"Here you go." Aimee said, placing a mug down on the coffee table infront of Lando before retreating back to her own spot on the sofa.
"Thanks." He mumbled, really not knowing what to say. "So this is where you grew up?"
"Yeah." Aimee nodded. "It's weird being back, I haven't been back here at all in years."
"I'm glad you've mended things with your family." Lando said softly. "Sophie's quite the character."
"I can't believe she called you." Aimee laughed, shaking her head. "Well, actually I can. It's exactly the kind of thing she would do in all honesty. I just can't believe you came."
"She's about to fleece me out of a couple of paddock passes for her troubles too."
Lando laughed. "What do you mean though? Of course I came."
"I thought... the way I left. I shouldn't have done it, I'm sorry." Aimee looked down, fingers tracing the rim of her mug to avoid his gaze.
"Can I ask why you left the way you did?" Lando asked hesitantly. "Because I've been trying to make it make sense in my head for weeks and I can't."
"You already know about Tom, Tracey told me." Aimee raised an eyebrow.
Lando felt his face flush. "She told you what happened in the club?"
Aimee nodded. "She did. What on earth were you thinking?"
"In my defence, I don't think I've ever hit anyone but he deserved it and I'd do it again."
"Please tell me you'll behave yourself. He's back at Red Bull, he's going to be around the paddock. I don't want you getting into trouble with Zak."
"Not for long." Lando shook his head.
"What does that mean?" Aimee asked, trying to decipher the meaning behind his words. "What did you do?"
"I paid Christian Horner a visit at the start of summer break." Lando shrugged. "I don't think I'll be seeing Tom back in the paddock at the end of the break."
"What?"
"They didn't know Aimee, they never would've taken him back if they had." Lando explained. "As soon as I told Christian what had happened he told me he'd sort it."
Aimee stared at him. "You did that, for me?" She asked quietly. "Even after what I did?"
"Of course." Lando nodded. "Can I ask why you were talking to him though? I didn't think you wanted anything to do with him."
Aimee took a deep breath. "He's been texting me, since the photo of us together in Monaco." She admitted. "I kept ignoring him and then he said he was there and he just kept texting and texting, wanting to meet up. He said he'd leave me alone if I heard him out."
"Why didn't you just tell me?" Lando asked.
"Would you have let me go?" Aimee raised an eyebrow.
"Obviously not." Lando snorted.
"Exactly." Aimee rolled her eyes. "So I went and met him in the park and I thought maybe it was going to be okay, that we'd just talk about the house and what he wanted to do with his stuff I've got in storage... but then he started saying all this stuff and it got to me."
"You didn't talk to the police, did you?" Lando asked quietly. "In Monaco?"
Aimee shook her head. "No."
"Why?"
"Because... I know this won't make any sense to you, believe me. But I didn't want to have to go over it all again. I would've had to stand up and testify. He would've denied it. There's absolutely no evidence he did it, my word against his. I didn't want to do it to myself."
"But then he just gets to carry on with his life like nothing happened?" Lando pointed out unhappily.
"But I get my life back." Aimee said softly.
"You know at the end of the day all I want is for you to be happy, Aimee."
Lando sighed. "But I am struggling with this one."
"He's already taken so much from me,
Lando." Aimee explained. "All that time, everything I gave up when I was with him, my relationship with my family... you..."
"I'm still here." Lando pointed out. "You were the one who decided you didn't want to be with me."
Aimee shook her head. "It wasn't that."
"Then what was it, Aimee? Because I just don't get it."
Aimee took another sip of her drink, stalling for time as she tried to work out how to turn her feelings into words that Lando might understand.
"The whole world you exist in, F1, it's always going to remind me of Tom and what happened." She said slowly. "Monaco is always going to be the place he almost killed me. I still can't even look at that street the hotel was on, never mind walking down it. Every time I look at the McLaren garage, all I can see is all the times I'd hide from him, the things he'd say to me when everyone's back was turned. MTC was just more of the same. The whole thing is just one never ending reminder of everything he took from me."
"You're saying I remind you of him?" Lando whispered, his heart sinking.
"No." Aimee corrected him quickly. "You couldn't be more unlike him if you tried."
"Then what?" Lando asked unhappily.
"I so wanted to be there with you that weekend, to be the supportive girlfriend and cheer you on, like Lily does with Oscar." Aimee explained. "But I don't think I can do that for you, not right now anyway. I felt sick, all weekend. Just being there... hearing the whispers in the team about us, the fans watching your every move. How long before someone finds out what happened with me and Tom and it's splashed all over the internet for the world to see?"
Lando was quiet. He didn't have an answer to that one. "So what, this is it? I love you, Aimee. I don't need you to be at every race with me. If you don't want to come, if it makes you happy then that makes me happy."
"I've really missed you." Aimee choked out. "I'm so sorry. I really am."
Lando crossed the room, sitting himself down beside her on the sofa, taking her hands in his. "What can I do?" He asked quietly.
"I don't know." Aimee whispered, burying her head in his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her. "Sophie's been trying to get me to go to therapy."
"Would that be the worst idea in the world?" Lando asked. "You've been through so much, it might help you get your head around it? You know I'll always listen but it's hardly like I know what I'm talking about with these things."
"You sound like Sophie." Aimee laughed quietly.
"I have a feeling me and her are going to get on well." Lando 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.
