My Brother's Teammate | Lando Norris

Building Bridges

The next day passed in a quiet haze for Alexis. With Lily out at university and Oscar at the MTC, she had the flat to herself once more. She spent the day in a contemplative state, trying to understand where things had gone awry and how her and Lando might move forward.

The flat felt oddly empty without the usual chatter and activity. Alexis roamed through the rooms, her thoughts consumed with the recent tensions between her and Lando. She knew she needed to approach the situation with sensitivity and patience, but she was still uncertain about the best way to handle it.

Later in the afternoon, Oscar returned home from work. His relaxed and calm demeanour was a stark contrast to the emotional turbulence Alexis had been experiencing. As he entered the flat, he greeted Alexis with a casual wave.

"Hey, Lex," Oscar said, his tone light. "What's up with Lando? He seemed off during all our meetings today. Something going on?"

Alexis looked up from where she had been sitting, her eyes betraying a hint of exhaustion. She had hoped to avoid discussing Lando with Oscar, but his directness left her with little choice. "I'm sure he's fine," She replied, trying to downplay the situation. "Probably just a bit tired or something."

Oscar raised an eyebrow, clearly not entirely convinced. "Well, he looked more than just tired. I figured you'd know what's going on."

Alexis managed a small, somewhat forced smile. "I'm sure it's nothing major. I haven't talked to him much today, so I'm not exactly sure what's bothering him."

Oscar nodded, taking in her words but clearly still curious. "Alright, if you say so. Just thought I'd ask."

With that, Oscar shifted the topic to recounting his day at the MTC. "We worked through some new setups and went over data with a few of the guys. Nothing groundbreaking, but we made some progress on a few fronts."

He continued on, "At least no one tried to set up a new version of 'Let's Guess the Tyre Pressure' today. We had enough of that last week."

Alexis chuckled softly, grateful for the brief distraction from her own thoughts. "Sounds like a pretty standard day, then."

"Yeah," Oscar said, sinking into a chair and stretching out. "Nothing too exciting, but sometimes that's a good thing. Keeps the drama to a minimum."

Oscar had just launched into a particularly amusing anecdote about a misadventure with a telemetry readout a few weeks ago when a knock echoed from the front door.

Oscar, mid-sentence, got up and headed to the door. "Wonder who that could be." He muttered, casually swinging it open.

When he saw Lando standing on the other side, Oscar's expression shifted to mild surprise. "Oh, hey Lando."

Lando offered a small smile. "Hey, Osc."

Oscar stepped aside, gesturing for Lando to come in. As Lando entered, Alexis looked up from her spot on the couch, her heart skipping a beat. She hadn't expected Lando to show up unannounced, and the sight of him immediately brought back the undercurrent of tension she'd been feeling.

Oscar, oblivious to the charged atmosphere, resumed his seat and continued with his story. "So, anyway, the telemetry guy accidentally swapped the data inputs with the weather forecast. You should've seen the look on everyone's face when they thought the rain delay was for a hurricane."

Lando gave a polite laugh, though his gaze was fixed on Alexis. He seemed to be waiting for a moment when he could speak with her privately.

Oscar's humour was infectious, and for a brief moment, the tension seemed to ease as he continued to talk. His stories were punctuated with his usual dry wit, and Alexis found herself momentarily distracted by his animated retelling of mundane occurrences.