Hollow River

15.

Lando's POV

I watched River as she walked out of the paddock. I recognized her notebook. It was the notebook where I was writing cute messages in, it was the notebook I looked for the moment I walked in the paddock.

It was hers. She was the girl I was starting to like.

But she was also the girl I hated, who fucked me just to steal my money.

She sounded so different in her notebook, she sounded as someone I could fall in love with. But this was another reminder that I didn't know her at all.

These messages in her notebook meant nothing.

Could this have turned out even worse?

"Are you coming?" Jon patted my back. I was probably standing here for quite a while, just staring.

I nodded.  "Yeah" I said as I followed him outside the paddock and back to my apartment.

I dropped my stuff as soon as I walked in my apartment and checked my phone.

Unknown:

Hi mystery guy
So you actually want me to quit my job?
Then you'll never know who I am ;)
By the way, orange?
So you work for Mclaren?

She actually decided to text me but now I wasn't sure if I should text her back. Should I tell her who I was?
She would probably immediately block me.

I didn't text her back immediately. I took a shower, prepared myself for the race tomorrow and walked to my living room.

I liked to race Monaco because for once, I didn't need to stay in a hotel.

I walked to the balcony and leaned against the railing, looking down at the sea and the harbor.

It was hard to see, but I swear I recognized River sitting at the harbor. I squeezed my eyes a little, as if it would help me to see.

I don't know what got over me but I grabbed my jacket and walked out of my apartment right to the harbor.

It was lit up, the lights reflecting in the water. It definitely set the mood, a romantic mood.

I saw her sitting alone, looking down at her phone. Her legs were hanging down the edge, her shoes were almost touching the water.

Okay what was I supposed to do know?

I cleared my throat and walked up to her. "Enjoying the silence?" I asked.

She quickly turned her head to me, shoving her phone away. "I was"

I noticed how she wanted to get up but I quickly sat down next to her. I was hoping she wouldn't leave out of politeness.

She looked at me and I knew she was still debating whether she would leave or not.

But she didn't.

She just stared ahead of her, to the boats or the water.

She sighed. "I am sorry Lando, for what I did. I don't think I ever gave you a proper apology" she didn't give me an apology and I also didn't really expect it anymore.

"I was just in a really bad place when I met you" she looked down at her feet and chuckled. "It's funny actually because I was actually having a fun time with you"

"It's okay" I mumbled. She shook her head. "But it's not"

I actually checked every purchase she did with my card before I wanted to block her but I saw that she only bought necessary things with it like food, something in the pet store, so she probably had a dog or cat.

That's when I decided not to block her.

"How did you figure out it was me?" She asked as she looked at me.

"This might shock you" I chuckled. "But I don't take many girls home"

She was speechless. The girl who always had a comeback for everything was speechless. "Oh" is all she said.

She grabbed her phone out of her pocket and seemed disappointed when she saw she had no new notifications.

"Waiting for an important text?" I pointed at her phone. "It's honestly nothing" she tried to shrug it off.

But it was something. It was everything because fuck, I was starting to like this girl I was supposed to hate.