BOOK 2-My best friend's boyfriends best friend- a Lando Norris fic

P2

"Surprise!" Lando and Sofia exclaimed in sync as Lando turned on the light to his apartment. There was a banner that read 'NUMBER ONE GRADUATE!' and a ridiculous amount of pink and blue balloons covering the floor. I picked one up and beamed brightly at the two of them, who were already smiling at my amazed face.

"Thank you guys, this is amazing!"

"It was Lando who set this all up by himself first thing this morning, but I'll take credit for the cake" She opened the cake box on the coffee table and slumped back on the sofa. The cake was black forest gateau, the traditional cake both me and Sofia's families brought for celebration throughout our childhoods. I shot her a knowing smile and turned my attention to Lando who was attempting keepie-uppies with one of the pink celebration balloons. He stopped when he saw that I was staring at him and took a joking bow to signal his hard work.

"Really thank you Lando, it was so amazing of you to do this and then come and help me pack everything and do both journeys in the moving van."

"You are more than welcome Els, any time. Well, maybe give me a rest tomorrow and on race weekends, but apart from that I'm free"

"Come here" I gestured him over to me and gave him a kiss, almost falling asleep from how tired I was.

"Oi, when you're done with the PDA, can one of you grab the wine out of that suitcase" Sofia pointed from where she was slouching on the sofa at one of the suitcases that was now lying on the carpet outside the spare bedroom. "The red, and maybe the white to put in the fridge for later"

I gave Lando another quick kiss and walked over to the suitcases. I unzipped the suitcase, taking a moment to admire the Louis Vuitton pattern. I looked at the matching suitcase and handbag that lay next to it. wonder how much these cost her

After unzipping the inside compartments, I was faced with what looked like her entire alcohol fridge. There were multiple bottles stashed in between her clothes as well as some airport mini bottles.

"Brought your whole wine fridge did you Sofie?" I joked and looked over to her. Lando looked into the suitcase I was holding "God Sofia, you're only here until Monday"

She shrugged her shoulders "You know me, I was scared I'd brought too little"

I picked up the bottles and wandered over to the kitchen cupboard to grab the glasses and put the spare bottle in the fridge.

"There we are" I sat down on the sofa in-between Lando and Sofia. "Big night out" I joked as I poured myself a glass of wine and passed the bottle along to Sofia.

Sofia's phone started to ring. "Max!" She exclaimed and we all gathered around her phone. we were met with a tired looking Max who was slumped on a sofa just like we were with a beer in his hand.

"Oh, the whole gang is back together, cheers" he knocked his beer glass on the screen. we all followed suit, me and Sofia clinking our wine glasses together

"So, Elle, what is it like being a uni graduate? do you feel clever now?" He gave a cheeky grin to me

"Very much so Max, almost ready to be an adult now, we just need to find an apartment" I nudged Lando who was distracted by the TV. "What!" he protested, rubbing his rib "That hurt"

"Lando on the other hand is ready to stay a child for as long as he possibly can" He pouted at me and pulled his hood over his head and pulled the strings so that I couldn't see his face. I shook my head at him. " Lucky me" I said to a very amused Max.

" Anyway, have you two seen any places you like yet" he asked us both to change the subject

We both shook our heads in response. "To be honest, we haven't even started looking properly" Lando answered. "It feels so weird to be out of residence and looking for a new place so soon" I added

"As much as I like this place, it just isn't practical enough for us both" I looked round at the living room that only just fitted the sofa because of Lando's simulator. The built-in wardrobe could only fit Lando's stuff and I didn't think that I wanted to stash my clothes under the bed with that many pairs of heels. The bathroom cabinet was meant for one and there was no room to even fit my makeup anywhere. It would be a struggle to even fit all of my moving boxes into the apartment.

Max nodded his head in agreement. We all spoke together for a while after with the TV in the background playing a new Netflix show that Lando had been telling me about. His eyes were glued to the screen, occasionally making a comment, or responding to Max. Unlike me, they usually spoke to each other every day or so, as I did with Sofia and my family, so he was less interested in hearing about Max's recent events as I'm sure he'd probably heard about them already.

"So where do you guys want to look for apartments?" Somehow the topic of moving circled back around to Max who was clearly interested in the topic. I shrugged. Truthfully, I had absolutely no idea. I'm sure that Lando wanted to stay near the technology centre for practicality, and I was ok with that; well, I went along with it anyway.

"We're not sure really, around the Tech centre would be good but we'll see, won't we Els" He smiled at me, but I couldn't stop thinking there was more to life than staying put.

"Not thought of moving to Monaco yet then?" he asked me, remembering how much I loved it, the memories that I had there. "I know a couple of apartments that you would love"

I turned to look at Lando and raised my eyebrows at him, but I could see he was not convinced, and I wasn't either. I couldn't see how it would work with us both.

"Well, keep it in mind. me and Sofia are dying for you to give in and join us here" Sofia nodded her head as she took a sip from her glass. "That would be the dream" She added.

2:00 am

I lied in bed under the covers with my head facing Lando, I couldn't sleep; looking at him in the darkness, his eyes shut and messy curls covering his forehead, I knew that he wasn't asleep either. the strip of light from the gap in the door illuminated one side of his face. The same thoughts were circling around his head over and over, asking himself the same questions I was. The silence in the room was deafening.

I broke the silence

"You know, maybe we could at least take a look at the apartments?" He turned over so that he was facing me on his side. In the dark, I could just about see his eyes staring back at mine. "It might be nice to look at other options, even if we just look at them"

He let out a quiet laugh "You just want an excuse to go back there don't you"

"I'm serious Lando, it would be a good thing to consider. Living somewhere else would be awesome, even if it's just for a while" I could see him considering it, he hummed in agreement.

"I'll get Max to send me the addresses of the apartment" I was doing a little dance with my hands, a gesture I was accustomed to do when I was excited.

"We might as well go with Sofie after she's seen her parents then"

I brushed the curls away from his forehead and smiled at him. He was right in that I would find any excuse to go back there. I longed to be back at the beach, or even chilling in Sofia and Max's apartment.

He giggled, clearly excited as well " Get some sleep Elle, we're packing our bags and going to Monaco"