back on track

12. the one with pizza and pointy looks

I grabbed my little purse where I put my keys, camera and phone. Not my big one that I used at work but my film camera that I had used to carry with me no matter where I went, and this was no exception.

I walked outside to see two guys already there waiting for me and I smiled them as I walked towards them. They looked like they had seen a ghost, especially Lando whose mouth was little open as he stared at me. Carlos wasn't as shocked, but you could see the surprise on his face too.

"What?" I asked them and they seemed to come back to their senses.

"You look different" Carlos answered while Lando was still looking for his tongue.

"Good different?" I raised my brows and looked down to my sneakers to see if there was something wrong with my outfit.

"Yeah, good different" Lando said but it came out more of an breathe.

"Well thanks guys" I smiled and grabbed both by their arms. "Shall we?" I laughed.

We arrived at the restaurant, and we were the last ones there. It was a small, cute pizza place just outside of the city. Very cosy and quiet, just like we wanted it to be able to eat and talk in peace.

We walked towards the group of people waiting for us outside and I gave a quick hug to each of them.

"Girl you look yummy" Cami screamed as I walked to her, which made my cheeks turn red.

"Thanks, you look good too" I smiled to her shyly.

"She's not wrong tho," Charles added when I hugged him. "I'm so used to seeing you semy tired with your hair in messy bun when you work so this is a upgrade for sure" he grinned.

"Thanks" I playfully hit him in his arm with my fist. "Where's Nick?" I questioned as I realized there was still one of us missing.

"Oh, he can't make it after all, family business" Cami informed more seriously. I nodded.

The night was going smoothly. We had ordered pizza and now were talking about anything and everything. Surprisingly the subject didn't go much to the racing, or anything work related. We talked more about our families and being from the different places we had a lot of questions and things to tell each other. Camilla being from Mexico draw a lot of curiosity to herself being the only one outside of the Europe. Somehow Finland was founded interesting as well even though for me it was most boring place in a way in the world.

I was sitting between Carlos and Charles with Cami and Lando opposite side from me. "So when are you two leaving to UK?" I asked guys on my left side.

"Did we book a flight to tomorrow evening?" Carlos asked being unaware of his own flight. I rolled my eyes and smiled waiting for the Brit to confirm this.

"Yeah," he said looking down on his plate where he lifted his eyes now looking straight at me. He seemed a little off to be honest and I looked at him like asking if he was okay. He just gave me a little nod and a weak smile.

"We were wondering if you could drive us to the airport?" Carlos asked taking my attention away from Lando. I hadn't really paid attention, so I had to ask him to repeat what he had said.

"See this is exactly what I mean" Carlos said to Cami more than rest of us. Cami let out a little laugh. "Yeah I can tell what you're talking about" she grinned.

"What's going on?" Charles joined the conversation while I was hoping we wouldn't have gone there.

"Nothing, you were saying?" I turned back to Carlos with a warning look on my face.

"I was just asking if you could take me and the lover boy here to the airport tomorrow", he said pointing to Lando next to him whose eyes were clued now to mine.

"Yeah sure" I shrugged my shoulders "Why not" I told them and went back to my pizza.

"Good, we're taking my car and you can keep it for the rest of the week" Carlos added, and I stopped eating and turned my head slowly back to him.

"Are you sure you want to trust your car in those hands?" Cami asked joking.

"She has a point" I pointed the other girl on the table with my knife.

"You'll be just fine" Carlos laughed to our stunned faces.

We left the restaurant and thanked the staff for good service. We walked out to street. It had gotten dark, and a cold breeze made shivers ran all over my body. Lando noticed it and threw his hoodie to me without saying anything. He nodded me to put it on and I did. The hoodie was warm, and it smelled like Lando. I had to fight the urge to breathe in his scent and I could see Cami looking at me with pointing look and I just rolled my eyes at her.

We walked around a bit more before heading back to our cars when I remembered the camera in my bag. "Guys wait!" I shouted stopping on my track. I picked the camera up from my bag. "Can I take a photo of you?" I asked showing the camera.

I got yeah's and sure's as an answer and group of very important people to me squeezed closer to one other. I smiled behind the camera and snapped a picture of my friends smiling and hugging each other. "Thanks." the smile on my face grew. My friends watched me as I smiled widely to my camera and walked back to them. Cami threw his arm over my shoulder hugging me from the side as we kept walking. 

"Come on let's go" Carlos said from the car and I looked around trying to locate where exactly we were while Cami shouted shotgun jumping into the front seat. 

"I think I'm gonna walk" I said finally realizing that we weren't that far from home and that some fresh air wouldn't be too bad for me. 

"You sure?" Carlos looked me shrugging his brows. He had grew protective over me in last months and I knew that he didn't like the idea of me walking around this late in the dark streets of the scary Maranello. Just kidding, the town wasn't any kind of risk on it's own but you never knew. 

"Yeah, I'll be fine" 

"I'll walk with her" Lando offered and I was little surprised and once again saw all eyes looking at me like they knew something I didn't. 

"Cool, I'll see you tomorrow" Carlos nodded and sat down on to the car while two of us began our walk. 

After a while of walking Lando finally opened his mouth. "That was fun" he smiled and I smiled back to him. 

"Yeah it was" 

"I'm gonna still take you out just the two of us some day" he grinned making my heart skip a beat but I tried to keep my cool. 

"Love to see you try" I smirked back. 

"Oh that's how it goes" he laughed and I shrugged my shoulders smiling.  

We walked talking, just like we had done in the morning and slowly I began to feel comfortable around the guy. I knew that we were both joking about dates and so on, but I felt like this could be an important friendship I was building here. Lando could see through me the way no one had in a long time, in six years to be precise, and it felt weirdly familiar. 

"Thanks for walking with me" I said starting to take off the hoodie he had given to me but he stopped me. 

"You can keep it, I'll get it back someday and it looks better on you anyways" he nodded being a gentleman. 

"Oh okay, thanks" I mumbled my cheeks turning a bit red. 

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow" Lando smiled to me starting to climb up the stairs leaving me to watch him go. It felt like there should've been a hug or something but I guess not, so I opened the door to my apartment and walked inside with one person in my mind.