CALL YOUR MOM | ln4

ten.

{ jonesy }

Lando is going to be here in 10 minutes.

There was an off-weekend and he decided it would be the perfect time to spend in London so he and his best friend Max could join Ruthie and me for our Friday night Karaoke. He wasn't even needed at the MTC during this short break, yet he decided to spend another weekend away from his home in Monaco.

So, here I am, anxiously tidying mine and Ruthie's apartment because I refuse to allow someone to come over for the first time to a dirty apartment.

He wasn't supposed to even come over today. Lando and Max were set to meet us at the club tonight for Karaoke but when he realized Ruthie was at work and Max was doing stuff for Quadrant all day, he asked if he could come spend the day with me. What was I supposed to do, say no?

If I had known he was going to come over, I would've asked Ruthie to help tidy last night, but I didn't. So, now I'm stuck cleaning on my own. Thankfully, it wasn't all that messy, but enough for me to be stressed about it.

A knock on the door caught my attention and I let out a string of curses. He was here already?

I threw the last of Ruthie's things in her bedroom and closed the door before rushing over to the front door of the apartment, rubbing the accumulated sweat on my hands off on the sweatpants I'd put on this morning, and opened the door.

"Hi." I breathed out.

Lando giggled, walking past me and into the apartment. "You seem out of breath."

"I've been running around cleaning because someone only gave me an hour's notice of when he wanted to come over."

I watched as he meandered around the living space of the apartment, taking it all in. "Guy sounds like a total arse." He didn't even turn to look at me when he said it, just continued to look at all of the details of my and Ruthie's living space.

I awkwardly followed him around, unsure of what to do with myself. It feels weird to have someone come into the apartment for the first time. They're not familiar with the place and you're not familiar with them being there. It's like meeting someone for the first time.

My breath caught in my throat when I watched Lando pick up one of the framed pictures sitting on the bookshelf in the living room. Just from the frame, I knew exactly what picture it was – a family picture from the one time Mum and Dad were able to afford a trip to America to go to Disney World. When Marshall was 11 and I was 9, our parents had finally saved up enough money to do the trip – apparently, they started saving when we were 6 and 4. I remember hearing people criticize our parents and ask why they didn't just take us to the Disney in Paris so they didn't have to pay for a transatlantic flight, but Mum would always say it was because they wanted to give us the 'authentic' Disney experience.

That trip and that picture were my favorites.

"Oh, Jo, you should invite your family to a Grand Prix soon! I'll get them all paddock passes so they can have the full experience."

My heart dropped.

I was hoping I would be able to hold out on having this conversation for a while, but there's no pushing it off anymore. He's directly asked something that involves them.

I could feel my heart beating like it wanted out of my chest, and not in a good way. "You can't."

My voice was almost inaudible, but he'd heard me. Lando turned around to face me, picture still in hand, and the most confused look on his face.

"Why not?"

I took a deep breath. It was now or never. "Fuck. Uh, Lando, because a year ago on the 1st of September, we were all in a pretty nasty car wreck... only Mum and I made it out." I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, but I chose to ignore them. It's been 7 months, I should be okay now.