But right now you need to get up and shower and go and get your stuff from your room before you make us miss our flight."
Lando looked at her like a small child who'd just been told off, but did as he was told.
By the time Carlos arrived he was sat in the hotel lobby with his suitcase, Lily and Oscar waiting with him to make sure he actually went with Carlos.
"Come on, my muppet friend." Carlos clapped him on the back. "It'll be fun! I can beat you at golf all week and we'll enjoy the lovely Scottish weather."
"Could you not have picked somewhere for summer break that's not fucking freezing." Lando grumbled. "Are you really going to make me come with you?"
"Yes, I am." Carlos told him. "Now get in."
With a goodbye to Oscar and Lily they were on their way to the airport.
"You really like this girl, eh?" Carlos asked, eventually breaking the silence.
"Don't." Lando warned. "I don't want to talk about it."
"Well, you can't go around hitting other teams mechanics." Carlos pointed out. "So either you need to get over it, or we need to work out how you're going to get her back."
"What if she just doesn't want to be with me?" Lando asked quietly, staring out of the window. "What if it's got nothing to do with him being back and she just decided she didn't want to stay?"
He hadn't quite been aware of the future he'd subconsciously allowed himself to plan with Aimee, until it had been ripped out from underneath him. He should've been taking her away for summer break, a chance for the two of them to finally unwind and spend some time together.
Yet here he was, being effectively kidnapped by Carlos.
"I'm going to call Max and ask him to speak to Christian." Lando told Carlos, pulling out his phone.
"Good idea." Carlos agreed.
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.
