Treat you better [1]
☆ lando norris is in love with his bestfriends gf
Warnings- complicated feelings, violence, consumption of alcohol, emotional cheating [if u squint]
Chapter One – Give Me a Sign
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Every morning looked the same.
Alarm at six.
Brush his teeth.
Coffee.
Running shoes.
Out the door.
Lando liked his routine. It gave him something to focus on besides the thoughts that insisted on following him everywhere. The streets were quiet as he started his run, cool air biting at his cheeks.
Left foot.
Right foot.
Breathe.
It should've been peaceful.
Instead—
"We're hitting the clubs tomorrow. Bringing Meckena."
Max had said it so casually the night before, sprawled across the sofa, completely oblivious to the effect those four words had.
Bringing Meckena.
Lando sighed as he rounded a corner. Great.
He hadn't even seen her yet and she was already occupying ninety percent of his brain.
Blonde hair.
Blue eyes.
The kind of smile that made conversations stop halfway through because everyone was too busy looking at her.
She looked like an angel. But she was painstakingly human. That was the dangerous part.
She wasn't some celebrity he'd never meet or some random girl on Instagram.
She was there.
She laughed at his jokes.
She remembered his coffee order.
She'd ask how training went and actually wait for the answer.
And somehow...
Somehow she was dating Max.
Well... Sort of.
Two months.
Two whole months they'd been seeing each other.
Except Max never actually called her his girlfriend.
Never introduced her that way.
Never put a label on anything.
Never seemed particularly interested in making whatever they were... more.
It frustrated Lando far more than it probably should have.
Because if he had even half the chance— No. Don't think like that.
Max was his best friend. You don't do that. He picked up his pace. The gym was easier. Weights didn't ask complicated questions. Sets had beginnings and endings. Feelings didn't.
An hour later he stood beneath the shower, hot water running over his face. Didn't help. It never helped.
Because every time he closed his eyes. There she was.
The first day they'd met.
She'd walked into the paddock beside Max wearing an oversized white shirt, sunglasses pushed onto her head. She'd smiled.
"Hi. I'm Meckena."
Three words.
That was all it'd taken.
He'd been completely, utterly finished.
_×_×_×_×_×_
Dinner came before the club. A nice restaurant tucked away from cameras. Just the usual group. Max. Meckena. Lando. A few friends.
He told himself it'd be fine.
Then she walked in.
Jesus.
She wore a simple navy dress that somehow made everyone else's outfits disappear.
Her blonde hair fell over one shoulder in loose waves.
Tiny silver earrings caught the light whenever she turned her head.
Her makeup was barely there. A little blush, a flick of winged eyeliner, something glossy across her lips. The freckles scattered over her cheeks were still visible because she hadn't hidden them beneath layers of foundation.
Thank God. He liked them. Loved them, actually.
Stop.
He pulled out a chair before she reached the table. "Thanks, Lan." That smile. There it was again.
Animated hands as she told a story. Laughing so hard she nearly knocked over her water glass.
Eyes lighting up whenever she got excited.
She talked with her whole body, every expression completely genuine.
Lando caught himself smiling without meaning to.
Then he looked across the table.
Max's hand rested on her thigh beneath the edge of the table. His stomach dropped.
Right. Of course. She's with Max. Don't stare. Don't flirt. Don't imagine things.
She's not yours.
She never would be.
The conversation carried on around him, someone made a joke. Everyone laughed.
Lando laughed too, though he couldn't remember what anyone had said. He was too busy watching Meckena tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.
Too busy noticing the way she scrunched up her nose when she laughed. Too busy wishing—
No!! Don't!!
He looked down at his plate, "Get over it." He mumbled to himself, "Find someone else."
That should've been easy.
Normally it would've been; Except...
He hadn't even looked at another girl in two months- Not really, Not since he'd met Meckena.
Friends teased him for suddenly turning down nights out. For disappearing early. For losing interest whenever someone tried introducing him to someone new.
Truth was... Every comparison ended the same way.
She wasn't Meckena.
And thinking about Meckena while trying to move on with someone else felt wrong. Unfair. He couldn't explain it. He just knew he couldn't do it.
Which was ridiculous, because Meckena wasn't his. She'd probably never be his.
Still...
If she ever looked at him the way she looked at people she trusted... If she ever gave him the smallest sign— The tiniest indication that maybe... Just maybe...He wasn't imagining everything, Lando knew exactly what he'd do. Consequences be damned.
He would spend every single day proving she deserved someone who chose her without hesitation. Someone who didn't leave her wondering where she stood.
Someone who'd call her his, without thinking twice.
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