High stakes

ACT 2 - four.

"It was horrible Juliette, he didn't even remember me and then he thought Rae had send me" I explained everything to her. We were in our usual spot behind the front desk and as always, she was sitting on the counter.

Rae would kill her if she was here, she didn't think it was professional at all and I had to agree with Rae on this one.

That's the only thing Rae and I would probably agree on.

"It was so embarrassing" I sighed.

Juliette looked at me with pity in her eyes. "But at least you tried" she said as she shrugged her shoulders.

Yes, at least I tried.

Just as Juliette jumped off the counter, my phone buzzed a couple of times and we both looked at it.

"And I guess it worked" Juliette winked at me as she nudged me and walked away.

It was a text from Lando and my heart instantly started beating faster. I grabbed my phone and it seemed like ages before it unlocked.

Lando

I'm sorry for yesterday
I wanna make it up to you
When do you have your lunch break?

In an hour
But I only have 30 mins
Hardly enough to eat out

Let me show you a whole new world
I'll come and pick you up

Was I dreaming? I was still shaking when I locked my phone and put it back down. I was going to lunch with Lando.

I secretly wished Rae was here to witness it, it would be great to see the look on her face when she realized he asked me on a lunch date.

Even though I only had a 30 minutes break.

I barely had enough time to eat the lunch I packed, how were we gonna eat out in only 30 mins? It was quite impossible.

I counted the minutes, the seconds until it was time for my lunch break. Lando wasn't here yet so I kinda expected him to have ditched me.

But I still walked outside, just to be sure and I was so happy I did because I immediately recognized Lando's Mclaren.
Like I said, I stalked him quite a lot.

He was standing next to his car, taking pictures with some fans.

What was I supposed to do now? Do I just walk up to him? I didn't want people to start rumors because Rae would kill and quite possibly fire me if she knew I was going to lunch with Lando.

His eyes met mine and a smile appeared on his face. I was happy to see that he smiled again and it was because of me.

"Let's go, we only have 29 minutes left" he laughed as he opened his car door for me.

A true gentleman.

It was a pretty common sight to see a expensive car like this in Monaco, but to actually drive in it, was kinda surreal.

At least for me, I don't think Rae ever batted an eye while sitting in his car.

He didn't drive very far, it was only a 3 minute drive. So we still had 26 minutes left.

He parked his car in front of a restaurant and looked at me with a smile. "Let's go Nora, we don't have much time" he laughed before getting out of the car.

We probably looked crazy because we were walking so fast into the restaurant, but I didn't care. I actually felt way more comfortable around him than I was expecting.

"I already ordered food, so we'll have more time" he said as we both sat down together. Only a minute later the waiter put our food down on the table.

So that's what he meant by 'a whole new world'. People moved mountains for him.

I looked down at the food he ordered. He ordered a salad for me.. Really?

"I noticed you were a vegetarian at my barbecue so I ordered something.. green" He explained the salad in front of me. "I am not a vegetarian though" I couldn't help but laugh.

"You're not?" he frowned. "You were eating tomatoes and stuff all evening"

So he actually noticed me, he paid attention to me, but he got it all wrong.

"Because there was no meat left" I explained. "Green stuff was the only thing left"

He tilted his head a little. "Oh" he started laughing. "Then I'll give you some meat on our next date"

He looked down at his plate as he was still laughing before he looked up again. "I don't mean it in an sexual way"

Now I started laughing as well, but the butterflies in my stomach were definitely there. He had an aura around him that I liked, you just felt comfortable around him.

The whole lunch was nothing but laughs, giggles and teasing. Before I knew it, it was time to head back to the hotel.

He paid for our lunch and drove me back to my work.

I could get used to this life.

We both got out of the car and hugged each other quickly. I was late, I forgot the time when I was with him.

"I hope to see you again soon" Lando said softly. "I hope so too" I replied. His hand brushed against my arm as we looked in each others eyes a little too long.

"I should go" I whispered. "You should"

His gaze drifted off to something behind me and his face changed. I quickly looked behind me and saw Rae standing in front of the hotel with her arms crossed.

Fuck. I was in deep trouble.