SEVEN MINUTES || L. NORRIS

THIRTY TWO

Is it too late to turn around?

---

LANDO

I glanced at the clock on the cabinet on my side of the bed. 4:56am. I'd slept straight since about eleven, but now, I was wide awake. I realised I wasn't alone, somebody was in the bed beside me and I felt myself melting when I realised that Issy was lying next to me. I moved my head on the pillow and looked at her; her head was resting at the bottom of the pillow, the duvet lying beneath her open lips. I was so happy to have her here, right next to me, after so many long weeks of being apart.

I don't know why I showed up drunk at her front door. It was impulse, an urge I felt in my chest to rush to her apartment after drinking my night away with a full bottle of vodka. After consuming the amount of alcohol I had done, Issy was the only person I wanted to see. I regretted drinking so much, knowing fine well that I would get a serious talking to if anybody at work found out. I just needed Isabelle to hold me and tell me I was going to be alright, which was exactly what she did. I thought she would shut the door in my face and kick me out, but she did the complete opposite and welcomed me with open arms.

She looked so beautiful whilst she slept. Her hair fell over the pillow, her ear resting against her blonde locks as she lay with her head facing me. Her lips were pursed, moving ever so softly as a breath escaped from them every second.

I would do anything to make her mine again. I wanted to be able to call her my girlfriend, without knowing that I was telling myself a lie. I would give up everything, including my career, if it meant I could have Isabelle back in my life, to go back to the old days. I wanted to be as happy as we used to be. She looked so peaceful whilst she slept and I knew that I would never let anything happen to her again. She was too precious and too special, she deserved to have somebody by her side at all times and because I knew that was nothing but the truth, I was so keen to quit motor racing after this season. Isabelle could finally move in with me, she could get herself a job she really did enjoy and we could be happy. I could treat her in the exact way she deserved to be treated and nothing would make me happier. We could start a family in a few years time, I knew how desperate we were to try for a baby. We were only nineteen, but the thought of starting a family in a matter of years was something Issy and I had discussed plenty. Small hybrids of myself and Isabelle running around the front room, yet being cuddly enough at night when they climbed into bed for their bedtime stories, was something the pair of us dreamed of. I'd thought about buying an engagement ring so many times. I just wanted her to know that she would be mine forever, that she would soon be taking my name and replacing hers with it.

I noticed that she was tossing and turning vigorously, mutters escaping from her lips until she tried to hide a yawn. I think she was doing the same thing as I; she believed I was still sleeping and so she was doing her best not to wake me. Maybe I was still suffering from the alcohol which was swimming round my bloodstream and she was just sleeping restlessly, but I was almost certain that she was awake. She rolled over one final time and her arms reached out for my body.

"Issy," I whispered, chewing on my lip as I hoped she was awake and I wouldn't be disturbing her from her rest. "Are you awake?"

"Mhm," a brief mutter left her lips as I felt my own turn upwards into a smile. "Can't sleep."

"Neither can I." I reached for her warm body and pulled her into my grip. Issy rubbed her eyes before looking up into mine, her delicate hands resting against the warmth of my chest.