SEVEN MINUTES || L. NORRIS

SEVENTEEN

"Chasing Cars" reminds me of nights in your room

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LANDO

I frowned. The sofa was so uncomfortable, but I was too lazy to move myself. Too lazy, too upset, too broken. Today marked one month since Isabelle and I cut things off. I was desperate now to simply call her and ask her if she wanted to come over. I don't understand how I'd managed to cope without her whilst training and racing at the same time. I craved love and affection from Isabelle all the fucking time and this was driving me up the wall because I missed her terribly.

It was five in the afternoon. I landed from Barcelona yesterday and came straight home, thankful I had a few days off from intense training before it started again for Monaco. Monte Carlo, Monaco; the only race on the calendar I was looking forward to, until Isabelle and I split. She was supposed to be coming with me, to spend the weekend supporting me and cheering me on. I didn't have the time off officially, but I'd managed to beg my way out of training for three days, giving us time to spend alone in Isabelle's favourite city. Now, the thought of being in Monaco alone made me feel sick to my stomach.

I had the radio in the kitchen playing quietly to provide my empty apartment with a little bit of background noise. Recently, I'd been switching it on and listening to whatever station would pop up first, never really paying much attention to the songs that were playing. When I had the radio playing, I would relax in the front room with something to drink on the coffee table before me. This time, I had nothing.

I could vaguely make out a female presenter on the radio, but the volume was too low for me to be able to understand her exact words. She soon stopped speaking and adverts played through the speakers. I sighed. I didn't want to be alone right now, I never wanted to be alone. It was so difficult to do anything without having something to look forward to or something to motivate me. The thought of flying to Monaco made me feel sick to my stomach, so I couldn't bring myself to give work a second thought. Once the shitty adverts on the radio had finished, a familiar tune started to play softly through the speakers. However, this one sounded louder than all the others.

Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol was playing on the small, brown radio which I kept by the window in the kitchen, just above the sink. If there was one song that described mine and Isabelle's relationship, it was this exact one. Each note, chord and lyric held such a prominent meaning for the both of us. Whenever we spent an evening at Isabelle's house when we were younger, we would sit in her room at around nine, getting ourselves comfortable on the double bed. She kept a radio on the shelf beside her wardrobe and before we went to bed, we would settle and relax by listening to the radio show on the same station. We were inseparable and spent every single night together. I wanted nothing more than to have Issy fall asleep in my arms, to which she agreed, so it therefore became a thing for us. Listening to the radio whilst her parents watched television downstairs after dinner shortly became a tradition for us.

We would split the nights evenly between our houses in the best way possible. We usually spent Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings at Isabelle's house, meaning we listened to the same radio show three times a week. It was never boring. Nothing could ever become boring if Isabelle was by my side. Until my career became that little bigger and I was spending longer evenings at the track, this was something we would do every night at Issy's. Sometimes, if I'd been to the track and she'd accompanied me, we would arrive home too late to catch the radio show, but we always made sure we were early for the next.