who would have thought [lando norris]

Chapter 23

We were standing in front of my house, pacing, dreading to go in. Up until now, on our way here we had hyped ourselves up but now that we were so close the nervousness got the best of us.

Finally I pulled myself together and pressed the doorbell with my finger. No going back now. The door buzzed and we were walking into the front yard up to the door. My mom opened it and since Lando was behind me she only saw me at first. She gave me the tightest hug, I couldn't breathe there for a second. After she released me from her strangulation, Lando walked up to stand next to me.

"Mom, I want you to meet Lando, my..." I made a short pause because this was actually the first time calling him my boyfriend in front of someone else "...boyfriend. It's alright if he stays here, right?"

My mom put out her hand to shake his and said, "It's very nice to meet you. Of course you can stay here."

We went inside and after taking off our shoes I introduced him to my sister and my dad, who obviously knew who he was. I think I had never seen my dad more confused in his life. About a month ago we had been at the Austrian GP watching Lando win and now I brought Lando into our home,....as my boyfriend. He wouldn't wrap his head around that for another few days.

While my mom was talking to Lando, asking him the typical question a mother asks the new boyfriend of her daughter, my dad pulled me to the side, talking very quietly, "how?" was the only thing he could say, again "how?".

"It's weird I know, I still haven't really wrapped my head around it either." I told my dad, "basically it started at the Austrian GP and then he invited me to the Hungarian GP, and now were here."

"That's not a long time, are you sure about this?" he looked concerned.

"Believe me it's crazy to think about, but he's amazing. I think he is going to stay here at least one more day, so I hope you can get to know him."

At dinner I presented my news about getting into uni, and although everyone was happy for me and we were celebrating, as soon as I mentioned it, anxiety arose inside me again.

Lando noticed this, because when we got into bed and were sort of alone again, he just started talking about Milan on his own. He was talking about how he would visit me, how I would be perfectly situated not far from the Monza circuit and how it was the perfect degree program for me.

I thought Lando would have to leave the next day or the day after but one day turned into a week. It was a wonderful week, we spent a lot of time with my family, Lando met my brothers and their girlfriends, each day we went on a walk through the vineyards, met Margo and her boyfriend for coffee a few times and just enjoyed our time together.

The next Tuesday Lando left to the UK and I was alone again, so some extent at least. This Friday I would have to make my decision about uni. Lando and I talked about it a few more times this week and I finally felt comfortable in my decision.

Friday the 13th of August came along faster than expected. I wasn't superstitious but making my decision on this day felt a little weird. I tried to ignore it and finalized my decision by sending an email with all of the needed documents and information to the IULM University of Milan. And just like that there was no going back, the next step was finding a place to live and actually move there. Nerve-wrecking to think about. After pressing send on the email I texted Lando.

Fiona: I did it! It's official! Just sent the email to the University :)

Lando: So proud of you! It's the right choice!

I love how reassuring he was. I had presented my doubts about it to him this last week and he was always understanding while also helping me overcome my doubts and encouraging me to make this big step into my future.

On Saturday, Lando and I facetimed because we wanted to plan the next few weeks and figure out when we were going to see each other again. It wasn't quite that easy because the from next week on Lando would have three race weekends back to back and I would have to find a place to live before the end of September.

After two hours of talking we finally had a finished plan. I wouldn't be able to come support him at the Belgian GP because that week I would be in Milan with my mother looking at potential apartments, but I would visit him at the Dutch GP for Saturday and Sunday and then the Monday after that we would leave to Milan together to spend the week there before the Italian Grand Prix. I was hoping by that time I would already have an apartment we could stay at but besides being optimistic there wasn't much I could control about that.

After figuring this out I fell asleep on facetime with Lando watching me. He stayed on there for half an hour watching me and before he hung up he said something, thinking I was asleep, but actually I was only half asleep.

"I love you, Fiona." he said mumbling into his pillow - he was in bed already too. I was too tired to acknowledge what he had said and I didn't want him to feel uncomfortable because he was obviously saying it because he thought I was asleep. I wanted to tell him too and now that I knew we were on the same page, I decided I would tell him as soon as we saw each other again.