BAYLEE
I eye Charles cautiously as he pulls the phone down away from his eye, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
"Care to inform me on what all that was about?" I ask him with a nervous chuckle.
Charles eyes me, his smile growing wider as he sets the phone down and checking his watch.
"How much do you remember from a year ago?" He asks.
My head titles in confusion, "what do you mean?"
I can see a thousand statements playing through Charles' mind, his lips quivering each time he goes to say something, yet he curls them over when he decides against it.
"Lando nearly turned down his seat this year. Did you know that?" He asks.
"What?" I whisper.
Charles cocks his head almost smugly. "I told him not to have too many complications" he taps on the glass in front of him just as the bartender refills it with a dark liquid. Charles salutes the glass in my direction, "you were his complication"
I shake my head, "I don't understand" I mumble.
"Baylee?" Landon's voice appears from behind me.
My head whips around to face him, before looking back at Charles.
"Right I guess that's my cue" Charles chuckles, downing the rest of his drink.
"No, you can stay" Lando snaps harshly as Charles lowers himself back down slowly on the chair.
"I really should be heading to bed though, Norris" Charles groans.
"You can stay" he slams his fist down on the counter behind me.
I jump from the loud noise of his fit hitting the wood.
"This isn't the place to have this fight Lando" I whisper to him, cautiously eyeing the handful of other people in the bar.
He shakes his head, "I didn't come to fight" his voice is low and genuine.
"This really seems like a conversation between the two of you" Charles suggests.
"Honestly" Lando snaps. "Because it dawned on me, Charles. From all those years ago. So, I ask you. Is this really just a conversation between me and Baylee?"
My eyes glance back to Charles who is suddenly looking very guilty.
"What's going on?" I ask, just in general to the both of them, hoping that one of them can shed some light.
"Charles, do me a favour and pull up a picture of your cousin" Lando asks, yet his eyes stayed determined on Charles.
My head snaps toward Charles. "Lando?" I question.
"Thinking of moving on so quickly, Norris?" Charles mocks.
A rage of jealously flows through me.
"Just pull up the damn picture, Leclerc" Lando boasts.
"What is going on?" I asks again, a little louder this time.
"Do you folks want to take this outside?" The bartender requests.
"Pipe down" Charles holds up his hand, "I'll see to it you make your minimum wage tonight"
"Allow me" Lando insists, pulling out his phone and tapping on the screen.
Holding the phone in my direction, a blonde girls face highlighted over the screen, the same girl who was cuddled up to Lando, the same girl who approached me at the track.
"Lando?" I mumble in a whisper.
"Is this the girl who approached you today?" Lando asks.
I nod gently, my eyes darting toward Charles who ducks his eyes away.
Lando chuckles lightly, scoffing amused. "And tell me, Charles. How's your old buddy, Finn?"
"What?" I choke.
"Did you invite him here?" Lando questions.
"You're insane" Charles scoffs, shaking his head.
"What is your aim? What could you possibly achieve from doing all of this?" Lando asks him and I feel like I'm invisible in this conversation right now.
"You brought Finn here and you set Emily up with Baylee trying to, what, cause problems?" Lando asks, and I'm beginning to understand where he is going with all of this.
"Problems? Or highlighting complications?" Charles smugs.
"You son of a bitch" Lando shouts shoving Charles off the barstool.
Charles stumbles back.
"You two were doomed from the beginning, you should have ended on that first night and you both know it." He shoves his finger in Lando face as he rises from the floor. "But she's also the very complication you need to make sure you're not on your game."
My heart sinks.
"This isn't over" Lando barks at him before grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the bar.
My legs have to jog to keep up with his swift pace as he heads toward the lobby and out of the front door.
"Lando?" I question.
He doesn't respond, but pulls me out into the rain, immediately drenching me from head to toe the minute I step out.
"Lando!" I shout again as he pulls me to an immediate stop.
"I'm sorry" he quickly mumbles before cupping my face and bringing his lips eagerly over mine.
My hands snatch urgently into the material of his shirt, trying to bring him closer to me if even possible.
I push him back just as fast, "do you want to tell me what is going on?"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" he mumbles between kisses.
I can't help but chuckle at his moments and also trying to catch up on the past 10 minutes.
"What happened, Lando?" I ask, having to shout over the rain. "And why are we outside?"
Lando's face tilts up toward the sky, his eyes closing as the sky opens up over him. "I actually don't know. It was instinct" he shrugs.
I chuckle and shake my head as he pulls be towards a covering on the other side of the street.
"Emily, the girl who approached you, the girl in the picture, that's Charles cousin. We caught up over winter break on Charles boat, and I promise, nothing happened. And I shouldn't have said what I said to you about Finn. I know that" his head drops in disappointment.
My hands stroke down either side of his face, cupping his chin and directing it back up to face me, "it's okay".
He shakes his head, "No. It clicked as soon as you left the room, I knew, I knew something else was behind it, it was too coincidental"
"But Finn and Charles?" I ask.
He shrugs, turning his head and placing a kiss into my palm. "I'm not sure, but there has to be a connection"
YOU ARE READING
For Now, For Good
FanfictionA year ago, their paths crossed unexpectedly and whilst timing and circumstances were completely against them, Lando and Baylee couldn't deny the connection between them. They vowed to meet up again, a year from now, when they hoped the world offer...
