Pretty Green Eyes: L.Norris

Chapter 30

The penultimate race of the season came around quickly. Las Vegas and Arribella had never seen Lando so excited for a race. The week's break leading up to the grand prix, the Bristol boy wouldn't shut up about the race. He had been talking about it for a full year, after it was announced. Free practice one was shortly stopped 8 minutes in then cancelled immediately due to a manhole. Lando went to his drivers room during the wait for FP2 where Arri joined him and the pair were able to squeeze in a nap until she had to go back to the hotel when all fans and guests were asked to leave.

Despite trying to stay awake for FP2 which went on for 90 minutes and was delayed by half an hour meaning it started at half past 2 the next morning, Arribella was able to stay awake for 45 minutes of the session before falling asleep halfway through. Lando got back to the hotel to see she was asleep and the TV still on with the channel the race was being shown on.

FP3 and qualifying weren't easy either with both Lando and Oscar being eliminated from qualifying in the first session. The british driver was beating himself up about it and Arri reassured him that it wasn't his fault and that Sunday will be better, him giving her an optimistic smile.

On the day of the race, the pair arrived at the paddock together and the buzz immediately hit them. "I am so nervous for today." Lando comments as he has his hand in Arribella's. "Remember, you'll do amazing." Arri smiles as she kisses his cheek as the two walk into the McLaren paddock. "Evening lovebirds." Oscar jokes as he sees the duo arrive. "Piastri." Arri smiles who sits beside Lando as he sits opposite Oscar. "Ready for the race, Lando?" the young Aussie asks his teammate.

"Yeah. Definitely fighting for points today." the british driver responds. "How about you Arri. How are you feeling ahead of the race?" Oscar asks the girl. "Good. Definitely wasn't prepared for the glitz and glamour of Vegas." Arri says as she sports a McLaren Lando top with a pair of ripped skinny jeans and nike jordan trainers. "Just fitting in with the papaya crowd." Lando laughs. "You're lucky I love you otherwise I would put a normal McLaren top on." Arribella glares at him.

After a while, the two drivers go and get ready for the race and Arri finds her headset before standing beside Adam. "You ready kid?" the older man asks her. "Same response as usual. As ready as i'll ever be." Arribella smiles just as the engineers move to the sides of the track as the formation lap begins.

The race hadn't even started and there was choas at turn one before a virtual then full safety car was brought out. Not even a lap later, Lando catches a bump in the road and loses the rear end of his car, fully sending it into the wall and deep into the run off area. As she watches, Arribella can feel her heartstop, even when Lando doesn't provide a response to his engineer asking if he's okay. She lets out a deep breathe when she hears his voice. Arri didn't notice Adam had placed his arm around her and pulled her close to him.

Adam takes his headphones off but Arri didn't have time to take hers off as she instantly rushed out to get to the medical center at the track to be with Lando. Jon was already there as Lando sat in his room. "Lan. Thank god your okay." Arri says as she hugs him and the driver tightly holds her in his arms, Jon removing the girls headset as she hugs Lando. "I'm fine. But they do want me to go to the hospital." Lando says before explaining why. "I was so so scared, Lan. You don't understand." Arri says as she looks at him with teary eyes. "But I'm okay and so are you. We're in this together, aren't we? We always have been and we always will be." Lando gently smiles as he hold her face in his hands, using his thumb to gently wipe a tear that escapes the girls eye and down her cheek.

"Yeah. We're in this together and we'll get through this." Arribella lets out a shaky breath as she nods. Lando shuffles over and tugs his girlfriends arm, signalling her to sit beside him. He opens his arms and Arri cuddles up to him, feeling his warmth and taking in his scent of his favorite aftershave. It was like home to her, her favorite place to escape the stresses of racing, work and reality. The brunette boy gently played with the ends of the blondes hair, calming her down from an eventful, lets put it 3 laps.