Lando froze as he opened the door, finding Rose standing there, a faint, soft smile on her lips. She seemed different—less guarded, almost gentle—as if some of the tension between them had finally melted away. For a moment, neither of them spoke, the silence lingering with an unspoken understanding.
"Did you eat?" she asked softly, her voice warm, a gentle attempt to break the cold distance between them.
Lando blinked, caught off guard by her question. "Uh... no, not yet."
She looked down briefly, shuffling slightly, before meeting his gaze again. "Yeah, I figured." She lifted two pizza boxes, the aroma filling the hallway between them. "I brought pizza... can I come in?"
He stepped aside, a faint smile tugging at his lips as he watched her move into the room with quiet confidence. For the first time in weeks, he felt the walls between them crack, if only just a little.
As Rose stepped further into the room, her eyes drifted to the open laptop on the table, the screen paused on footage of their crash. She let out a small sigh, her expression unreadable.
"Still on it, huh?" she murmured, glancing back at him with a hint of something—maybe frustration, maybe sympathy.
Lando scratched the back of his neck, looking slightly embarrassed. "Yeah... can't seem to let it go."
"You know," she said, arching an eyebrow, "if you keep watching that crash, you're going to make it happen all over again. Like some cursed F1 voodoo."
Lando chuckled. "What, you don't think I'm analyzing it for next time?"
She rolled her eyes. "Analyzing? Sure. More like self-sabotage."
He gave her a half-smile. "Alright, maybe you're right. But bringing pizza while I'm watching my worst crash? You might be the one who's cursed, Rose."
She gasped, pretending to be offended. "I was just trying to keep you from starving! But now..." She made a show of pulling one of the boxes closer, lifting the lid dramatically, and then pausing as if reconsidering. "Maybe I'll just keep both for myself."
"Hey!" Lando protested, reaching for the box.
Rose laughed, pulling it just out of his reach, the tension between them lifting for a moment. They settled on the floor, leaning against the coffee table, with pizza boxes open between them. The silence stretched again, comfortable yet charged, both of them glancing at the paused footage, but this time neither looked away.
After a few bites, Rose's gaze softened as she looked at Lando. "You know," she said quietly, "we're both really good at obsessing over things we can't change."
Lando swallowed, setting his slice down. "Yeah... I guess we are."
Rose took a breath, her fingers tapping lightly on the edge of the pizza box. "Lando," she started, her voice hesitant, "there's something I need to say. I... I need you to understand why I've been so distant these past weeks."
His eyes widened slightly, but he stayed silent, sensing something important was coming.
She looked down, then back up at him, her expression a mix of vulnerability and courage. "Remember Ollie's wedding?" Her voice softened, a bittersweet smile tugging at her lips. "I cried the whole night... because Oliver, the person I'd admired and cared about for so long, was finally marrying someone else."
She paused, drawing a shaky breath. "I always pretended it was just a harmless crush from when I was a kid," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper. "But in reality, it wasn't. I was really in love with him."
YOU ARE READING
|Love 4 Apex| Lando Norris
Fanfiction"What if we're better as a team?" Lando asked, his gaze softening. "We're better as rivals," Rose replied, her heart pulling her in two directions. In this world of speed ambition friendship and love, every race could change everything-on and off th...
