photograph / ln4

ten

ON WEDNESDAY, Lando arrived back in Monte Carlo after a short stop in London at the McLaren Technology Centre. As soon as he'd unpacked and taken a shower, he called Eleanor. He'd devised an amazing date idea with Max—the four of them would go karting in Nice and then have dinner back in Monaco. Lando was buzzing with excitement— all he needed now was Eleanor's approval. He only told her about the karting idea, though, leaving the dinner part out of it for now—he had a surprise waiting.

"Of course I'm in!" Eleanor exclaimed through the phone.

Lando punched the air, before clearing his throat and saying, as nonchalantly as possible, "Great, I look forward to seeing you."

"I heard that, baby. I'm excited to see you, too," Eleanor giggled on the other side. "Are we going tomorrow?"

"Uhm... I'll be there in thirty."

"Lando!" Eleanor exclaimed. "Did you seriously plan everything ahead without knowing if I'd say yes?"

"Of course you were going to say yes, you've missed me!"

Eleanor huffed. "For all you know I said yes because I missed Alena."

Lando rolled his eyes, stepping out of the elevator and walking towards his front door. "Sure. I can tell you're lying, by the way."

"Fuck you. I'm going to hang up now, since someone only gave me thirty minutes to get ready. Bye!"

"Missed you, too!" Lando said in a sing-song voice, although he was cut off by the beep and then found himself laughing. He shot Max a quick text that the plan could be set in motion, and then quickly unlocked his door and walked in. He had a few tricks up his sleeves for today —tonight especially— and he couldn't wait to see Eleanor's reaction.

He gathered all the stuff he would need and loaded them into his car, before heading to pick up Max and Alena at their hotel and driving to Eleanor's place.

APPARENTLY, ELEANOR had never gone karting before. That alone made the activity ten times more fun, especially for the boys. Alena had tried to quietly explain the basics to her while Max and Lando messed around with their helmets and their suits, making jabs at each other about the last time they'd gone karting and Max had ended up off the track.

Eleanor was having trouble zipping up her race suit, the zipper getting stuck in her shirt underneath it. Lando stepped towards her, his tomfoolery with Max forgotten now that the latter helped pull Alena's hair back into a braid.

"Hey," Lando said softly as he took hold of the zipper and gently pulled Eleanor closer to him. "You alright?"

"A little nervous," Eleanor mumbled, holding her hand up and watching how it shook gently. It was probably why she was having trouble zipping herself up. "If you can't tell."