𝗖𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗛 | L.N.

𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧.

REAL LIFE

"Oh no..."

Amelia walks back into the garage with wide eyes. Surprised and confused, she looked at the big screen in front of her, which showed the race. Before she ran off to get a drink, which she often did, Lando was still in the lead. Lewis was right behind him, but things looked good for him. Now she comes back with two cups of drink for her and Charlotte, and now he was suddenly 7th.

"What the hell happened?"She asks the PR manager when she stands next to her and hands her her drink. She looks at her with a sad face.

"He didn't want to come in. Apparently, it's raining more than we thought and he slid off the track," Charlotte explains. "Gosh, he's gonna be devastated," she mumbles to herself. "You might want to remove all breakable things in his room," Charlotte says. Normally, they would laugh about a joke like that. But this time she meant it.

"I think it's better if you wait for him in his room," she says. "Then I'll wait here for him and see what mood he is in." Amelia nods in agreement. She would prefer to hug, comfort and cheer him right here. But maybe it was indeed better if Charlotte were the first person he sees when he gets out of the car.

"Okay, I'll see you in a minute then," she says and says goodbye to Charlotte. She walks out through the back. Through the drizzle, she walks across the paddock to the McLaren motorhome. Through the loudspeaker, she hears that Lewis Hamilton had crossed the finish line as the winner. As cheers from the crowd echoed across the paddock, Amelia arrives at McLaren's glass building. When she comes into his room, she starts cleaning up the room and prepares his coat, cap and mask for when he has to give interviews. When she had just finished, her phone vibrated on the table. She picks it up and reads the message she receives.

whats app
charlotte 🤗: he's in a BAD mood, won't even talk to me...

whats app
charlotte 🤗: he's on his way. he clearly looks like he wants to be alone (duh), but maybe you can cheer him up a bit before the interviews. he has to be ready in like 30 mins

With a sigh, Amelia puts her phone in her pocket and steps out of the room. She leans against the wall opposite the door and waits a little nervously for Lando. He comes not much later, with his helmet still on, running up the stairs. Once he sees Amelia, he pauses for a moment but then walks past her into his room and slams the door shut. She is startled by the hard knock the door causes and bites her lip for a moment. She found it difficult to decide right now what to do. She decides to give him some time, and after about five minutes, she knocks softly on the door.

When there is no answer from the room, she slowly opens the door. What she finds is Lando sitting on the sofa in his room. He has his hands in his hair and silently looks at the floor below. "Lan, can I come in?" she asks softly and she gets a small nod from him in response. She closes the door behind her and walks in his direction. When she stands in front of him, she gets down on her knees and grabs both his hands. She takes them out of his hair and squeezes them, hoping that he will finally look at her. When he still doesn't, she puts one hand on his cheek and forces him to look at her. His blue eyes eventually meet hers. Tears were clearly accumulating in his eyes, and he bit his lip to hold them back.

"It's okay if you want to cry," she says. Apparently, that was the confirmation he needed because right after she said that, the first tear escaped his eye and rolled down his cheek. There is a moment of silence between the two until the first sobs fill the room. Some tears gradually became rivers and Amelia also had a hard time keeping it dry. It broke her so much to see him like this.

"Come here," she says and takes Lando in her arms. He puts his head on her shoulder and squeezes the fabric of her sweater as a sign that he needs this very much. He still hadn't said a word to her, but he didn't have to. His tears said enough.

"It hurts so much," he finally sobs. Slowly they let go of each other and Amelia tries to wipe some tears from his cheeks with both thumbs while a tear also escapes from her eye. She gives him a faint smile. "I know, Lan," is all she has to say.

"It's all my fault. I screwed up," Lando says softly and takes some distance from Amelia by sitting up a bit more. "Hey," Amelia immediately raises her voice when she hears the phrase come out of his mouth. "I never want to hear you say that again." She takes a seat next to him and retakes his hands. "It's not only your fault. The team made mistakes as well," she tries to talk him out of it. "Still, I was the one who ignored the call to box," he protests.

"Because you thought it would stop raining. And that's what they told you as well. So Lando Norris, I never want to hear you say again that it's your fault, you understand me?" She looks at him intently. "Yes ma'am." A small but certainly audible chuckle comes out of Lando's mouth, which causes Amelia to smile as well. "See, I knew I could make you smile again." She cups her hands around his cheeks and presses her lips softly against his. His lips tasted salty, because of all the tears.

"I love you," Lando mumbles against her lips, then pulls back. She looks at him with a faint smile and gets up from the couch. She extends her hand to him. "C'mon, you have to get ready for the interviews." A sigh leaves Lando's mouth and he reluctantly takes her hand and stands up, and then gets ready for the meetings with the press.

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@AMELIARUSSELL'S INSTAGRAM STORY

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I remember I was in Barcelona during this race. I watched it with my dad to the point that it started to rain as we had to leave for Camp Nou. When we got to the stadium I looked at the result and saw that Lando had finished P7. I had no idea what had happened, but I felt so sorry for him. Writing this breaks my heart just again a little bit 😢

Enjoy your day!