𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 // ˡᵃⁿᵈᵒ ⁿᵒʳʳⁱˢ

𝚐𝚘𝚕𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚐¹¹

Lando woke up startled by a series of loud knocks on his hotel room door. If he had a nickel for every time this had happened to him lately, he'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's strange that it happened twice.

With a sigh, Lando got up and opened the door, only to see Carlos Sainz standing there. All the sleep left Lando's body immediately, replaced by anxiety. 'Did he figure it out?' he thought, staring back at Carlos in shock.

"Is everything okay? You look like you've seen a ghost," Carlos joked. "Now, will you let me in or not?"

"Huh? Y-yeah, uh, come in," Lando replied, still in a daze as he stepped aside to let Carlos into the room.

Carlos glanced around the room before turning back to Lando. "Mila isn't here?" he asked.

"N-no, she's home," Lando stuttered, trying to hide his fear. "Why?"

"I just thought," Carlos trailed off, "anyway, you're late. Go get ready!"

"For what?" Lando asked, confused. Did they have plans? What was he forgetting?

"What do you mean, 'for what,' mate?" Carlos rolled his eyes. "We planned to go golfing today, remember?"

"What? When did that happen?" Lando asked, more confused.

"Last night," Carlos said in a 'duh' tone. "Mila said she wanted to learn, and we said we would teach her, remember?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think that was us making plans for the very next day—"

"Well, we're all free, so I booked the place," Carlos shrugged. "Why waste time? Besides, I want to get to know her better now that you two are officially together."

"We're not official," Lando replied. "It's a secret."

"Yeah, you're not public," Carlos corrected, "but you're still official, or what do you say, um...exclusive. You're exclusive, right?"

"R-right," Lando nodded slowly, still nervous. "But, uh, I don't know if Lani is free or not—"

"Well, then call her and ask," Carlos interrupted. "If she can't join, we both can go."

"Maybe we should just go without her then—"

"Hey man, I planned this to get to know your girl better and because she said she wanted to learn. But now I just feel like you don't want me to meet her or something," Carlos sighed, jokingly, but Lando's panic only grew at his words.

"W-what? No, of course not! Why would you think that?" Lando replied defensively, causing Carlos to laugh.

"Relax man, I was joking," Carlos reassured. "But you should call her and ask. We have to be there in an hour."

Lando nodded and nervously grabbed his phone from the coffee table, dialing Mila's number. As it rang, he tapped his foot nervously on the floor while Carlos sat on the bed, waiting for Mila to answer.

When she picked up, Lando asked, "Hey Lani, good morning, did I wake you?"

"Hey Lando, no, I was already awake," Mila replied. "Why? What's up?"

"Guess who showed up at my hotel this morning?" Lando said, trying to sound excited. "Carlos!"

"Oh?" Mila replied, confused. She wondered why Lando sounded so strange, but now it made sense. He was nervous.

"Why's he there?" Mila asked. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, remember how you said you wanted to learn golf?" Lando continued. "Carlos booked us a place to go today and play. He was wondering if you wanted to join. It's okay if you're busy."