I hate you, I love you - A Lando Norris story

17

We're in the land of the free for the next race, good old America. There's something about the humidity here that makes the heat absolutely unbearable.

Lili is upholding her end of the bargain with me, but I can sense the awkward tension in the air when I'm with her.

Neither of us bring up what has happened and to be honest I'm pretty glad, it's not that I regret it, it's just complicated. There's a lot of thoughts and feeling and I'm not sure if I understand all of them just yet.

We finished this race with another double podium, we're on track to win the constructors and me the world championship.

McLaren is back baby.

And, of course with every win comes a celebration, Carlos, the superstar that he is, has convinced Lili to come along.

I know he's no longer part of our team but he's still one of my best friends. Plus, there's just something about his cheeky positivity that she can't say no to.

It's a low key affair, just a night out at a club but we've booked out the VIP area to avoid any hounding from fans.

"You came mi amor!" Carlos grins as he spies Liliana. He pulls her into a tight hug which lasts a little too long for my liking.

She looks as beautiful as ever, wearing a pastel blue body-con dress, her hair pulled into a high ponytail. She knows she looks good. I can tell, it's the way she holds herself. So confident.

"You know I can't say no to you Carlos." She teases as they chat for a while and dance along to the music. I let them enjoy their time together, not wanting to intrude. But I watch them both closely.

"Good evening Lando." She finally turns to me and greets. To my surprise she pulls me in for a long hug. It's nice, albeit a little awkward. "Congratulations on your win!"

"Couldn't have done it without you!" I grin, "I see you've already got a drink."

"Carlos practically threw it at me as soon as he saw me" she chuckles, shrugging her shoulders.

Carlos dramatically throws his hand over his chest, "next time I'll let you buy your own drink!"

"What makes you think there's a next time Carlos?" She mocks sarcastically, trying not to chuckle.

"Mi amor need I remind you about our little conversation earlier?" He shoots a wink in her direction.

"What conversation?" I ask, intrigued over what they could be possibly talking about.

"Ignore him Lando. You know that's not what I meant Sainz." She scolds, hitting his shoulder.

"Oh, I knew exactly what you meant hermosa." He shoots her another wink. "Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to get another beer."

Carlos disappears off leaving me and Lili stood there awkwardly in silence, neither knowing how to start a conversation.

"Do you want to dance?" Liliana finally turns and asks, clearly surprised by her own question judging by the look on her face.

"Um, yeah sure." I mutter, as we make our way to the dance floor and begin to dance.

Lili bursts into laughter a couple of minutes later,

"What's so funny?" I ask puzzled, continuing to dance.

"It's a good job dancing isn't your day job, you'd be fired on the first day!" She teases, giggling at me.

I stop dead in my tracks and turn to face her. "What's wrong with my dancing exactly?"

"You're too tense, loosen up a little Norris, you look like a robot." She grabs my hands causing shockwaves to travel through my body, and waves them around like a snake. "See? You already look better."

I look back at her and chuckle, "oh so you're a dance expert now are you?"

"I'm Latina. It's in my bones baby." She teases. "Just relax, go with the flow."

Carlos makes his way back to us holding a tray of shots and laughing at my questionable dance moves. "Lando has anyone ever told you that you dance like a robot?"

"Yep. Just now actually." I chuckle, shrugging my shoulders.

Carlos hands us both two shots, "drink these, it'll help you loosen up."

We all down the shots and get back to dancing, I attempt to copy Carlos' and Lili' moves but failing epically.

Lili is very drunk, but she seems like she's enjoying herself. I've never seen her smile so much. I look round trying to find her however cannot see her anywhere.