February 2024 – Chur Switzerland
Lando had felt fear a few times in his life, at least he thought he had. His job was dangerous, getting into a car every other weekend and pushing it to it's limit at breakneck speeds. One thing he had gotten good at was ignoring that fear. Ignoring that pit in his stomach. He let it in for a moment when he thought about his mother, his sisters and anyone else who he'd leave behind if he crashed. There was a split second where he allowed that fear in, but then he shoved it back out.
It's when he didn't recognize what it was at first.
The rich man in him hated that he had to fly commercial, he missed private. The food was better, the seats were more comfortable, and he had internet to be able to facetime his beautiful girlfriend. He'd been nervous to leave her alone, after what happened, but she was surrounded by people who cared so she'd be okay.
So, like he was used to doing he shoved those nerves down. Like he was good at.
Except as the plan started its descent, he didn't know why he felt sick, and he didn't know why. His foot tapped on the carpeted floor of his first-class pod while he waited for the plane to touch down. For them to make the announcement that phones could be turned back on. He calculated the time change in his head, trying to figure out whether he should call or text her, when he was finally able to.
Call her, he didn't care what time it was. He nodded to himself, finally able to take his phone off airplane mode.
He had four missed calls, but none form her.
He had six texts but none of them were from her.
They were all from her roommates. Or at least he assumed since two were from numbers he didn't recognize.
His gut fell into his shoes and in that moment he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was sick because his body was telling him something was wrong. Pressing on the first number that popped into his head, he pressed the phone to his ear, ignoring the sounds around him.
Like he could hear anything but the dial town.
"Hi, you've reached Bella, I'm probably on the slopes, I'll hit you back as soon as..." he hung up before the message finished.
He pressed the next one.
"Hi! This is Katie, if you get this I'm just..."
Next one
"This is Levi Van Dijk, please leave your name and..."
"Fuck." He ground out. Somehow the sound of the cabin door opening cut through the fog and he all but bolted from the plane, grabbing nothing but the bag he had at his feet. There was only one person in front of him, and he slid past, muttering an apology as he pressed on Arabella's number again.
Three rings and someone picked up.
The only sound was someone sniffling. His feet froze to the floor.
"Bella?" He breathed.
"Lando..." It was a female voice, but it wasn't right. It wasn't her.
"What happened?" He demanded, his feet moving again. "Where's Arabella?" A sob broke free of her throat. It hit Lando that it was probably Katie. "Kaite?" Another sniffle. "Just put her on the phone." His voice broke, as he stopped moving again. Someone bumped into his shoulder, but he didn't have the breath to care.
"She..." she took a shaking breath. "She passed out at the hotel, we don't..." He barely heard the rest of what she said.
Lando's entire world tilted.
YOU ARE READING
The Teammate
Fanfiction**There will be some edits over the next few months** Arabella Van Dijk is a well-known Dutch snowboarder, especially after taking her place on the podium at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. As a Red Bull sponsored athlete no less. After her...
