“As much as I’d love to have that mate - I’m gonna have to skip the bacon.” Lando said from behind Sam who was currently mid way through a proper English fry up.
“No bacon for the athlete.” You said walking up behind Lando and putting your arms around his waist. “Just some lovely overnight oats.” You pinched his sides.
“The grind never stops.” Lando said, rolling his head back so it reseted next to yours which was resting on his shoulder.
“Mate, that’s miserable.” Sam laughed, turning back to flip the bacon.
“Yeah, especially when the bacon looks that good.” Lando groaned.
You tugged him away from the stove. “Come on you.” He followed you to the fridge where you took out the portion of his oats you’d made the night before and handed it to him with a smile and a kiss on the cheek.
“Did you make those for him?” Chris said from the table.
“I did.” He raised an eyebrow at you. “I know, bizarre right. Me preparing food for a man. Especially considering its from a fucking meal plan.”
“I’m actually in shock.” He said back. “You’ve been brainwashed, I’m sure of it.” You stuck your tongue out at him and threw a blueberry at him.
You walked over to join Lando at the kitchen table. “What time are we heading out then guys?”
“Think we’ll leave about 10:30.” Charlotte said from across the room.
“Time for a run?” You asked Lando.
“Yeah, need to get a quick one in really.” He said in between bites. “I’ll have this and then head out.”
“Okay, I’m going to go and start getting ready.”
“Alright.”
“Don’t get lost yeah?”
“i’ll try not to.”
____
When you made it to the rugby stadium you suddenly felt anxious about how many people you and Lando were going to be around. You were walking in with him hand in hand and could feel eyes on the two of you. He seemed oblivious to it, but then again he was so used to it.
It was then that a young ish boy came running over and stopped in front of you both. The rest of the group stopped to look back and wait for you. “Lando!” He shouted in your faces. “I think you’re so cool! Can I get a picture?” He had the biggest grin on his face and Lando let out a small laugh.
“How’s it going man? Course you can.” The boy eagerly grabbed his phone from his pocket and held it out in front of you.
“Do you want me to-?” You turned to Lando, removing yourself from him and pointing to the phone.
“Oh yeah thanks baby. My girlfriend’s gonna take it, that okay buddy?” Lando asked him and again he just nodded and looked at you. Did he just call me his girlfriend?
“You’re pretty.” You couldn’t help yourself but blush at his words.
“You trying to steal my girlfriend buddy?” Lando joked, moving to the side of him and leant down slightly to pose with him. The boys head turned dramatically to Lando and he looked absolutely devastated. Lando just laughed at him. “I’m joking mate, you’re all good.” He smiled again and turned back to you.
“You’re so mean Lando. Okay, smile boys.” You smiled as you took a few pictures on his phone. Lando stood up and you walked over to hand the phone back to him. He thanked you and then ran off. “Well that was adorable.” You laughed as you linked your arm back through Lando and entwined your fingers again so you could walk to join the rest of your group.
“I almost forgot you were famous for a second mate.” Sam joked and you couldn’t help but laugh.
“Yeah, me too mate.” Lando replied giving your hand a squeeze. You carried on walking for a bit, Landos words running through your mind.
“You just called me your girlfriend.” You said quietly still gripping Landos hand. He didn’t say anything at first.
“I did.” You walked a bit further in silence. “That okay?”
You let out a small giggle. “Yes.”
“Good.”
____
You were lying on the beach, your head in Lando’s lap facing out to the ocean. You were completely mesmerised by the waves and the sound of them crashing. This weekend had been perfect so far. Lando had fit in so well with all of your friends, he’d spent time getting to know them, asking them questions, he’d helped out with cooking and even brought out a present for you friend Charlotte.
He was running his hand through your hair as you lay there. You were completely in love with him. You wanted to tell him, but you were afraid. What if he didn’t say it back? What if he wasn’t ready and didn’t feel the same?
“Lan?” You said in a small voice.
“Yeah baby?” He replied, you could feel him adjusting in his seat ever so slightly.
“I just wanted to say that this weekend has been so nice.”
“It has hasn’t it. I’ve not done something like this in ages, its been so nice to get away.”
“Mhmm.” You hummed. You rolled onto your back slightly, so that you could look up to him. He looked down at you, and you couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by your feelings. “It’s just made me so happy to see you with my friends…fitting in so easily.” He smiled at you, and resumed running his hands through your hair. “I’m not sure how it’s happened this quickly.” You started and Lando pulled his eyebrows together ever so slightly. “But I’m completely in love with you.” You almost whispered it and Landos movements froze. Then slowly this small smile came over his face.
“I’m completely in love with you too.” He said back and you let out a breath. He leant down and pressed a kiss to your lips. “Although I did want to be the one to say that first.” He mumbled against you.
“Sorry to steal your thunder.” You said through small giggles against his lips.
“I guess I can forgive you.” He said back, smugly. “Only if you say it again.”
“What?” You started, moving your face so that you rubbed your nose against his. “I love you.”
“Mmmm.” He hummed against you.
“I love you, I love you, I love you.” You whispered over and over again until he cut you off placing a deep kiss to your lips again.
___
“Ellie! I’m so happy for you!” She squealed and you shushed her ever so slightly. She mouthed sorry and turned to face Lando and Sam who were chatting over the barbecue. You were watching them with a smile as on your face.
“Thank you hunny.” You said back quietly. “I’m like fucking terrified though Char.” She turned back to you with a confused look on her face. “I’ve known him like a month. It’s all moved so fast.”
“That doesn’t mean its wrong though Ellie.” She started. “There’s no right or wrong way to be in love or be with someone. It doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else as long as it makes sense to you.”
You smiled at her before turning to look at Lando who was laughing with Sam. “it’s just so weird, like..part of me is like it’s been too easy. Like surely something has to go wrong at some point?”
“You’re over thinking it Ells. Maybe it’s been easy, because it’s just meant to be.” As she spoke Lando looked over to you and smiled. You couldn’t even help the smile that came over your lips. He then mouthed ‘I love you’ and you blushed and dipped your head, feeling overwhelmed.
“Right guys! I think we’re ready here.” Sam announced from the barbecue causing the group to cheer. You all slowly moved to the table outside and you found Lando, you gripped his hand and went on your tiptoes to place a kiss to his cheek.
“Well hello there.” He said back to you quietly, before leaning down and placing another kiss to your lips. You all took your seats and you leant into Lando, hands still interlinked as Sam stood up so that he could make a small toast.
“Right guys, I’ll keep this brief. But we’re obviously here to celebrate this ones birthday. I love you and am so grateful to have met you. Obviously to have met you all through Char is so special, and every time we go away together we have such an amazing time. You’re the most welcoming bunch of people. Lando it’s a pleasure to have you here with us as well.” You looked from Sam to Lando who was smiling widely at Sam. He raised his glass a little at his words before turning to face you and place a small kiss on your cheek. “To Char and to all of you, cheers to a great trip and to many more to come.”
You all cheered and raised your glasses before you begun to dish up the food. When everyone was settled and sorted a brief silence fell as everyone tucked into their food. “Guys, I don’t want this weekend to end.” You said suddenly in between bites. “Don’t want to go back to work.” You chuckled.
“Neither babes, can’t think of anything worse right now.” Bea piped up from across the table. Everyone else hummed in agreement.
“What about you mate, where you next off to?” Chris directed the question toward Lando. You turned slightly to face him.
“No race weekend coming, then weekend after we’re off to Belgium.” He answered.
“Nice, got anything planned for the few weeks off?”
“Um no to be honest.” Lando said pausing slightly. “I was going to head back to Monaco, but I think I’ll hang around London for a bit longer.”
Your movements froze slightly as you took in Landos words before you turned to him. “Really?” You spoke quietly, only for him.
“Yeah really.” He gave you a cheeky grin. You bit your lip trying to fight back your grin. When you fell out of your stare with Lando you noticed that the rest of the group were observing the two of you. You blushed slightly before speaking again.
“What time do we have to be out of here tomorrow?”
“Umm 10, I think. I was thinking we could go for breakfast at that cafe before heading off.”
“Mmm yeah that’s a good idea.”
___
“Did you really mean that you’re going to stay in London for a bit?” You asked Lando as you climbed into bed next to him.
“Mhmm.” He grinned, rolling onto his side so that he was facing you.
“Why?”
He let out a dramatic laugh. “You don’t need to ask that question, you know the answer to that baby.”
“Kinda wanna here you say it though.” You said quietly, fluttering your eyelashes at him.
“For you.” He said leaning toward you slowly. “I’m staying in London for you.” Then placed a kiss to your lips. “Although I was thinking, weekend coming up you got any plans?”
“No, nothing at the moment.”
“Do you want to come out to Monaco for the weekend?”
‘Yeah yeah I’m back at the flat tonight.’ You said down the phone. You were sat in Lando’s car, his hand resting on your thigh as he drove you into work.
‘Amazing, I was thinking fajitas and film?’ Charlotte replied to you down the line.
‘Sounds like bloody perfection.’ You smiled through the phone.
‘I was also calling about this weekend, I wanted to let you know that if you wanted Lando to come, that would be nice babes, you should invite him.’ Your head turned to Lando instinctively.
‘Oh right yeah, I’ll mention it to him and see what he thinks.’ Lando pulled his brows together at your words.
‘Alright babes, I’ll leave it with you. Speak soon, have a good day!’ You said bye back and she hung up and you dropped your phone back into your lap and reached for Landos hand, entwining your fingers.
“What was that?” Lando was tracing small circles on your hand.
“Me and my friends are going down to Cornwall this weekend for my housemates birthday.”
“Oh that sounds nice.” He asked you.
“Yeah yeah, I’m really looking forward to it.” You bit your lip, unsure of how to mention the subject of him potentially coming along. “She mentioned about whether you’d want to come or not.” You turned to look at him slowly. “I said I’d mention it to you.” He turned to look at you for a second.
“This weekend yeah?”
“Yeah that’s right, leave Saturday morning and back Tuesday.”
“No race this weekend.” He said looking directly ahead.
“No.” You said back.
“I could definitely be onboard with some time down by the coast.” He glanced back to you with a small smile on his face. You were looking at him in slight disbelief. “You want me to come?”
You paused for a minute before answering him with a small voice. “I’d like you to come yeah.”
“Okay, well that’s settled then.” He gave your hand a squeeze.
“You don’t need to check that with anyone?” You shook your head, in shock.
“What…no baby, we’re good to go.” He laughed a little and you couldn’t help but smile.
“Okay, I’ll let Charlotte know.”
“Does everyone know about me?” He asked after a few moments of silence.
“Umm, I think a couple of my friends have seen some stuff in the media.” He nodded along as you spoke. “And obviously Charlotte and Bea know. Most of them though to be honest, I don’t think know anything.”
“You gonna mention it to them before I rock up?” He wiggled his eyebrows at you.
“To be honest, probably no. I’ll get Charlotte to mention I’m bringing someone when she gets there, but we can just wait until we arrive to deal with all that.”
“Nothing like a small heart attack for your friends that’s for sure.”
“This is gonna be weird.” You said quietly.
“Why? Nervous for me to meet them?”
“Well it’s just they’ve never actually seen me with anyone like that.” You started. “Most of my friends never met my ex and I’ve been single for such a long time.”
“You’re more nervous than I am.”
You scoffed, and shook your head, puffing some air out of your mouth. You didn’t actually form any words, you just kept making different noises in protest.
“Oh my god, you actually are more nervous than I am.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” You said, your voice slightly higher than you intended.
“They’re your friends!” He exclaimed.
“Yeah I know that Lando, doesn’t mean I can’t still be nervous.”
___
“Right you sure that you’ve got everything.” You asked him one more time, you were in the underground car park of his building.
“For the eighth time, yes.” He said flatly.
“I feel like that was unnecessary.” You countered, eyes squinting at him.
“Right, lets go then baby.” You climbed into the passenger seat of Lando’s car and prepared for the long journey down to Cornwall from London.
About two hours into the journey after battling with Lando for music choices nearly the entire way the conversation turned to what your friends were like.
“I’ve known most of them since primary school.” You started. “When I moved to the village I met all of them then.”
“That’s mad that you’ve grown up with them.”
“Yeah, like don’t get me wrong I don’t speak to some of them that often, but then when we all get together it’s like nothing has changed.”
“Yeah I get that. With the job a lot of my friendships have become that.”
“Do you find it hard?”
“No, because it’s like the same as you. When you do see them, nothings changed.”
“Yeah I guess.”
“How many are we going to be?”
“Think there is 15 of us in total. A couple of people are bringing their partners along as well, so slightly more than usual.”
“Go on then, whats everyone like.”
“Everyones lovely..a couple of the boys are a little crazy when they’ve had a drink, but they’re great fun. Everyones good vibes, a good laugh. Sometimes they can take things a little too far, but they’re all mostly harmless.”
“Do you think they’ll give me a grilling?”
“Yes.” You said immediately and Landos head flew to look at you.
“A couple of them are quite protective of me, and they’re gonna give you a grilling for sure. I mean about you and me and I’m sure about your career. So just be prepared for that.”
“Excellent.”
“I’ll tell them to keep it chill with the questions about F1 and stuff as much a possible, but they’ll deffo want to chat to you a bit about it.”
“Yeah course, I’d expect that..and I don’t mind just so you know. So don’t hammer them to much and tell them not to mention it, if anything that would make things weirder.”
You laughed.
__
You pressed the doorbell and then just stood there panicking. You turned to Lando who was grinning like an excited child.
The door opened to reveal Sam, Charlottes boyfriend. He smiled at you and pulled you into a hug. “You made it!” He said after pulling away. “How was the drive?”
“Yeah yeah, we made pretty good time to be honest.” You smiled back at him before turning your body slightly back towards Lando. “Sam, this is Lando.” Lando stepped up and reached out his hand to shake Sam’s.
“Good to meet you mate, I’m Sam.” Sam said shaking his hand back.
“It’s great to meet you too, Lando.” He said with a smile. You could feel your heart racing. This is so weird.
“Right come on in you two, your the last to arrive!” Sam ushered you both in with your bags and then Charlotte came darting round the corner and ran into you pulling you into a massive hug.
“Oh my god you’re here!” She squealed into your hair.
“Aw! So glad to be here babes.”
She pulled away from you and looked behind you to Lando. You smiled at her. “Charlotte, this is Lando, Lando this is Charlotte.”
Lando stepped towards her and reached out to give her a hug. “It’s really nice to meet you, I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Likewise Lando, it’s really nice to meet you.” They both pulled away. “Right, everyone is here and a couple of them have started to ask questions about who you’ve got coming with you. I’ve tried to keep it vague, but a couple of them have seen some stuff - so just a prewarning.” You smiled at her.
“Honestly it’s fine, It’s gonna be weird for like 10 seconds and then it’s gonna be fine.” You laughed. Lando grabbed your hand.
“Right come on then.” You and Lando walked hand in hand behind Charlotte where she led you out to the air bnb’s garden. When you stepped into view of everyone, the different reactions on people faces was kind of funny to be honest.
The conversation between everyone stopped as they smiled upon noticing you. That face quickly changed when their eyes left you and scanned over to Lando. No-one said anything for a few seconds and you couldn’t help but laugh. “What no hug guys?” At that everyone snapped out of their trance and stood up to come over to you.
After introductions were over and everyone had said hello to Lando and you’d got a coffee and sat down outside people could finally start interrogating you. You were sat on one of the sofas with your legs draped over Lando’s lap.
“So I have to say, when I saw you appear on TV as Lando Norris’ friend…I was like what the fuck.” One of your mates said.
You and Lando both laughed. “Oh honestly don’t. We had no idea they were going to do that.”
“Wait shit really?” Another friend spoke up.
“No, genuinely serious. We actually ended up getting a formal apology from Sky.” Lando said rubbing your thigh slightly.
“You’re joking?” A couple of people quipped back.
“No for real!” You laughed. “They said something like we’re so sorry for any distress that we have brought to either yourself or Ellie, it was not out intention.” The group laughed. “Yeah it felt pretty good can’t lie.”
“If you don’t mind me asking…” Your friend Jamie spoke up. “How did you guys meet?”
Lando looked at you and gave you a small smirk, not breaking eye contact with you he answered your friend. “I picked her up from the side of the road.”
There was a pause as everyone took in his words. You couldn’t help the small smile that came over your face, and you shook your head at him slightly. “The funniest thing is, is that’s 100% true.”
“Wait what do you mean?” Jamie spoke back through small laughter.
“I was driving on the way to Zak’s house for a barbecue and I saw her stood at some traffic lights.” Lando was tracing small circles on the skin of your legs, watching you. You could feel yourself blushing under his gaze. “Just felt like I had to know her, so I asked her to come for a drive and took her to the barbecue.”
A couple of the girls aww’d in the group and you dropped your head into your hand. “Please don’t aww like that.” You said muffled by your hand. You could hear Lando laugh slightly.
“Did you hear that baby, they think we’re cute.” You shoved your foot against him gently and the group laughed.
“I’m thoroughly enjoying this I’m not going to lie.” Bea said, grinning from ear to ear. You narrowed your eyes her and shook your head.
“I’m glad that my uncomfortableness is amusing to you Bea.”
____
“I really like Sam.” Lando said from in bed behind you. You were sat at the dressing table in your room putting on some moisturiser and you turned your gaze to look at him in the mirror.
“Oh yeah?” You said with a small smile on your face.
“Yeah, he’s a laugh.” Lando was on his phone.
“Yeah he’s great.” You were still faffing away in front of the mirror. “I remember when Charlotte introduced him to us. I remember thinking at the time, that that was her done, she was smitten.”
There was a pause from Lando. “Do you think any of your friends thought that about you today?” You paused your movements and looked at him again the mirror. He was watching you now. You let a small smile come over your lips.
“Well I don’t know.” You said quietly, standing up from your seat and turning to face him. You watched him for a moment, his head was tilted to the side. “That’s all very dependent on how well my friends can read me ya know?” You began to walk over to him slowly. His eyes were still on you, looking up at you through his eyelashes. “I like to think that I’m all mysterious and a closed book.” You reached the edge of the bed and climbed up so that you were straddling Lando. His hands went round to rest on your waist just above your bum. “But the truth is most of them know me better than I know myself.” You leaned forward slightly and grind your hips down onto Lando causing him to let out a breath and dig his fingers into you. You grazed your lips over his and Lando leant into your touch. “So I’d guess they’d know that I’m pretty fucking smitten yeah.”
Lando closed the distance between you too and placed a hungry kiss to your lips. Your hands ran up from his chest to his hair. He broke the kiss for a second “I’m fucking obsessed with you.”
“What are you doing tomorrow night?” Lando asked from beside you. You were both sat in the back of a car on the way home from Silverstone and you were nearly at your flat. You turned to face him.
“I have a spin class after work and then nothing.”
“Want to come over for dinner?” He asked you, reaching for your hand. “After your spin class.”
“Yeah I’d like that.” You smiled.
“I can pick you up from the gym.”
“No no, you can’t be picking me up every time I come to see you.” You shook your head at him and laughed a little. “
“Will you stay over?”
“Do you want me to stay over?” You teased him a bit.
“What kind of a question is that.” He laughed. “Obviously.” He squeezed your hand.
You laughed at him. “Then yeah, I’ll stay over.”
The car came to a stop and the driver turned around to face you both. “We’re here guys.”
“Thanks mate.” Lando thanked the driver quickly. “What time shall I expect you tomorrow?”
“Umm, spin is at 6pm so maybe like 7:30? Can I shower at yours?”
“Yeah course.”
“Okay perfect.” You smiled at him. “This weekend was..I had a really great time with you.”
“I had a really great time with you too. I don’t like that I don’t get to wake up with you tomorrow.”
You smiled at him. “But you do get to wake up with me on Tuesday.” You gave him a little nose scrunch and he smiled back.
“Not sure I’ll survive.” You prodded him in response.
“Right, I need to get inside and get to bed. Back to reality.”
“Let me help you with your stuff.”
“That’s oka-“
“I’m helping you with your stuff.” You just laughed and didn’t argue with him. Lando helped you carry your bags to your door and you gave him a kiss goodbye and told him to let you know when he’s home.
When you walked up the stairs and into your flat you two flatmates came running towards you and pulled you into the biggest hug. You spent an hour talking with them about the amazing weekend you’d had and laughing about the fact that you’d been on literal live television. Lando had texted you to let you know that he was home too and you’d showered, unpacked and climbed into bed with a tea.
Ellie: I don’t want to go to work tomorrow.
Ellie: Sunday scaries are settling in now.
Lan🤍 : You so got this.
Lan🤍 : Just think, only 8 hours and then you get to have dinner with me.
Lan🤍 : I’ve already started to plan what we’re going to eat.
Lan🤍 : You’re gonna be blown away.
Ellie: Urgh don’t
Ellie: I already can’t wait
Ellie: Let me know if you need me to pick you anything up on the way
Lan🤍 : nope, just your pretty self
Ellie: Lan
Ellie: I’m blushing
Lan🤍 : I’m glad
Ellie: I should go to sleep now
Lan🤍 : Night baby
Ellie: Night you
____
It was about 11am when Lando called you. You stood up and excused yourself to take the call outside. When you answered the phone you could hear Lando shouting at someone on the other end of the line.
‘Lando?’ You asked him stressed.
‘Baby, hi.’ He sounded stressed and your heart dropped instantly. ‘Look baby, somethings happened.’
‘Christ, what?’ You asked him, rubbing one of your hands over your face.
‘Someone took photos last night of us outside your flat.’ You could feel your heart drop as he said the words. ‘They’ve been published on the Daily Mail with an article. Look we’re working on getting them taken down.’
‘Does it give out my address or anything?’
‘No christ no, you can’t see where it is either from the pictures it’s so dark.’
‘Oh thank god.’ You were pacing about outside.
‘Look the thing is Ell, theres one of us kissing just before I left.’
‘Oh for fuck sake.’
‘I know, I’m so sorry baby. We’re trying to get the article taken down, but the reality is-‘
‘The reality is, is that the internet lives forever and the pictures are out there now.’
Lando paused at your words for a second before speaking again. ‘Yeah. I’m so sorry baby.’
‘Please stop apologising Lando, it’s not your fault. We’ll deal with it, but please just stop apologising.’
‘I’ll update you when I know more and I’ll see you later.’
‘Yeah, just text me if you hear anything. I’ll see you tonight.’
‘Okay, bye Ell.’
‘Bye Lan.’
___
When you left the office for the day you were fucking exhausted. You’d been fighting questions about you and Lando for most of the day. You’d tried to smile and just bat them off, but at a certain point you were just sick of it. You kept reminding yourself that at work you’d only have to deal with it for a couple of days and then everyone would eventually grow bored.
You were able to zone out in your spin class and just forget about everything else. You were looking forward to seeing Lando again and just wanted to forget about everything else.
When you eventually made it to his apartment building you text him to let him know you were outside and he buzzed you in.
When you made it up there you nearly fell into Lando’s arms. “Urgh I’m so gross I’m sorry.”
“Like I care.” He scoffed pulling you inside along with your suitcase.
“Do you mind if I shower before we eat?”
“Course not. Lets put your stuff in the bedroom.” He grabbed your suitcase and you followed him into his room. He pointed you in the direction of the shower and left you to it.
When you eventually had finished faffing about you went to join Lando in the kitchen. He was hovering over the stove stirring away at a pan. You hovered in the doorway. “Thanks for leaving these out for me.” You spoke and he looked up to you. When he saw you stood there in one of his jumpers and big cozy socks a smile came over his face.
“Anytime.” You waltzed over to him to see what he was getting up to. You noticed the table set with a couple of candles lit, your heart swelled at the sight.
“Mmm, Lando this looks amazing.” You beamed resting your head on Landos shoulder. His arm came around your back and pulled you into him.
“I fucking hope it tastes as good as it looks.” You burst out laughing at him.
“I bet it will.” You leaned up and placed a kiss on his cheek.
“Okay, we’re good to go I reckon.” He dished up and followed him to the table. You couldn’t wait to eat and dug in basically as soon as you sat down. “Wait you’re not gonna say grace with me?” You looked up at him with a mouth full of pasta and wide eyes. He kept a straight face as you continued to stare at him. You were trying to establish if he was being serious or not. “I wish I had a photo of what you looked like right now.” He said before letting out a laugh. Your face dropped and you picked up a piece of garlic bread and threw it at him.
“You’re such a dick.” You deadpanned with a straight face, before returning to your pasta. Lando continued to laugh.
“How was the rest of your day after our phone call?” He asked before taking a bit of the food himself.
“Yeah it was okay, a couple of people mentioned it to me.” You dropped your fork and looked at him. “Which I was expecting, I just had to remind myself that they’ll be bored of it in a couple of days. Lando this is amazing by the way.”
“People at work will lose interest for sure.”
“What did Daily Mail say about the article?”
“Yeah kind of shit to be honest, they’re not taking it down.”
“They’re not?” You were a little in disbelief.
“No, they say that they’ve done nothing wrong.” You raised your eyebrows at his words.
“Fucking rude.” You mumbled.
“Although we did get an email apology from Sky which I can show you later.” You felt a little smile take over your lips. “They won’t make a public apology, but have promised that you name won’t be mentioned on any broadcasting again until we okay it.”
“Well that’s something I guess.”
“I’m still so sorry about that.”
“I told you to stop apologising you loser.”
There was a brief pause. “Did you just call me a loser.”
“Yes.”
“What are you eight?”
“You fancy eight year olds?” You said, face full of fake judgement.
“Wait wha-“ You continued to stare at him. “How have you managed to do that?”
You looked smug, although you were trying to hide it. “Manage to do what?”
“Managed to turn that back to me.”
“Because I’m fucking incredible.” You beamed at him.
“That you are.”
___
“How long have you been going to therapy?” He asked you, playing with your fingers as neither of you really paid attention to the movie you’d put on.
“Just over a year.” You said, you were tracing patters on the skin of his arm.
“Is that when you first started to experience it..the anxiety I mean?”
“God no.” You let out a small laugh - although not really sure why you did. “I’ve been dealing with my mental health since I was about 14.”
“14?” Lando sounded sad hearing you say that. “What made you reach out to someone? To help with it?”
“Um, honestly I wasn’t given a choice.” Lando adjusted behind you slightly. “I did something stupid and I was basically told that it was therapy or a mental health facility.” You said it and when you finished you couldn’t help but let out a small laugh again. Lando didn’t say anything, his grip on your hand getting over so slightly tighter.
“Why do you do that?” He asked quietly - voice just above a whisper.
“Do what?” You were feeling embarrassed.
“Make a joke? About something that’s serious about you?”
“Because...it’s how I deal with it.” You shrugged. “If I don’t make light of it - I will spiral and go into a pit of depression. And I have things to do.”
There was a pause again. “When you say you did something stupid?” He asked again quietly. You closed your eyes, dreading this question.
You sat up and turned to face Lando. His face was serious, he looked sad and desperate. It was like he already knew what you were going to tell him, but just needed to hear you say it.
“I was in a really dark place - things in my head were..a mess.” You closed your eyes as you tried to think about how you would word this. Lando sat up himself and reached out to grab you hands. “I didn’t feel any hope or any good for the future and I just honestly thought that there was no point.” You could feel a tear escape your eye. “When I woke up in hospital and I saw my parents there - I regretted it.”
Lando had let a few tears escape his eyes. “I don’t feel that way anymore.” You whispered. Lando didn’t say anything and you grew uncomfortable under his gaze. You dropped your head down and looked at your hands. “Sorry if that was a bit much.” You shook your head slightly as you spoke.
“Don’t apologise.” He said quickly, reaching out to your face. “Don’t apologise for sharing that with me. I’m so glad that you did.” You looked to him again. “I want you to keep telling me about these things.” He was leaning into you tracing circles on your skin. “I want you to keep talking to me about this stuff, always.”
You nodded in response.
___
“Can I drop you into work today?” Lando asked from beside you. You had both only just woken up and you were lying in bed facing eachother.
“You really think that’s a good idea?” You asked him eyebrows slightly raised.
“I actually just don’t care.” He said simply. You looked at him confused. “I want to drop you into work and I don’t really care if anyone sees.” You heart swelled slightly at his statement and all you could do was lean in and place a gentle kiss to his lips.
You pulled away slightly and mumbled against his lips. “How can I say no to that.”
You were stood watching in the McLaren garage. It was the first time that you were watching Lando race in person and it was safe to say that the sport was suddenly less enjoyable now that you were personally invested in one of the drivers. There had been a near miss at the start of the race between Max and Lando and you could’ve sworn that you nearly threw up. You’d spent the rest of the time sat staring at your hands taking small glances at the screen unable to watch.
You happened to be watching the screens when you noticed yourself appear in front of you. You froze for a moment, scared to flinch. Your eyes scanned down to see your fucking name there too. There it was - ‘Ellie Love’ and the cherry on the cake ‘friend of Lando Norris’. You couldn’t believe it. You dropped your head in disbelief.
“Are you okay?” You heard Charlotte, Lando’s press officer from beside you. You pulled your head up to her, eyes glancing to the screen to see if you were still there.
“How’d they get my name?” You whispered.
“I don’t know honey.” She sympathised with soft eyes. “We’ll have a sit down later and discuss what we do.”
You nodded in response.
___
The moment that Lando crossed the line in first you couldn’t have been happier. The energy in the garage was electric. You were being hugged by all of Lando’s mechanics and Zak himself. You tried to avoid the cameras as much as possible. You’d gone with them to watch the podium and you couldn’t help but feel your heart swell as you watched Lando take the 1st place podium. He was smiling ear to ear, the team were clapping and cheering, the moment was perfect.
You could feel small tears forming in your eyes as he spotted you. It felt like everything else froze in that second, you were looking at him with pure adoration. His face changed from that massive grin into something else. His whole face softened as he looked at you. You couldn’t help but shake your head in disbelief at him. ‘Number one’ you mouthed to him and his smile returned.
When the podium celebrations were done you went to Lando’s driver room to wait. You hadn’t wanted to greet him anywhere that might’ve been visible to cameras, not after what had happened today.
You were sat messaging your parents. You hadn’t actually told them about you and Lando so that was something else you would need to deal with.
Mum 💛: it was a bit surreal seeing you on the TV.
Ellie: I know, I was going to tell you
Ellie: its just so early on, I didn’t really see the point
Mum 💛: did you know you were being filmed?
Ellie: no
Ellie: I mean yes - I’ve been filmed all weekend
Ellie: I didn’t know that I was going to be appearing on TV though.
Ellie: I’m actually really upset
Ellie: it’s a total invasion of privacy
Mum 💛: are you going to speak to him about it
Ellie: his press officer said we need to speak about it this evening
Ellie: so we’ll see what happens
Ellie: I’ll call you tonight?
Mum 💛: okay darling, love you x
Ellie: love you x
It was at this moment that you heard the door open and Lando appeared before you. He looked exhausted, but still had the brightest smiled on his face. He placed the trophy down on a side table and leaned against the wall looking at you. “Hey you.”
“Hey you.” You replied with a small smile. “I’m really proud of you.” He let out a small laugh and moved over to you taking a seat down beside you. “Like heart feels like it’s going to come out of my chest proud of you.”
He looked at you before leaning forward and placing a soft kiss to your lips. You placed your hands on his chest and when you both pulled away you rested your forehead on his. “When I saw you down there.” He stopped briefly. “I don’t actually know how to describe how I felt.” Your heart swelled even more. You could feel your face flushing. “There’s a very real chance that I’m already falling in love with you Ellie.”
You didn’t even know what to say, you moved your head away from his and just stared at him, eyes slightly in shock.
“You’re wha-“ Your train of thought was interrupted when Charlotte burst into the room.
“Right are you guys read-“ You both turned to look at her in the doorway. “Oh I’m sorry, I should’ve have knocked.” She said, backing away slightly. “Do you need a minute?”
“No no it’s all good.” Lando placed a hand on your thigh and turned to face you again. “She filled me on today.” He said.
“Right, perfect! Do you mind both coming to the briefing room.” She smiled gesturing for you to follow. Lando stood up and grabbed your hand, you got up and you walked in silence following along behind Charlotte.
When you made it into the room you took a seat amongst the others that worked in PR, Oscar and Zak. Lando pulled you in your chair as close to him as possible, not once letting go of you. Like he was afraid that you would run if he did.
“Okay so obviously a couple things to address. Firstly Lando, Oscar. Amazing job a 1-2 finish is the best outcome we could have hoped for.” You pinched Lando’s arm that was draped across you, causing him to give you a quick smile. “The main thing we want to address right now though is obviously Ellie’s name being mentioned on TV.” Your eyes darted to Charlotte who was sat across from you. “We don’t know how they got your name, or why they decided to plaster it on live television.”
“Are we speaking with Sky to find out who okay’d that?” Lando spoke up. His usual jokey tone, gone in an instant.
“Yes we’re working on that at the moment. Lando you’ve already been asked about it in post race interviews.”
“Wait what?” You said, not really realising you were saying it before it came out.
“ESPN asked me about my new friend hanging around the garage this weekend.”
“You’re joking? What did you say?” You were in disbelief looking at him.
“I didn’t say anything for a second. Then I asked him if he had anymore questions about the race, when he said ‘no’, I walked away.”
“Okay so the problem is that you can’t just ignore it every time that it comes up, because it’s going to get asked again and again now.”
“So what do we do?”
“Well first question is, are you two still wanting to keep things private for now? It’s obviously going to be more difficult now that they have your name.”
You didn’t say anything, Lando was looking at you. You didn’t know what to say. “It’s up to you.”
“The thing is, that we can’t really anymore can we?” You asked him quietly. “Now that they have my name, they know anyway.” He nodded at you slightly. “So what’s the point?”
“So we can still keep it private, but we answer their questions and give them the bare minimum. If we give them nothing the more they pry.” Charlotte said firmly. “We can discuss that more at the briefing on Wednesday. I just wanted to see what angle I needed to take with Sky before that.”
“Oh we go full ham at them, I want an apology.” Lando said squeezing your hand.
“Understood.”
“Does this change anything for us?” Lando asked.
“Not really, now that they know about Ellie although nothing confirmed on who you are to eachother. You have a bit more freedom with the way that you act. We’ll have to see how this effects you in your life before any actions are taken in that respect.” She addressed you in the last bit.
“Wait what do you mean by that?” You asked squinting your eyes ever so slightly.
“Well Ellie, now they have your name and know…very little about you there is a chance that journalists and reporters could show up in your life.” You felt Landos grip on you tighten slightly. “We don’t know that yet of course, they might now, but given how interested they are in Lando and how in the spotlight he is, I’d say theres a strong chance.”
Your body went a little stiff. Lando noticed and turned to look at you, but you didn’t meet his gaze. You knew that if you did right now your reaction would freak him out.
“Okay.” You said confidently. “I guess we just deal with anything that happens.”
___
When you eventually made it back to your hotel room that night you dropped your bag onto the floor and sunk onto your bed. You and Lando hadn’t spoken a word on the journey to the hotel from when you left the track.
The weight of everything and the conversation that you and Lando had just had moments before still hanging over the two of you.
“How are you feeling?” Lando said from behind you. You were staring at your hands.
“Overwhelmed.” You replied honestly, still looking down and not to him. “The last couple of hours..it’s been a lot.”
“I know.” He sighed. “Listen Ellie about what I said before..I don’t want that to-“
“Lando stop.” You said with a small exhale. You looked up to him. “Theres a very real chance that I’m already falling in love with you too.” Landos whole face changed in that moment. Like every worried thought he’d had, every outcome he’d stressed about had suddenly just disappeared. His shoulders relaxed and he marched over to you and grabbed your face pulling you up and into a kiss. Your grabbed a hold of his shirt and and ran your hands up his chest and up to wrap your arms around his neck pulling him as close to you as you could.
The kiss was hungry and messy, his hands leaving your face and find their way to your body, grabbing at your skin. He pulled away breathless to look at you. “You’ve got some fucking hold on me.” You shoved him in the chest gently.
“And you…” You poked him in the chest. “Need to shower.” You reached up and pulled at one of his curls. “You stink of sweat and champagne.”
“That my girl, is the sweet smell of success.” He teased, pinching at your sides before leaning in again and placing a kiss to your lips.
He pulled away from you and headed to your bathroom. “Um Lando, I need to call my parents.” You started and he spun to face you. “They were watching the race today.” His eyebrows pulled together at your statement. “I hadn’t exactly told them..about this.”
His eyes widened, you weren’t sure if it was in shock or disappointment. “That must’ve been a bit of a surprise for them then.” Fuck. He was disappointed.
“I was just waiting to see what this was before I did.” You were fiddling with your fingers again. “And then it just seemed like such a weird thing to tell them over text or the phone-“
“Ellie. It’s okay, you don’t have to explain it to me.” He started, giving you a small smil. “I’ll go shower in my room and then just call me when you’re done?”
“I will.” You smiled and he nodded, stepping away and heading out the door.
You texted your mum asking you if now was a good time to call. A few seconds later her call came through.
‘Hi Darling.’ Sounded through the phone and you smiled hearing your mum’s voice. You suddenly felt really emotional and could feel tears welling up in your eyes.
‘Hi mumma.’ You said, you tried to compose your voice so she wouldn’t hear how upset you were, but the moment you spoke you know you’d failed miserably.
‘Darling are you okay?’ She was concerned.
‘i’m okay mumma, I’m just feeling a little overwhelmed.’ You said back, sniffling slightly.
‘What happened?’
‘Lando and I sat down with the PR team after the race to talk about stuff.’
‘And what did you decide?’
‘We decided that we’re not going to hide it, but we’re still going to keep it as private as possible.’
‘Do you know how they got your name?’ She asked.
‘Not a clue, the guys at McLaren are speaking to SKY about why they felt it was okay to put my name on television as well. Lando’s demanded that he wants a formal apology from them.’
‘That’s good of him.’ There was a little pause from her. ‘You going to tell me how you two met?’
You could feel the smile come over your lips. ‘We met when he drove past me in London.’ You could hear her laugh through the phone. ‘he honked his horn at me after I held up four fingers at him, asked me if I wanted to go for a drive…couldn’t really turn that offer down.’
‘And are you dating?’ You bit your lip at her question.
‘Yes, we are.’ You could practically feel her smile through the phone.
‘How long for?’
‘Honestly not long mumma, that’s part of the reason why I didn’t say anything to you and Dad yet.’
‘Don’t worry about that darling, it was just hilarious seeing you appear on TV. Your dad was convinced that I was hallucinating at first..that was until your name came up.’
You laughed at her. ‘It was weird for sure, and totally out of order.’
‘Well yes, that too.’ She paused again. ‘We’d like to meet him, when you’re both ready of course.’
‘Of course mumma, I’d like that too.’ She hummed in response. ‘Look mumma, I should go, but I’ll call you tomorrow.’
‘Of course, I’ll speak to you tomorrow. Love you.’
‘Love you too mumma.’ She blew you a kiss through the phone and you hung up the call.
You decided that you needed to shower off the day as well. You texted Lando to let him know that you were just showering, but to let himself in whenever he was ready.
____
When you came out of the bathroom you found Lando already in your bed with the Tv on. You paused in the doorway in your towel to just observe him. He hadn’t noticed you enter the room and you were watching as he was flicking through channels on the TV.
“You look so tiny.” You said softly. Lando jumped at your voice.
“You scared me.” He spoke holding a hand to his chest. You laughed as you walked over to your suitcase.
“Sorry.” You said quietly. “Didn’t mean to.” You picked up your pyjamas from your suit case and dropped your towel to the floor and it pooled around your feet. You began to move your pyjama bottoms so that you could step into them. You pulled them up your legs and then reached for the top to put it on as well.
“God you’re so beautiful.” You heard Landos voice from behind you. You felt yourself blush at his words.
“No I’m not.” You said gently.
“Yes you fucking are.” He said again. You finished pulling the top on and turned and made your way to Lando in bed. Climbing in you moved so that you were up against him. His arm came around you and pulled you into his side.
You rested your head against his chest and joined your fingers together. “Do you know the first thing that I thought when I saw myself on the screen today.” Lando didn’t say anything, only hummed in response. “Before anything else, before being mad, before thinking about anything else. The first thing I thought about was the fact that I had a double chin and that my cheeks looked fat.” You laughed as you said it out loud. You could feel Lando stiffen underneath you, you waited for him to say something. When he didn’t you felt yourself grow awkward and needed to fill the silence. “When I say it out loud, it sounds so dumb.” You tried to lighten the mood, suddenly feeling like you’d said too much.
“Don’t say that, it doesn’t sound stupid.” He said quietly. “Ellie, I need you to listen to me when I say this.” You didn’t move and neither did he. “And I know, that me saying this isn’t going to change any of those thoughts that you have about yourself, but you are so beautiful.” He said quietly. You could feel tears in your eyes. “You’re so beautiful.” He said again, tracing circles on the skin of your arm. You couldn’t help but grip him tighter as you closed your eyes causing a few tears to escape.
“I’ve never been called beautiful before.” You almost whispered. He was silent again for a moment.
“That’s one of the greatest tragedies I’ve ever heard.”
Quali day had arrived and you were in the garage minding your own business whilst Lando was discussing strategy with his engineers. You were sat at the side on a worktop with a headset on, listening to conversation.
Your eyes started to travel around you and you glanced outside the garage to the pit lane where you spotted the same camera that had been filming you yesterday. You slightly froze in place when you saw it. You felt like you’d been frozen in place, you were almost scared to move as the camera was unwavering - just there, filming you, doing absolutely nothing.
You were suddenly pulled from your daydream when you felt a hand on your thigh. Your head snapped in front of you to see Lando stood there smiling. “What you staring at?” He teased giving your thigh a little pinch. His eyebrows pulled together in concern and his smile dropped when he noticed that you weren’t smiling back. You nodded your head to outside where the camera was and his gaze followed. He stopped for a few moments as he watched the camera, before turning his head back to you. His body moved to the side of you slightly to block you as much as he could from the view of the camera. “It’s the crew for Drive to Survive.” He said simply.
“Yeah, Alex said yesterday.” You said quietly. “I don’t mind, I just don’t want this to be spoiled.” Lando watched you carefully. “I’m enjoying getting to know you…” You hesitated slightly “I like you.” You could feel your cheeks flush under Lando’s gaze. “But like I said to you at the start, I like being invisible.”
He reached for your hand carefully and slowly, waiting to see if you’d pull away, but you didn’t. “I have no interest in making you do anything you’re not comfortable with. I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.” He spoke gently, he opened his mouth like he was about to speak again when you were interrupted.
“Lando!” His engineer yelled from across the garage. Lando sighed and gave your hand a squeeze. “Time to go buddy.”
“I wanna talk about this more.” He said again, before leaning in and placing a kiss to your lips. “Can we talk about this tonight?”
“Yes course.” You smiled. “Get out there and kick ass.” You teased. He laughed before turning away and heading to the car.
___
“It just makes me feel..on edge?” You sort of questioned what you were saying when you said it out loud. You rolled onto you front so that you could see Lando more clearly. He was sat on the floor in front of you. “I already deal with anxiety.” You said shyly. “And when I see a camera, I just feel even more aware of myself.”
Lando didn’t say anything from a moment. “You didn’t tell me you had anxiety?” He seemed sort of sad at the thought.
“I was kind of waiting I guess. I don’t really tend to tell people until I’m sure of them.” You couldn’t meet his gaze, you stared at your hands, picking your fingers.
“Does that mean you’re sure of me then?”
“i’m pretty sure of you yeah.” You said quietly, this time looking up at him through your eyelashes. He was already looking at you, eyes soft.
“Pretty sure huh?” He teased, a playful glint in his eye. You groaned slightly and rolled onto your back again covering your face with your hands.
You felt the mattress dip beside you and the warmth of Lando’s body next to yours. You could feel his breath next to your face as he whispered to you. “I’m pretty sure on you too fyi.”
You made a gap in your hands so you could peek out and look at him, he had that same damn cheeky smile on his face. “Anyway moving on” you hurried, moving your hands away from your face and placing them on your tummy. “I want to feel comfortable enough to be the way I am around you when we’re alone, but I just can’t.” Lando continued watching you and you spoke - you were thinking too much as you tried to formulate your thoughts into words. “Like I want to say that it doesn’t matter and that I’m not bothered, but I am.”
“There’s things that we can do.” Lando said gently, his hand was absentmindedly tracing your arm. “First we make sure that your socials are all on private.”
“Check.” You said, making a little tick in the air with your hands.
“Next we don’t do pda, we don’t do anything coupley, anything along those lines when there are cameras around.”
“But today with the-“
“The drive to survive guys are cool - anything that we don’t want in, they won’t put it in.” He assured you.
“Okay.”
“Lastly we don’t go anyway too public, there are places we can go out to dinner and for drinks and on dates that don’t involve people knowing.”
“I fully thought we’d be dating in your flat for the foreseeable I can’t lie.”
“No no, I fully plan on taking you out on some pretty swanky dates.”
“Swanky huh?” You wiggled your eyebrows at him. “Don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere swanky before.”
“Yeah, that’s gonna change.”Lando said seriously before leaning down and pressing another kiss to your lips. “I haven’t actually had the chance to take you on a proper date yet.”
“Definitely want to see what a proper date with Lando Norris looks like.”
“You will.” He said with that classic smirk on his lips. You couldn’t help but bite your lip as you glanced down to his own. His lips parted ever so slightly as he looked down at you. You reached up and brushed the side of his face with your hand. He leaned into it and touched your hand with his.
His eyes kept searching yours and then he was leaning down again and kissing you. It was hungrier this time, firmer and needy. His hand came to your waist, grabbing it in his hands lifting up you top to feel your skin. Your hands were in his hair, running your fingers through his curls, playing with them at the base of his neck. You felt as his hand came higher until it was at the bottom of your bra, you could feel his fingers playing with the fabric. He moved away from your for a moment. “Is this okay?” He said breathily.
“Mhmm.” You nodded, biting your lips. Feeling slightly self conscious all of a sudden. A small smile played on his lips as he returned to yours. His hand ran along the top of your bra sending shivers through your body. His fingers ran over your nipple and you let out a small moan into his mouth at the touch. Lando bit down on your lip and his hand grabbed your chest firmly at your reaction and you grabbed his back digging in your nails to his skin. You trailed your hands along his back and down to his waist where you felt his belt. Lando’s movements froze slightly at your actions. He moved his head back from yours.
“Are you sure?” He asked you hesitantly.
“Yes.”
___
When you opened your eyes the next morning you felt the weight of Landos arm draped over your body, you could feel him against your back, holding you close to him. You sunk into him and placed a kiss to the hand that was by your face causing Lando to stir behind you. You felt as he stretched his body before returning to holding you in his arms.
“Good morning.” He said sleepily from behind you.
“Morning.” You replied before rolling around so that you were facing him. “You’re so pretty.” You whispered.
His eyes opened at your words. “Rich coming from you.”
“Race day baby, you ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“I’m gonna shower.” You said moving to get up. Lando..not so on board with that idea.
“No you’re not.” He said pulling you back down to bed.
“Lando, we’ve already overslept slightly and I need to get ready.”
“Just come like this.”
“Fat fucking chance.” You were pulling away from him fighting his hands, but he was strong. “Let go you weirdo.” You broke free and rolled away from him and out of bed before you could change your mind.
____
Lando had qualified on pole at his home race. It was the confidence boost he needed after a complete rollercoaster of a season. Now he had to just drive, remain focused and he could bring it home.
Lando was in the garage with his team strategising ahead of the race. You were currently sat in McLaren hospitality relaxing when you were interrupted by a journalist appearing in front of you.
“Are you Lando Norris’ girlfriend?” He said abruptly. You were gobsmacked. You sat there, phone in hand staring at this man with his camera directly in your face.
“Sorry?”
“Are you Lando Norris’ girlfriend?” He asked again louder this time.
“Move away please.” A McLaren worker came over to you, speaking directly to the journalist.
“Hey man, we’re allowed to be here.”
“Yeah you are, but you’re not allowed to harass guests.” He stood in front of you now, blocking the man from being able to get any more photos. “So if you’re going to do that, you can move away now.”
You were witnessing a stare down between the two, when eventually the journalist moved away. Pretty sure he muttered the word prick under his breath as he did, but we’ll forget that bit. At least he was gone. The guy turned round to you. “You okay?” He asked.
“Yes.” You smiled up at him. “Thank you for that…” You paused, waiting for him to announce his name.
“Alex.”
“Thank you for that Alex.” You reached out to shake his hand. “I think I’m going to come inside now though.” He laughed and allowed you space to stand up, grabbing your bag from you. “Oh, you don’t have to-“
“It’s the least I can do. Would you like a coffee.”
“I’d love one.”
___
“And he just outright asked you?” Lando was in disbelief when you told him what had happened.
“Yeah, just point blank. Didn’t even dance around the subject.” You were sat in his drivers room, last few moments before he would have to go out there.
“Jesus, I’m sorry baby.” He grabbed your hand.
“No no it’s fine - this guy that works in hospitality came to my rescue.” You joked. As you did, you noticed Lando’s jaw clench ever so slightly.
“Oh yeah?” He questioned, trying to sound nonchalant, but failing miserably. “What did he do?”
“He just came over and asked him to move away. Then made me a coffee when I came inside.”
“How nice of him.” He was pissed. You watched him as he stared down at your fingers that he was playing with.
“Alright what’s wrong?”
Lando’s head shot up to look you in the eye. “Well it kind of sucks that some random guy thinks it’s cool to come to your rescue.”
“Oh so you’d rather I’d have just been fighting for my life in that situation.”
“No I’d have rather been the one saving you.”
“Yes, because that would have helped the situation, I can see it now. ‘The girl refused to answer the question before rumoured boyfriend came to hurry her away.’” You said it in a dramatic, commentator voice. Lando just stared at you unimpressed. “Oh come on, he was just being nice.”
“I don’t want random guys being nice to you. Not when they think they have a chance.” You watched him sympathetically. “That’s the one thing that sucks about keeping this whole thing a secret.”
You leaned forward to place a kiss to his cheek. “No-one else has a chance.” Lando’s cheeks flushed at your words and you couldn’t help but giggle. “Am I embarrassing you baby?” You said teasingly, moving your hand to pinch his cheek. He quickly swatted it away.
“What-no! Don’t be ridiculous.” He stood up in front of you.
“I could only ever aspire to be as cool as Mr Hamilton.” You said leaning against Lando holding onto your glass of wine. You’d all finished your meal and were now just catching up talking. It had gone smoothly, everyone had been so lovely and welcoming to you.
“I’m not so sure about that, I saw you today.” Lewis said from across the table, causing you to raise your eyebrows at his words ever so slightly. “You seem like you’re pretty fucking cool.”
Lando laughed at this before leaning closer to you and whispering in your ear. “Told you.” You scrunched your nose up at his words and nudged him gently.
“Think we might call it a night now guys.” George spoke whilst grabbing Carmens hand and standing up from the table. “Too much of a good thing ya know.”
“You’re probably right, ready to make a move?” Lando spoke from beside you placing a hand on your thigh and giving it a gentle squeeze. You nodded and squeezed his hand with yours.
At that everyone stood up, hugged and bid their farewells. You were saying bye to Alex and thanking her for her help earlier when you felt a hand on your lower back. Already knowing who it was you turned and smiled at the familiar gorgeous face of a certain Mr. Norris.
“Car’s outside.” He said simply, moving his hand from your bank and finding your hand. “Bye guys.” He said again and gently tugged you away you shouted bye to everyone again and waved following Lando out of the restaurant.
When you made it outside you felt your skin prick at cold temperature and you subconsciously rubbed your arm to try and warm yourself up. Lando immediately noticed. “You cold?” He asked whilst shrugging off his blazer.
“No no, I’m okay.” You defended shaking off his question.
“You’re lying.” He stated matter of factly whilst placing the blazer over your shoulders. You gripped it and pulled it closer to you, thankful that it was on you now. Lando moved in front of you and gripped the lapels of the blazer pulling you flush up to him placing a firm, needy kiss to your lips. “Please don’t lie to me..ever.” he muttered against your lips.
He led you to the car and opened the door for you allowing you to climb in before him. You settled in to your seat and adjusted yourself so that you were facing him. “Why did you look so uncomfortable when Lewis said about you being World Drivers Champion?” Landos head spun to look at you with his eyebrows pulled together at your question.
“Huh?”
“At dinner? Lewis joked about you being 2025 world drivers champion.” He turned away from your gaze at your mentioning of it again. “It made you act weird…like it is right now.” He laughed a little at your words.
“Was it that noticeable?” He muttered.
“I don’t think to anyone particularly.” You said back gently. “I was probably the only one watching you that closely to notice.”
“Watching me huh?” He teased and you rolled your eyes.
“Lando.” You said frustrated nudging his leg with your foot.
A few moments of silence passed as Lando didn’t answer the question right away, you waited sensing that he was working up to giving you answer. “Because I don’t know if I can do it.” Your face sunk and lips parted at his words. “I don’t know if I can hold it together enough, if I’ve got the mentality or the mental strength or whatever to do it.”
“Lan.” You said sympathetically. You reached to unbuckle your seatbelt and moved yourself into the middle seat.
“Hey whoa, you’re unbuckled right now.” He said reaching behind you and pulled the seatbelt down and clipped it into place. You reached a hand out and cupped his face running a thumb across his jawline moving his head to look at you.
“You have to trust yourself.” You said quietly. “You know you can do this, just the way you are.” His eyes were searching yours and you spoke to him softly. “Trust yourself.” You said again before leaning forward and placing a kiss to his lips. He deepened the kiss pulling you close to him and squeezing your waist.
___
“no no I’m serious.” He spoke through laughter, you could barely breathe. “theres a video of it somewhere I think.” He was still trying to get his words out through his fit of laughter. “I just walked straight into it.”
“you’re a high performance athlete.” You could barely speak you were laughing so much. “you have like the quickest reaction time on earth. And you walked into a lamppost, with your eyes open.”
He groaned and buried his face in your lap. “urgh don’t.” He muttered into you.
You ran your fingers through his hair. “aw it’s okay baby, I still think your cute.” He turned to face you from where he was.
“You think I’m cute huh?” He wiggled his eyebrows at you.
“The cutest.” You were looking down at him. “but I’ll tell you who doesn’t look cute right now..me from this angle.” You pointed at him and he laughed before you fell onto your back. Lando sat up and moved so that he was hovering above you on the bed.
“You look cute, always.” He said gently before bending down to kiss you. You reached out and pulled him by the neck down to you so that he was flush against you. You felt him run a hand up your thigh and your lips parted.
His hand moved up to your waist and you felt it squeeze firmly. He pulled away from this kiss and looked at you for a moment. “I should probably go.” He said gently. “I mean I want to stay.” He rushed quickly and you let out a tiny laugh. “Don’t get me wrong I really want to stay, but I also don’t want to rush into anything, or move to quickly or make you feel pressured to do any-“
Your cut him off by pulling him down to your lips quickly and placing a firm long kiss there. “It’s okay, I know.” You said against his lips.
He pulled away and stood up from the bed, you followed behind him to the door to your room. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He said squeezing your hand goodbye and leaving you there.
___
You were sat in McLaren hospitality with Alex whilst the boys were out on track during FP1. You were chatting when you noticed a camera filming the two of you from outside. You felt a little uneasy and Alex appeared to notice. “That’s one of the cameras for Drive to Survive.” You turned your head away from the camera and shifted your chair so that you would be less visible.
“Are you serious?” You questioned her, becoming slightly nervous.
“Yeah, you’ll get used to them.”
“I know, but we’re trying to keep things private at the moment.” You sort of whispered to her. She looked over at you with eyebrows drawn together. “Like it’s still such early days - we just don’t want anything to be spoiled right now.”
“You’ll figure out how to work through all of it, it’s tricky at first for sure.” She reached for your hand and gave it a squeeze. “But you’ll figure out what works for you both.”
___
“Somewhere that you’ve always wanted to go?” Lando asked you as he placed another UNO card down on the ground. A long day at the track was done and now you were sat back in your hotel room, on the floor, playing UNO with Lando whilst your room service was on it’s way.
“Mmm, Cuba.” You stated after a moment. Lando looked up from his cards to you. “It looks beautiful, I’d love to see it in person one day.”
“I’ve never been either actually.” He said returning his gaze to his cards. “Something to look forward to maybe.” He said quietly as you played your hand. You looked up again and his eyes were on your face, looking up at you through his lashes. You felt your cheeks flush under his gaze.
“Maybe.” You said quietly and returned your gaze back to your cards and you placed one down onto the pile. “Do you actually get to go on holiday often?” You asked him, waiting for him to play.
“Yeah course, it’s tricky obviously. But then I have summer and winter break where there’s definitely time to fit in holidays.” You watched his reaction as you placed down a pickup four card on the pile. His face scrunched up immediately. “Oh son of a bitch.” You brought your cards up to cover your mouth and couldn’t help but laugh at his reaction. “Hey.” He said seriously and pointed a finger at you. “You must be cheating.” You scoffed at him.
“Oh don’t be such a baby!” You rolled your eyes, Lando clearly not amused threw the remaining cards he had in his hand at you. Your eyes widened and mouth parted at him, he was just sat there smugly. You threw your cards at him and he didn’t even flinch, just continued staring at him.
“Oh you’re going to pay for that.” He lurched from his spot on the carpet and tackled you to the ground. He began tickling you at your waist when a knock at the door sounded.
“Room service!” Sounded through the door and Lando stopped his movements.
“You’re lucky.” He muttered, giving you one final pinch on your hip before pushing himself off the ground. He went over to the door to grab the food and you lifted yourself up moving to the table that was in the room, moving the chairs back pulling them out and taking a seat in one. Lando came back with the food and took a seat with you.
“How long have you been a veggie?” He said taking a bite out of his burger at the same time as shoving some fries into his mouth. You looked at him with slightly wide eyes as he inhaled his food.
“Lan you’re eating like you haven’t eaten in weeks.” He laughed with a mouth full of food and threw a fry at you. “Umm, since I was about 11 I think - or like year 7 of school, how old are you in year 7?”
“That’s a long time.” He said, surprised. “So like you haven’t eaten meat since then?”
“Well, no…once I got a takeaway from Nando’s and they gave me chicken instead of the fake meat thing and then kinda sucked.”
“No way - what happened?”
“I was like violently ill. Like throwing up everywhere.” You shook your head at the thought. “It was gross.”
“Oh wow, was it like the thought of it? Or did it actually make you ill?”
“I think a bit of both to be honest, I haven’t had it in so long that my stomach was probably like whoa what the fuck.”
“Jesus, that’s horrible.” Lando paused, looking at his burger. “And fucking disgusting.”
You couldn’t help but burst out laughing at his response.
___
You were lying on your bed watching Pride and Prejudice with Lando on your laptop. You were leaning against his chest. He was absentmindedly playing with your fingers as you were engrossed in the film, one of your favourites. Lando had suggested watching a movie and asked you what your favourites were, you landed on Pride and Prejudice when he’d dropped the bomb of him having never seen it.
To your surprise he had become just as engrossed as you were. “Oh my god, he’s literally obsessed with her.” He stated staring at the screen. You turned your face to look up at him. You couldn’t help but giggle at his words. “Are you laughing at me baby?” He pinched your sides a bit and you jolted, but he kept you still in his arms.
“Never.” You turned your eyes back to the movie.
A little while passed and your favourite scene was coming up. Mr Darcy was walking towards Elizabeth. You couldn’t help yourself but sink into Lando further, he wrapped his arms around you tighter and placed a kiss on the top of your head.
“You have bewitched me body and soul..” Came from the TV.
“That is sick.” Lando said from behind you. “You have bewitched me body and soul…” He said again quietly. You couldn’t help by giggle again.
“Oh yeah, you think Mr Darcys got game?” He looked down at you.
“Hell yeah Mr Darcys got game.” He said again. “That line is impeccable.”
Drive to Survive manages to capture a glimpse of Ellie and Lando and their relationship.
Ellie tests out Lando’s car
“I’m not getting in that thing.” Ellie says firmly, looking at Lando eyes wide, letting him know she’s serious.
“Oh come on!” He pleads clasping his hands together in front of him. “Some people would kill to sit in one of these.” Ellie’s head jolts to the DTS camera that is capturing this whole ordeal. She looks like she’s pleading for help. “It’s not like I’m asking you to drive it or anything, I just wanna see how cute you look.” She turns back to Lando and scrunches her face at him. He stares at her for a few moments more before pouting his lip at her.
She can’t help but shake her head slightly at him. “Lando that’s not fair.” The pout on his face turns into a small smug grin and he starts swaying on the spot already knowing that she’s going to say yes. “Okay, okay fine.” She runs her hands over her face before stepping towards him.
“I love you.” He says pulling her in by the waist and placing a small kiss on her temple. “Okay, you’re going to need to take those off.” Lando states pointing down at her feet towards the heel that she’s currently wearing. Ellie can’t help but groan slightly as she rests her head on Lando’s shoulder. “Here I know.” He pulls away from her and bends down to begin undoing the straps on her shoes.
“Lando wha-“
“It’s the least I could do.” He says as he pulls off her shoes from her feet. Next thing she knows he stood back up and is lifting her up, bridal style in front of everyone in the garage. She can’t help but let out a little squeal as her feet leave the ground and her arms wrap around his neck as he holds her in his arms. Various members of the garage start whistling and cheering at the sight before them and Ellie buries her face into his neck.
“This is so embarrassing.” She mumbles feeling her face flush.
Lando now moves to climb the steps that are placed beside his car so that he can lower her into the cockpit. She’s holding tightly as he reaches the top step and she’s above the car. “Right you ready baby?” He says quietly looking at her face. She bites her lip and nods at him. He holds her out and lowers her so that her legs drop into the cockpit. She reaches one hand out to steady herself against the halo and then when her feet are securely on the car floor she lets go of Lando. She holds the halo and bends her knees so that she can sink into the seat. Shuffling a bit so that she’s in the right position. Once she is Lando steps down from the steps and smiles at her.
“I knew you’d look fucking adorable.” She can’t help but let out a laugh at his words. “Now where’s my camera?”
Pre Race Nerves
It’s the last race of the triple header and Lando and Ellie are riding in a car on the way to the race. Landos last two races hadn’t gone as well as he and everyone else had hoped and he was nervous heading into the last of the three.
The DTS camera was riding with them. “how are you feeling heading into the last race of this triple header Lando?” Lando had spent most of the journey so far staring out the window so far. Knowing that Lando was nervous ahead of the race Ellie reached out and grabbed his hand that was resting on the seat between them. She gave it a squeeze and turned to face him, he turned toward the camera still holding firmly onto Ellie’s hand.
“Feeling good, I know what I have to do. Obviously qualifying didn’t go as planned yesterday.”
*scene flashes back to Ellie and Lando after qualifying*
Lando is sat on the bed in his drivers room Ellie hovering a few paces away. “Lando?” She questions quietly. He’s facing away from her, but she can hear that he’s crying. “Baby?”
“Please Ellie.” He snaps at her causing her to jolt. He turns around immediately regretting what he said his face soft, however that changes when he notices that DTS camera in the doorway. “And for once you can also just fuc-“
The last clip sees Lando rushing to the camera aggressively shouting before he shoves it away and the feed cuts.
*scene flashes back to Ellie and Lando in the car*
He paused for a second. “But we have a plan and I know I can do what I need to.”
“And he absolutely can do it.” Ellie says quietly and the camera pans from Lando to her. She looks into the lens and leans forward slightly before saying quietly. “Coz he’s your future World Drivers Champion.”
Lando laughs from beside her. “Jesus Ellie.” He says struggling for breath through his laughter beside her.
Lando Comes Home Early
Lando is currently riding home in a car from a race weekend, he’s heading straight to his girlfriend Ellies flat. Arriving a day earlier than planned to surprise her.
“So wanna tell the cameras what we’re doing Lando?” A voice from behind the camera asks him.
“We are currently just driving to my girlfriends. She thinks I’m coming back tomorrow, but I’ve been texting her flatmate and we’re gonna surprise her today.” He lets out a little chuckle before leaning into the lens. “She’s gonna freak the fuck out.”
The scene cuts to Lando being let in by one of Ellie’s flatmates and her gesturing for them to come inside whilst holding a finger over her lip to tell them to be quiet.
They start heading up the stairs. “Who is it Mia?!” Ellie can be heard shouting from the somewhere off camera in the flat. Lando turns around and grins at the camera and stifles his giggles.
As he makes it to the kitchen, he enters the room slowly and the camera films him from behind showing Ellie with her back turned chopping something up on the counter.
“Are you deaf Mia? I said who is it?” She turns around and as she does she drops the knife that she’s holding onto the floor in front of her as she spots Lando standing there. Lando lurches forward in response and she yells out. “What the actual fuck?!”
“Fuck Ellie! You could have lost a toe for fuck sake!” He shouts at her in response. She just stood there, hand clasped over her mouth with tears laying in her eyes.
“What are you doing here?” She asks, her voice muffled by her hands.
“Surprise!” He says waving his arms around. Ellie goes to step forward but Lando freaks out afraid she’s going to stand on the knife that she just dropped. “NO NO STOP!” He moves forward and picks it off the ground in front of her and carefully places it on the work surface beside her.
Ellie has full on tears falling now as she waits for Lando to move back in front of her. “Baby no, don’t cry.” He says reaching out and pulling her into him. He lifts her off the ground and places her onto the worktop in one swift movement and she nestles her face into his neck. He's stood in between her legs as they share a moment.
“I’ve missed you so much.” She says quietly, just loud enough to be picked up on camera.
“Ive missed you too baby.”
Her eyes open to see the camera at the back of the room, she can’t help but groan at the sight. Being caught in such a vulnerable moment with Lando. She reaches behind her, picks up a carrot and throws it at the camera. “Of course you’re here!” She says dramatically.
“Okay, so just make sure that you keep this on you the whole time.” You nodded at the McLaren assistant that met you at the entry gates to the Silverstone GP. “If someone sees you without it on, they’ll try and get you out of here.”
Your eyes widened ever so slightly at her lighthearted threat. “Got it.”
“Perfect, now follow me and I’ll take you through to the McLaren garage.” She stated and set off on a fierce stride, you sped up a little to rejoin her before levelling out to walk by her side.
“The garage?” You questioned as you walked through, you’d never been to a race before and this moment, being here was all so surreal.
“Yes, Lando told me to bring you straight to him.” Your tummy fluttered at her words. He wanted to see you straight away, you felt warm at the thought.
When you arrived to the garage the assistant asked you to wait at the side of the room whilst she went over to let Lando know that you were here. You stood anxiously waiting as she approached him. He was mid conversation when she interrupted and gestured to over where you were stood. His head turned rapidly and he looked over to you with a small, excited smile on his face.
You blushed under his gaze and bit your lip giving him a small wave from the corner of the room. He thanked the assistant and then excused himself from the conversation with his engineer as he made his way over to you.
“Hey” he breathed as he pulled you into his arms in a hug. Your arms made there way around his back and you squeezed him. God he smelled good. When he eventually pulled away, he brushed the side of his face against yours, keeping himself right up against you as his hands made their way to your waist. His nose bumped into yours as he placed a gentle but firm kiss to your lips. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
After you parted your eyes darted around the garage, suddenly aware of the pretty public affection you’d just displayed. “I’m glad I’m here too. This is all so exciting.”
“Did you check into your hotel okay?” He asked, his fingers still fiddling with yours.
“Yes. Oh my god, Lando the room is amazing. Thank you so much.”
“It’s my pleasure, I’m on the same floor. So not too far from you.” You smiled at him. “Wanna go for a walk?”
“A walk?” Your eyebrows pulled together sceptically.
“Yeah, we can get a coffee.”
“Are you not like…needed here?”
He chuckled at you. “Not for a bit no. Plus I want to introduce you to some people.”
“Oh! Yeah okay then, lets go.” You smiled excitedly and gestured for him to lead the way. He went to reach for your hand and you ever so slightly pulled it away. “Are you sure that’s the best idea?”
There was a moment where a frown flashed across his face, before he seemed to recompose himself. Remembering where they were. “No sorry, you’re right. Not a good idea.” You smiled, relieved that you hadn’t fucked that up a bit. “Okay, lets go.”
You began walking out of the garage back the way you came to the paddock. You walked next to Lando, close..but not too close. “I’m sorry if I seem nervous by the way. This has just all been a little overwhelming and it’s nothing something I’m used to…like at all.”
Lando froze in his step for a second, before grabbing your arm. “Actually come here a sec.” He jolted you back into the garage entrance quickly and led you through a hallway until you came to a room that said Lando on it. He pulled you inside and closed the door behind you two.
“Okay…” You said with a confused look on your face.
“I just want to say that even though I’ve made my intentions pretty clear by now, I mean I hope I have…” he trailed off for a moment, looking to the ground crossing his arms. “But I’m like, interested in you.” A small smile took over your lips and your eyes softened at his words. “Like I want to date you, that’s what I was sort of hoping this weekend would be, like a very long drawn out date.” You bit your lips now as he was fumbling over his words a little. “I know that it’s not normal and you just reminded me that in fact, my life and anything that comes with it isn’t something normal people experience.” He looked up to you now. “But I can help you through it” he paused looking at you. “As in, we can take things slow and we can figure out how we do it, together.” You stood there about to speak before he quickly piped up again. “I mean if that’s something that you want of course.” You laughed a little at his words.
“I’d like to date you too.” You said quietly. And his whole face and body relaxed. “But I’m going to need some help, because like I said..this has all been a little overwhelming so far.” He stepped towards you slowly and placed a soft kiss on your lips.
“I didn’t mean to overwhelm you I’m sorry.”
“No no it’s okay - I just mean that like..I don’t know whats normal here. Like I normally would have held your hand, its just I don’t want to be photographed like that..not yet anyway.”
“No no of course, and that’s my fault - I shouldn’t have even done that.”
“And like going on dates - how do we even do that, if theres cameras there all the time?”
“They’re actually not everywhere all the time, there here all the time..obviously. In normal life though - don’t see them all that much.”
“That doesn’t mean that you don’t have random people coming up to you asking for photos.”
“Yeah, now that does happen quite a bit.”
“It’s like even when we met - people were filming that you know?”
“Yeah I know.” He laughed a bit. “I’ve actually seen that online.”
“You are joking.” You deadpanned, you hadn’t come across a video of that so far on instagram or anywhere else. “You have to show me.”
He waved it off. “Maybe later, anyway for now. We just figure things out as we go?”
“Yeah” you smiled at him “sounds like a plan.”
__
“Hey Ellie!” Zak pulled you in for a hug. “Lando told me you’d be joining us this weekend.” You smiled as you pulled away.
“Hasn’t shut up about it actually!” Oscar shouted from across the room. You chucked and blushed.
“Okay, that’s an exaggeration.” Lando was blushing also.
Zak went to move past you both, as he did leaning down to beside you at your level before quietly saying “no it’s not.”
“Charles!” Lando suddenly shouted - voice directed outside the building. He was waving at Charles Leclerc and who you knew was his girlfriend, Alexandra.
“Lando!” He shouted back stopping to wait for Lando to meet him. Lando nudged you a bit to follow after him. You both walked outside the building and went to greet them. “Mate, how are you doing?” Charles pulled him into a hug and you stood there.
“I’m good man, how are you?” He pulled away and then greeted Alexandra quickly.
“Good mate, good.”
“This is Ellie.” Lando stepped back beside you and smiled as you looked at him before turning to the couple. “Ellie this is Charles, which I’m sure you already know and his girlfriend Alex.”
Charles immediately stepped forward and outstretched his arms and you met him in a hug. “Ellie, it’s lovely to meet you.” When you pulled away you went to hug Alex.
“It’s so nice meet you both.” You said stepping back close to Lando’s side.
“It’s so nice to meet you too! I love your dress Ellie.” Alex spoke to you.
“Oh my gosh thank you! You look incredible too!”
“Will you be with us for the whole weekend?” Charles asked you, grabbing Alex’s hand.
“Yes, til Sunday.” You smiled at them both.
Charles had a little smug look on his face and glanced to Lando quickly. “You should join us for dinner tonight.” He turned back to Lando. “Alex and I are going out with Lewis and George and Carmen. Come.” He gently tapped Lando on the stomach with his free hand.
“You up for it?” Lando turned to you.
“Yeah, sounds nice!”
“Perfect, I’ll get it sorted.”
“When they go off for practice later we should get a coffee!” Alex spoke to you from beside Charles.
“I’d like that yeah.” You felt some relief wash over you at her kind offer.
“Here, put your number in my phone and I’ll text you mine.” She came over to you and Lando went and stood by Charles. You took her phone and typed it in as requested. She then texted you so you also had hers. “Perfect.” She smiled. “I’ll text you and can always come and find you! This place is a total maze at first.”
“That’s so kind of you.”
“Alright, best be going - see you on track mate.”
“Yeah see you.” Lando pat Charles on the shoulder as he left with Alex on his side.
___
You were back in your hotel room after a long day staring at the different options you had brought with you and what you could possibly wear to dinner this evening. When you were with Alex earlier she had told you she would send a photo of what she was wearing and when the picture of her outfit came through, it had sent you into a complete spiral. She was going to look incredible, her dress was incredible. Nothing that you had brought with you was going to compare.
You were stood there biting your nails as you stared at your bed, three possible options that would just about suffice. “Oh fuck this.” You turned around to grab your phone from the table behind you and called Alex. It rang a few times before she answered.
“Hello, Ellie!” She sung through the phone. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, yes everything is fine! I’m sorry to call.” You started “It’s just, you’ve got me panicking about what to wear this evening. I don’t feel like anything I brought with me this weekend is going to be okay for dinner tonight and I don’t want to look out of place or anything.. I don’t want to embarrass Lan-“
“Oh my god Ellie no!” She interrupted your ridiculous train of thought and you suddenly felt really embarrassed that you’d called her.
“Oh wow, I can’t believe I’ve just said all that. This is really embarrassing.” You ran a hand over your face.
“I’m going to come over with some dresses, what is your room number!” She sounded so lovely and concerned at the same time.
“214.” You muttered hopeful through the phone.
“Okay, give me 10 minutes and I will be with you.” And exactly 10 minutes later, she arrived, dresses in hand as promised.
“I just don’t know what any of this looks like - what being in this environment is like, I’ve never been surrounded by it, ever.” Alex had come round and the two of you had decided on a simple black dress that was the most you of her options. She was now helping you with your hair as you sat in front of a mirror, her standing behind you. “I just don’t want to embarrass Lando, or myself.”
“You couldn’t embarrass him.” She stated, nudging you slightly to say that you were being ridiculous. “I know it can feel overwhelming, but I promise you he doesn’t care about that stuff.”
____
Alex had left you to go and meet Charles before you all headed to the restaurant. You were finishing off popping some things into your handbag when your phone buzzed from beside you. You reached to see a notification displayed from Lando.
Lan: Heading to your room now, better be ready Ells x
Ellie: ready as I’ll ever be Norris x
You took a deep breath and sat and waited for what felt like a lifetime for a knock to sound on your door. When it did, your heart fluttered. You took one more look at yourself in the mirror before heading over to the door.
When you opened it up you were greeted with Lando stood looking as beautiful as he always did. He was wearing black wide leg suit trousers with a fitted black tshirt tucked in. Your eyebrows cocked and a little smug grin took over your face as your eyes scanned over him. You were suddenly brought back to reality as he cleared his throat.
“Pretty sure my eyes are up here Miss. Love.” You looked at him and saw that he was stood biting his lip as he took you in. He looked at you with wide eyes, taking you in fully. “You look…incredible.” He whispered, before reaching out to grab your hand. He tugged you gently toward him and placed a firm kiss on your lips. You placed a hand against his chest to steady yourself as you fell into him ever so slightly.
“I definitely don’t look as good as you do right now.” You spoke against his lips and he chuckled ever so slightly.
Lando decides that the perfect way to hard launch their relationship is by doing the the trend - can you watch my girlfriend for a second.
“I think that’s potentially the stupidest idea you’ve had yet?” You stated, looked at him blankly with wide - unimpressed eyes.
“I actually think it’s kind of great.” Your head shot to Max who was sat beside you on the couch. Lando stood in front of you both after having presented his ‘amazing’ idea on how to declare your relationship to the world.
“Yes! Thank you Max!” Lando exclaimed clapping his hands together, causing your gaze to shoot from Max to him. “I knew there was a reason we were friends.” Max looked offended by his best mates words.
“You’re both serious?” You deadpanned. “Why can’t you just do a normal post like every other person on the planet.”
“You should know by now that I am not fucking normal Ellie.” He said back shrugging his arms in response. You ran a hand over your face in distress before looking back up to him. He was stood there, face pulled together pleading with you to do this with him.
“Alright!” You said holding your hands up in defeat. How could you say no to him. He jumped on the spot and your eyes widened.
“Lets do this.” He shouted excitedly before running out of the room. You turned to Max on the sofa who was sat there. Lips pulled together with a smug smile on his face.
“This is your fault.” You stated, eyes narrowed at him before standing up and following Lando out the room.
Max threw his arms up in the air. “How the fuck is this my fault.”
___
The set up was simple. You were sat at your desk, ‘working’ on your laptop and Lando would come in and place the camera against the plant pot they’d placed there for the perfect angle.
“Right you ready baby?” Lando asked from beside you.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” You were sat typing away on your keyboard pretending to work away. When you heard Lando click record.
“Hey guys, can you just watch my girlfriend for a sec.” He walked up beside you and placed the phone down on it’s mark. It was your time to shine.
You didn’t move from what you were doing at first. Only side eyed the camera and froze your typing as Lando walked off behind you. You stared at it for a bit before slowly, very very slowly turning to look behind you where Lando had just walked off.
You stopped in that position again for a second before slowly turning back to the camera. Your face was suspicious and you eyed the camera with near disgust whilst retracting your hands from your keyboard and placing them in your lap as you leaned back in your chair.
You froze like that for a second before twisting your head behind you whist still keeping your eyes on the camera. “Lando!” You yelled, not looking away from the camera. You twisted your head back, eyes still focused on the camera.
You could hear Lando and Max giggling off camera and you were doing your best to ignore them. Hopefully the camera wouldn’t pick them up.
After a few seconds of sitting staring you spoke to it. “Hello?” You questioned cautiously. Your eyes darted around you, as if you were growing uncomfortable staring at the phone too long. You leaned your head closer and whispered. “Is anyone there?” You froze in this position, as if you were waiting for a response, knowing that there wouldn’t be one. You leaned back and continued to stare, your eyes growing more and more concerned. “The fuck is he doing?” You muttered under your breath, just loud enough so that the camera would pick it up before yelling once again. “Lando!”
Then right on cue, Lando came back into frame and appeared beside you picking up the camera from it’s mark. “Thanks so much guys!” He spoke into the phone as the camera was now facing him.
“Who the fuck are you talking to?” You spoke loudly in the background, no longer in shot just before the video ended.
“THAT WAS GOLDEN!” Max shouted. “Ellie, mate, you’ve gotta pursue a career in acting!” You stared at him with a disapproving look. “Come on come on, lets see it!” Lando and Max marched over to the sofa and began.
“Baby, you coming to see your fine work?” Lando spoke patting the sofa next to him. You smiled and shook your head at him slightly before wondering over and plopping yourself down next to him. You leaned on him, chin resting on his shoulder as he clicked play on the video.
___
“Baby, people are loving this.” Lando said suddenly.
“Lan are you even paying attention to this?” You sighed as you tried to watch the finale of the White Lotus. It was a little while later since Lando had posted the video to his instagram to announce or ‘hard launch’ your relationship. He was lying down head on your lap as you fiddled with his curls. You had been so engrossed in the show that you’d not noticed his scrolling through instagram comments.
“No no, I am but baby listen.” He was sitting up now, and you reluctantly grabbed the TV remote clicking pause so he could speak without talking over the show. “This is the best hard launch I’ve ever seen.” Lando looked up from his phone to you. “This is what people are saying - Urgh, I just love them - someone else.” You sat watching him, not even really listening to what he was saying with a small smile on your lips. You were happy to see him happy.
He’d had a rough time in the media in his last relationship, one of the reasons you’d been reluctant to go public for a while. You knew that once you’d put it out there, you couldn’t take it back and that was scary. But Lando had wanted to let people know that you were his and he was yours and that was more reassuring than anything else.
You leaned forward on your hands and placed a short and firm kiss to his lips before quickly pulling away and resuming your place on the sofa. He looked up at you, a bit taken aback by your sudden movement.
“I love you.” You then said simply. His hands dropped lowering his phone into his lap.
“Babyyy” he said sweetly looking at you with nothing but love in his eyes. “I love you.” He said back. “Now can I please read you a few more comments.”
“So what actually happened then? Like why did it end.” He asked before taking another sip of wine from his glass.
“He actually slept with my boss.” You stated blankly, scrunching your face up at the memory. Lando’s face was a picture. He froze as he took in your words.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“It’s actually fine though, like he was a horrible person. He didn’t treat me right at all.” You turned to face the view. You’d since finished your pizza and had moved to sit out on the balcony. “I think more than anything, him doing that gave me the reason that I needed to end things.”
“He was how much older than you?”
“He was eight years older.” You turned back to face him.
“Do you always go for older guys?”
You laughed a little at his question. “Umm, no. I’ve been with younger guys as well.”
“Well that’s good to know.” He said quietly.
“Is it now?” You challenged with a cheeky tone in your voice.
“Considering the fact that I’m two years younger than you.” You smiled back at him. “It’s good news to hear.” You blushed slightly at his words. He was smirking at you slightly, obviously enjoying your reaction to his words.
You’d been surprised by how easy being around Lando felt. You’d been talking for hours which normally being a massive introvert you found quite difficult with people you didn’t really know.
“Right then, your turn.” You said, bringing your legs up to sit crossed legged on the chair slightly twisting your body to face Lando more. “Your last relationship, what happened?”
“Ummm, well she ended it.” He started, your head tilted slightly at his words. “There was a lot of outside pressure from media and..” He paused almost like he was reluctant to continue. “Well my fans to be honest.” You nodded slowly at his words. “She just decided it was too much.”
“That’s rough, I’m sorry.”
“It’s all good, it was a couple years ago now. We’re still friends, there’s no bad blood ya know? It just wasn’t right.”
“Yeah that’s good.”
“Unlike yours I’m guessing?” He questioned with a slight devious tone.
“What my ex?” Your eyebrows scrunched at his words. “Yeah no, theres some fucking bad blood there for sure.” He laughed.
You were distracted when your phone lit up on the table in front of you with a notification displaying the time. “Jesus Lando! It’s 12:20 am!”
“Is it really?” His laughter stopped. You both locked eyes in silence before bursting out laughing.
“Oh my god, I’ve got to get home! I have work in 7 hours, for fucks sake.”
“Let me call you a cab.”
“That’s okay, I can just order an ub-”
“I’m calling you a cab.” He reached out his hand after rising up from the chair. You picked up your phone and grabbed his hand, allowing you to help you to your feet. He didn’t let go only led you back inside his apartment.
___
Lando received a call stating that the cab he ordered had arrived so now you were both stood by his front door before you left.
“What are your plans this weekend?” He asked as you stood in front of him fiddling with your fingers.
“Umm, I don’t think anything really. Why?”
“It’s the Silverstone Grand Prix this weekend..will you come?”
You looked at him for a moment. “You mean like all the days?”
“Ideally..yeah?”
“So from Thursday to Sunday?”
“Yes.” He said with a hopeful look on his face.
“Let me speak to my manager and see if I can get Thursday and Friday off, but I’d need to look at booking a hotel and then travel arrangements there and the-”
“Don’t worry about any of that.” He reached out and grabbed your hands. “Just get the days off and I’ll sort everything else out.”
Your body went all tingly at his touch and you took in a deep breath as you looked into his eyes. “Okay.” You said quietly, scared to disturb the moment. Next thing you knew Lando was tugging you towards him gently until you were mere inches from him. You could feel his breath on your face as you looked up to him through your eyelashes.
“I’ll call you tomorrow?” He whispered, you just nodded in response. He started to move toward you slowly, waiting to see if you might pull away. You moved to close the distance and your lips met in a gentle kiss. His hands left yours and found their way around your waist, moving to hold your back as he pulled you into him. You placed yours on his chest and you grabbed your t-shirt in your fists. The kiss was gentle, but passionate. Your lips moving together perfectly.
When you pulled away he rested his forehead against yours. “Will you message me when you get home please?” He asked still holding you in his arms. Tracing small circles on your back with his thumb.
“Of course.” You smiled. “But I really do have to go now.” He let out a gentle laugh before placing one more kiss to your lips and reluctantly letting you go. He opened up the front door and you began to leave. “Bye Lando.”
“Bye Ellie.” You turned to walk away and gave him one final glance as you turned the corner and headed for the lift.
___
You were biting your little finger as you waited for Lando to answer the call.
‘Hey.’ Sounded through the phone.
‘Hey Lando.’ You smiled. ‘So I spoke with my manager and all good for Thursday and Friday.’
‘Perfect, Okay. Leave everything with me and I will get all the details sorted.’ He sounded ecstatic and it made your heart flutter at the thought. ‘I meant to say, is there anyone you’d like to bring with you? I want you to be comfortable and if having a friend there would make it easi-‘
‘No no, its all good.’ You cut him off. He was already doing too much
‘Are you sure?”
‘Yes Lando, I’m sure. Plus I’ll just chill with Zak.’ You joked. His laugh came through the phone and you smiled again.
‘Okay, I’m gonna get everything sorted. Text me your email and I’ll send everything through there.’
‘Okay will do.’
‘You’ve just made my whole day you know?’
You blushed. ‘Glad I could be of assistance.’
‘Right, now get back to work…slacker.’
You scoffed at him. ‘Bye Lan.’
‘Bye Ellie.’ You hung up the call and went to text him your email address when a message from appeared on your screen.
Lando: Did you just call me Lan?
You closed your eyes and groaned. It slipped out without you even realising.
Ellie: …maybe
Lando: Cute.
Lando: Ell.
Ellie: Leave me to my work please, you’re incredibly distracting.
he'd somehow forgotten how important she really was.
****
‘It’s just the way that it is Lando.’ You spoke shortly down the phone.
You heard him sigh on the other end. ‘Please don’t be like this.’ You paused for a moment at his words, they cut deep. He’d cancelled coming home again due to another last minute work commitment that he couldn’t get out of. You hadn’t see Lando in 6 weeks. It was the longest you’d ever gone. ‘You knew what you were signing up for.” You let out a shaky, short breath.
There was a cutting silence. He shouldn’t have said that, and you both knew it. ‘You’re right Lando. Don’t worry about it yeah - just call me when you can come home.’ You rushed your final sentence so you could hang up the call. There was no way you were going to let him hear you cry. You threw it onto the sofa behind you. Before finally letting the tears escape.
You ran your hands over your face and sunk down onto the sofa in Lando’s London flat that you had moved into after him having asked you only 6 months ago. Not realising that it would soon make you feel the loneliest you’d ever felt since moving to London. You rested your chin on your knees that you were hugging, trying to find some form of comfort as you glanced around at the room.
Since moving in with Lando he’s been home, with you in the flat that you shared for probably three weekends. Rising popularity of Formula 1 and Lando himself meant that over the last few months he’d become increasingly popular. Meaning that alongside racing, which took up enough of his time as it was, he had a whole host of media events, collaborations and his own personal brand that had to attend.
Meaning that you, had started to feel like a less and less priority in his life. You wiped your face of silent tears that had been falling before reaching for you phone that lay next to you on the sofa. You stood up and moved to the window whilst dialling your best friend. After a few short seconds she answered the phone.
‘Heya babes, whats going on.’ Fi answered the phone in a cheery voice. A cry slipped out at hearing her voice. ‘Ell, what’s going on, are you okay?’
‘I think I’ve made a mistake Fi.’ You said shakily down the phone.
___
“Do you think that will be enough.” Fi asked as she helped you grab a few more bags of your things.
“Yeah I think so.” You said rolling your suitcase to your side. You looked up to her and she was already watching your with a sad expression. “I’m okay.” You gave her a reassuring smile, but you both knew it was fake. “I think I just need some time away from all this.” You gestured around the room.
“Okay.” She nodded, giving you a small smile. “I’ll take these down, come down when you’re ready.” Fi headed out and left you alone for a minute in your flat. You had made the decision to spend some time staying with Fi and figure out what you wanted to do about everything. You needed to figure out if this was what you really wanted.
You walked over to the kitchen counter and started to removed her keys to the flat from your keyring. You left it on a piece of paper where you had written ‘E. x’ before grabbing the last of your bags and heading out.
You’d looked down at your phone as you rode down in the lift to see the messages and missed calls that were piling up from Lando.
Lan 🤍 11 missed calls
Lan 🤍: I shouldn’t have said that
Lan 🤍: baby I’m so sorry
Lan 🤍: please answer the phone
Lan 🤍: I don’t want to leave things like this
Lan 🤍: please answer me
Lan 🤍: I need to know that you’re okay.
Lan 🤍: Ellie. Answer me.
Lan 🤍: I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.
A few stray tears had escaped as you looked down. You hated this. You hated what this had become.
Ellie: I’m sorry I haven’t answered you. I’ve just been thinking about some stuff.
Ellie: I’m gonna move in with Fi for a while, I just need some time to think over everything.
Ellie: I love you.
After sending your final message you turned your phone off and headed to join Fi in her car.
____
E x: I’m sorry I haven’t answered you. I’ve just been thinking about some stuff.
E x: I’m gonna move in with Fi for a while, I just need some time to think over everything.
E x: I love you.
He felt like he couldn’t breathe the minute that he saw the messages appear on his screen. He just kept staring at them. No. He couldn’t process what he was reading. He ran a hand across his face, she was moving out.
“Lando, are you okay?” Kevin asked concerned after seeing Lando visibly pale in front of him. Lando was pulled from his bubble at his words. He looked up to him. “Whoa, mate you alright?” He asked again.
“I need to go.” Lando suddenly started walking to his suitcase so he could pack up his belongings. In this moment, nothing else mattered.
“Go where? What are you talking about?”
“I need to go home Kevin.” He said again shortly, grabbing things out of the wardrobe in his hotel room and throwing them into his suitcase. He wasn’t even taking removing them from the coat hangers.
“We just discussed this, we’re flying to Ital-”
“Well yeah that’s before I received a message from my girlfriend telling me that she’s fucking moving out.” Lando spat, cutting him off. “So I’m going home Kevin.” His voice broke towards the end.
Kevin didn’t scything anything immediately. He just watched as Lando sunk down to his knees in front of where he was packing his suitcase. His head fell forward to the bed. Kevin slowly made his way over to Lando and crouched down to his level.
“I’ll deal with everything okay. We’ll get you on the next flight back to London.”
____
“And then he said - you knew what you were signing up for - and that’s what really hurt, but also why? Because he’s right. I knew who he was, I knew that this is what his life was like, it’s my fault for thinking that I could handle it.”
“It is not your fault.” Fi scoffed pouring you both another glass of wine. “You could never have known what this was going to be like. There’s no manual for dating someone that lives this kind of lifestyle Ell.” He slid back under the blanket that you were sharing. You’d put on a rom com, but it had since become background noise as you started to share what had been going on.
“I always knew it wasn’t going to be easy though Fi. I knew that he would be away, I knew that I would be lonely. It doesn’t take an idiot to know that. I should never have moved in there.” You could feel tears forming in your eyes. “The last six months have been honestly so shit. I’ve felt so alone and it’s like he doesn’t even care.”
Fi placed her wine glass down on the table and reached out to pull you into a hug. “I wish that you had told me about how you were feeling Ell. We could have sorted this out, we could have talked about it.”
“I know, it just felt stupid. I didn’t want to feel like I was complaining, because in so many other ways he’s perfect. And I love him so much.” You said muffled into her hair.
As you both pulled away Fi spoke again. “Do you know what fuck this. We’re going to go out.”
You scoffed wiping away tears from your face, before brining your wine glass up to your lips downing the remainder of what was in the glass. “No we’re not.”
“Yes we fucking are.”
___
“Look what Mel just sent me.” Fi moved her phone under your face as you both sat in the back of the uber one your way to meet some friends. You hadn’t taken much convincing to go out and so here you were all dressed up, ready to get drunk.
LN4updates : Ellie photographed after seeing packing up multiple bags into a friends car from the flat she shares in London with Lando. He hasn’t been home in six weeks, and now she’s moving out?!
“Oh for fuck sake.” You sighed pushing it away. “That didn’t take very long did it.” You had somewhat grown used to this, but the shock of seeing yourself plastered over the internet when you had know idea there was even a camera there is not something you ever become completely used to. Especially when it’s not even your life that they’re interested in.
“I didn’t even see anyone?” Fi exclaimed to you in shock.
“Yeah I know, it’s horrible isn’t it.” You sighed. “There always there lurking though.”
As the uber pulled up to your location you received a call from Alex, Charles girlfriend. ‘Ma cherie! Just be warned, there are paparazzi here.’ Her angelic voice sounded through the phone.
‘Alex! Okay thank you for the warning. Are you inside already?’
‘Yes we are here, see you in a minute?’
‘We’ll be right in!’ You hung up the call and turned to Fi. “There’s paparazzi outside, just so you know. Fi nodded and you thanked the uber driver before climbing out the car Fi following you closely behind. You linked arms and began walking towards the bar heads lowered as the flashes began.
___
LN4updates: oh mother is serving. I am concerned - she’s out the same day she’s spotted moving out of Lando’s flat? It’s not looking good - divorce pending?
Lando looked at the instagram post eyebrows scrunched together. She hadn’t answered a single one of his texts since she sent him a message stating that she was going to be moving in with her best friend for a while.
He was currently sat on a plane flying back from Miami. The minute that he’d got he messages he’d questioned every decision that he’d made over the past few months. He’d fallen in love with the most amazing person he’d ever met. She was the one and somehow over the past few months he’d manage to treat her like she wasn’t even a priority in her life and now he risked losing her all together.
___
When he unlocked his front door he was greeted by total darkness. Stepping inside and flicking the lights on the apartment felt cold and empty. He shut the door behind him and took in his surroundings. He hadn’t been home in six weeks. He noticed a vase of sunflowers on the kitchen counter, but what pulled his attention completely was seeing what looked like a small key lying a short distance away from them. His backpack fell to the floor from his grip as he instinctively made his way over to the work surface where he found her keys lying on a piece of paper signed ‘E. x’
He just stared at it, trying to remember how he’d allow it to get to this point. He turned from the counter, his back resting against it as he pulled out his phone from his back pocket. He dialled Ellie’s number hoping that she would be awake by now.
___
Your sleep was disturbed by the ringing of your phone, you reached out to it on your bedside table from bed and in your hungover state swiped to answer the call bringing it to your ear.
‘Hello?’ You spoke groggily, barely registering what was going on.
‘Baby?’ Landos voice sounded through the phone and your eyes shot open. ‘baby, I’ve been going insane you haven’t answered a single one of my calls.’
‘That’s because I didn’t want to talk to you Lando.’ You stated simply.
‘I’m back in London at the flat…’ You now shot up in bed. ‘I found your key.’
Your head was pounding and you rubbed your eyes with with the palm of your hand. ‘I thought you were flying to Italy for some event with Monster?’
‘Yeah, well that was until my girlfriend told me that she was leaving me.’ He let out a small chuckle, desperate to lighten the mood. Hoping that you would immediately would tell him he was crazy and that you weren’t leaving him, but instead you didn’t say anything. ‘Are you leaving me Ell?’
‘I don’t know Lando.’ Now it was his turn to be silent.
‘Look I don’t want to do this over the phone.’
‘Neither do I.’
‘So can I see you?’
‘No Lando, I said I needed time.’
‘I know bu-‘
‘I haven’t seen you in six weeks. You haven’t come home..to me.’ Your voice cracked and you took a moment to compose yourself. ‘You haven’t come home to me in six weeks. You can’t just all of a sudden rock up and expect me to drop everything. I said I needed some time Lando so can you please just give me that.’
There was silence for a little while.
‘I’ll be here, I’m not going anywhere..I love you Ellie.’ You felt a small tear roll down your cheek before you hung up the phone.
___
“He said he wasn’t going anywhere.” You said as you sipped your coffee. You and Alex were sat outside having brunch. You had called her this morning after your call from Lando asking to see her. She was your saving grace in all this. You two had become close through your relationship with Lando and she was the one person that you felt like you could go to for advice, she was really your only friends that knew what being in a relationship like this felt like.
“Monza is next weekend.” She stated. “Do you think he’ll miss it?”
“He can’t.” You scoffed. She raised her eyebrows at you. “He can’t..can he?”
___
You were sat at your desk when the notification popped up on your phone. You grabbed it and opened instagram.
fi_rosex sent _ellielove a post by LN4updates
LN4updates: Uumm, Mr Norris, shouldn’t you be in Monza right about now?
Your eyes pulled together as you looked at the screen. You felt your heart speed up at the thought of Lando still being here. He should be about ready to climb into a formula one car right about now.
You locked your phone screen before grabbing your belongings together and slamming your laptop closed and flinging it into your bag.
___
When you arrived outside your apartment building you paused before hitting the buzzer to your apartment number. A few moments later a familiar voice came through the speaker. “Hello?”
“Lan?” You spoke quietly in the receiver. There was no response, only the sound of the buzzer notifying you that the door was open. You quickly grabbed the handle and yanked it open making your way inside.
You couldn’t stop picking at the skin around your nails on the lift ride up to your floor. You were nervous, nervous of seeing your boyfriend. You hadn’t seen him in the flesh in six weeks and in the midst of being angry at him you’d forgotten how much you were also missing him.
You were making your way slowly to the door and just as you arrived, before you could even knock it swung open revealing Lando, looking as beautiful as ever. Your breath caught in your throat at the sight of him. Christ he was beautiful.
“You know if you hadn’t left your keys here, you’d have been able to let yourself in.” He joked with a tone of sadness. And you let out a small laugh before your face turned back into one of sadness.
“What are you still doing here Lan? You’re meant to be in Italy right now.” He stepped to the side of the doorway allowing you to come in. You moved inside past him, it took everything in you to not reach out and touch him.
When you were safely inside Lando closed the door behind you both. You turned around to face him, he was leaning against the door. “I told you..” Your eyebrows pulled together in confusion. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Do you know that since you asked me to move in, we’ve only spent three weekends in this flat together.” Landos head lowered at your words. “Three weekends out of six months. I knew what being with you would entail Lando.” You voice was beginning to break. “But I didn’t sign up for this.”
Landos head shot up at your final statement and he moved towards you, his arms reaching out to grab you. “I should never have said that. I didn’t mean it.” He was desperately searching your eyes, bending to your level.
“Do you know how lonely I’ve been?” You asked him whilst refusing to meet his gaze. You shrugged yourself out of his grip and turned away walking towards the kitchen. You dropped your bag onto the sofa that you’d been sat at crying, only a week earlier.
“There’s nothing I can say that’s going to justify how much of an idiot I’ve been.” He moved to stand in front of you. “Asking you to move in with me was the best thing I’ve ever done.”
“Not sure how you can know that when you’ve barely been here.”
“Okay I deserved that.” You sank at sat on the sofa and he came over to you, kneeling down in front of you. “I’ve fucked up, I’ve massively fucked up. I’ve let you down and I haven’t been there for you. I know that, it doesn’t mean that I’ve forgotten how important you are to me. I know I haven’t made you feel like it, I haven’t shown you. I haven’t put you first.”
“I know that I can’t always come first Lando, I know that.”
“You come first. You come first Ellie. I think of you before everything. The past few months have been a shit show. We’ve had some deadlines, things that I needed to get done. I let that take over and I knew what I was doing to you was wrong. When I spoke to you on the phone last week I said that because I was angry, but not at you. I was angry at myself, I’d let everything pile up and it had been you that it had all fallen on, and I couldn’t believe I’d done that. Not to you.” You reached out and placed a hand against Landos cheek. He raised his gaze to you and leaned into your touch. “I’m so sorry Ell.” You shook your head at his words and reached out with your other hand to grab his face. You gently pulled him into you so that his face was millimetres from yours.
“It’s okay.” You whispered against his lips. You felt as his hands came to rest on your thighs. You watched as his eyes flickered down to your lips and then back up to your eyes. Suddenly the weight of the fact that you hadn’t seen him in six weeks came crashing down on you. “I’ve missed you so much.” You whispered again.
Lando didn’t say anything in response only pushed your thighs apart and then moved his grip round to your back to pull his body flush against him before bringing his lips to yours in what seemed like a split second. The minute your lips touched, your whole body just melted into him. Your hands moving from the side of his face up and into his hair. The kiss was passionate, it was weeks of missed phone calls, missed face times, missed conversations all boiled down into one moment.
“Oh my god.” Lando said as he pulled away from your lips before moving to work on your neck. His nose ran along your jaw before he placed hot wet kisses at the base of your neck just above your collar bones. “I’ve missed you so fucking much.” His hands moved from your waist to round the front of your jeans where your belt buckle was.
“I need you.” You said said breathily, Lando consuming all of your senses. He stopped what he was doing and moved so that he was looking into your eyes. “I’ve missed you too much to prolong this any longer, I just want to feel you now.” Your hands moved to the base of Landos t-shirt and began tugging it up, he moved his arms so that you could easily pull it off and over his head. The minute it was off his hands went back to your belt buckle where he immediately began to undo it before getting to unzip your jeans you moved back on the sofa and lifted your hips so that he could shimmy them down your thighs. Your hands went to the waist band of his tracksuit bottoms and you began to push them off him, he took over removing them from his legs. He came to hover over you and you could feel him pressing against you.
“This isn’t exactly how I imagined this after having been apart for so long.” He said in a bit of a joke before coming down a placing a gentle kiss to your lips. You ran your hands up his back as he reached down and positioned himself at your centre, you connected your lips again as you felt him push into you. Your mouth opening and a loud moan sounding as you stretched at his length inside you. “Oh my god” he said shakily as you took him. Your nails dug in to his back at the familiar, but missed feeling. “You okay?”
“Yes.” You whispered back. He began to rock into you, slow and deeply. “I love you so much.” You said against his lips.
“I love you too.”
___
After your reunion, Lando had very quickly realised that if he didn’t leave for Italy soon he wouldn’t make it to FP1 and in turn would probably face a lot of punishment from the Mclaren team for not giving them any warning.
So you’d very quickly packed up some stuff and made your way to the airport where a jet had been organised by Landos assistant. You were now sat comfortably waiting for the plane to take off with Lando by your side. He was replying to some emails from his phone as you sat, head turned to face him.
You couldn’t help but think how you’d got so lucky. Your relationship hadn’t been perfect, it was hard. His constant travel, the fact that you were tied to a normal 9-5 working week. It had been testing with pressure of his fans and the press, but despite everything he was fucking amazing.
“I’m so lucky to have you.” You said quietly. Your words pulled him from what he was doing and he turned to look at you with a small smile playing on his lips. You blushed under his gaze. “I’m sorry for what I put you through this week.”
His eyebrows furrowed. “No no, baby dont apologise.” He locked his phone and leant toward you. “You were right, I was taking you for granted.” His hand reached out and tucked a piece of your hair away from your face, you leant into his touch. “Never going to do that again. You come first, always.”
