The Chequered Flag || Lando Norris

4 | Did You Know

"There you are!" Kate said as I closed the door to our flat.

She came rushing around the corner and gasped, "That good, huh?"

I laughed nervously, "What are you talking about?"

"I saw you talking to that guy." Kate said. "That's why I texted you telling you I found a ride, I didn't want you to let him leave because of me. And now you show up, hours after you left, with a huge grin on your face."

"Oh, Kate, I'm so sorry, did you not have a ride home?"

Kate pulled a keyring out of her pocket, "Girl, I took the spare to your car a long time ago. You're welcome. You know you love me."

"Oh, you're such a bitch!" I said laughing. "Thanks."

"Course!" She said sweetly. "You do owe me now, though. You gotta tell me everything." A smirk growing on her face.

"Kate!" I shouted, "It wasn't like that!"

"Okay Cami." She said, her eyebrows raised to show she didn't believe what I said in the slightest.

"He spilled coffee on me—"

"Saw that." Kate interrupted me. "Bet you're glad it was iced. You can thank me for that too, I suggested it to him."

"Thank you, Kate," I said with a sheepish smile. "So I apologized 'cause it was my fault, and he apologized 'cause he thought it was his fault. I noticed that it soaked my shirt through completely, and he offered to get me a sweatshirt to cover it. I went to my car to look and to see if I had my own sweatshirt, and I didn't. When I came back, he had one of his sweatshirts with him, so I put it on. Then he asked if I'd want to take a drive with him. We drove and talked for a while, then we ended up in a forest...."

"And you made out." Kate said in a matter-of-fact manner. My shocked face made her laugh, and she pointed to my neck. I rushed to the bathroom and saw the hickey that Lando had left. When had he done that?

When I came back, Kate sat at our dining table with her laptop open in front of her. "What's his name?" She said, her fingers poised to type.

I hesitated. "Spit it out." She said.

"Lando." I said and she typed his first name, then looked at me expectantly. "... Norris."

As she was typing his last name, she muttered to herself, "Why does that sound familiar?" She pressed enter, and looked confused at her screen, "What the hell is this?" I saw her scroll. "What is all this?" Then she stopped to read something.

Kate looked up at me, "No fucking way. You bagged one of the guys in that shit you watch."

"Kate, it's not shit." I said.

She just laughed, "Well I see that now. Why didn't you tell me these guys were hot?!"

I laughed and I walked over to her looking at her screen, over her shoulder. She already had about 20 new tabs open and was shifting between them all every couple of seconds.

She'd pulled up Lando's Instagram, as well as Carlos', Charles', George's, Pierre's. She had pulled up Lando's Wikipedia page, and his website, and after she was satisfied with the amount she had read, she turned to YouTube.

At that point, I knew it was time to leave her. She could spend hours going down these rabbit holes when she watched a new show or read a book, and while it was interesting to see how quickly she went through all the information, once she got to the videos, it wasn't as quick anymore.

I went to my room and pulled up the log I had been keeping with all the evidence I kept for my sports psychology courses. I quickly added a few notes on Carlos, Daniel, and Lewis based on Lando's reactions to what I had said. When I came to the blank space beside Lando's name, I hesitated.

As I stared blankly at my laptop, Kate started talking as she walked through my open door, plopping herself on my bed opposite the desk I was sitting at. "Oh my goodness Cami. He's perfect for you! You totally deserve someone like this after you-know-who. He seems sweet and funny, and like he's genuinely happy. He could be really good for you...." Kate noticed my open laptop, Lando's name, and the blank space. She bolted up and slammed my laptop shut. "No!" She said exasperatedly, "You cannot do this. That's not okay. You are not going to study this guy like he's a part of your coursework."

"I know." I said putting my head in my hands. "Kate, I know it's wrong, believe me.... But, there's still a part of me that feels like I can't pass up the opportunity."

"Cami." Kate sighed, disappointed. "I think I can understand that, but you know that will wreck any chance you have with him. If you want to keep notes, do it in your head, don't leave a paper trail for people to find." I nodded, and she added, "And don't let it get in the way of the relationship you can have with him."

"Okay." I said, and Kate lifted her hand off my closed laptop. She watched as I opened it back up and deleted his name from the document.

"Does he find it weird that what you're studying is so close to what he does? I mean, it's so wrapped up in really uncomfortable emotions." Kate said, genuinely worried.

"No." I told her thinking back to what had happened in the woods. I felt the change there was after I had had that conversation with Lando. He seemed more comfortable with me. "He seemed to actually be appreciative of it."

"Wow, okay. I guess he really trusts you." Kate said.

"Yeah, I know." I said, looking down at my hands. "That's why I can't fuck it up."

"Well, on a much lighter note, it's good you love milk so much. He's got a shit ton of it in his fridge." Kate said smiling.

"Not anymore." I said.

"What do you mean?" Kate said, looking genuinely hurt that the information she'd found was incorrect.

I laughed at her sullen expression. "Yeah, he stopped drinking it 'cause his nutritionist made him. Something about it being bad for his skin or something, I think."

Kate scoffed, "Never mind then." Then, seeming to remember something, she perked up. "Did you know he was born almost exactly a month before you? And he's got some Belgian heritage too, specifically Flemish? And he's the youngest ever British racing driver, as well as the youngest ever World Karting Champion—still not totally sure what that means?"

A huge grin had spread across my face. "Yeah, Kate, I knew all of that." I started to laugh.

"What?!" Kate said, acting offended.

"Honey, I've got years on you in terms of research. But who knew this was what it took to get you into Formula 1." Kate's face fell. I'd said something wrong. "What is it?"

Starting to tear up, Kate's voice shook as she simply said, "My dad worshiped the sport."