REAL LIFE
It was Amelia's favorite time of the year, Christmas. The days she usually spent with her family, opening presents and eating delicious food made by her mom. Only not this year. This time she would spend the day with her family-in-law, to which she was really looking forward.
Even though she had seen her inlaws many times now, she still felt a little bit nervous about today. It was another first with them, and for every new one, she couldn't help it to feel worried about it. Would they be happy with the present she bought for them? Was the food she made for tonight's dinner tasty?
Lando had explained to her how it was a tradition within the Norris family that every part of the family made something for the Christmas dinner. He had also explained how he managed to get around it in the last few years since he was a terrible chef. But Amelia refused not to do anything for this year.
Usually, the house would be decorated with Christmas lights, a Christmas tree, and all kinds of presents. However, the only boxes that decorated the house this year were moving boxes. Almost everything was packed now, except for some clothes and other stuff they would bring to their trip to Dubai for New Year's Eve. What should've been a short trip only to celebrate New Year became an almost four-week-during trip to the big city. A lot of Lando's friends would come along, and it would be the last time they could just relax and have fun before the F1 2022 season would start.
Amelia places her phone against one of the moving boxes on the counter and facetimes her mom. The phone rings a few times before her mom and dad appear on her screen.
"Hey mom! Hey dad! Merry Christmas!" She greets them and waves at them.
"Merry Christmas honey!" Her mom smiles.
"Is Lando there? We want to wish him Merry Christmas as well," her dad says.
Amelia nods. "Yeah, one second." She turns her head away from the phone. "Babe?! Can you come down for a second?!" She screams through the house. She hears a fade answer coming from upstairs. A couple of seconds later, Lando appears in the kitchen while closing the last few buttons from the white shirt he was wearing.
"Hey Alison, hey Steve! Merry Christmas," he greets his parents-in-law and stands behind Amelia. He places his hands on either side of her and lets them lean against the counter.
"Merry Christmas, boy! How are you two?" Steve says.
"We're good. Everything's packed up and ready to go," Lando tells them and presses a small kiss on the back of Amelia's head afterward. Amelia's cheeks start to blush because of his sweet gesture, and she automatically starts to smile. She never felt very comfortable being clingy in front of her parents, but Lando didn't seem to mind it at all.
"How's everything over there?" She asks her parents, trying to distract herself.
"Everything's ready for when the family comes over later. We'll make sure to leave some leftovers for when you two are coming over tomorrow," her mom chuckles.
"That would be great, mum," Amelia laughs. After chatting for some minutes, Amelia hangs up and lets her head rest against Lando's shoulder. He starts to smile and presses a kiss on her cheek and her neck before pushing himself off the counter.
"C'mon, love, we've got to get ready," he says and grabs her hand to help her get up from the barstool. They walk upstairs and get themselves ready for Christmas. When they're done, Lando closes the small suitcase lying on the bed. They would stay at Lando's parent's house tonight and then drive to Amelia's parents the next day.
Amelia had dressed in some simple black trousers with a nice silver glittery top. Lando had decided to wear a white shirt on top of some black jeans, very much to Amelia's liking. While Lando was placing everything in the car's trunk, Amelia checked if they had everything and closed the front door behind her after she was done. She walked over to the car and took place next to Lando, who had been waiting for her behind the wheel.
After an hour's drive to Lando's parental home, he drove the car on the driveway. He parked the car next to Oli's and Sav's, and he and Amelia both got out of the vehicle. While Lando grabbed the suitcase and the bag containing the food for tonight, Amelia got the bags with all the presents they got for Lando's family.
With their hands full, they walk to the front door. Before they can even ring the bell, the door swings open, and Lando's sisters appear in their sight. Even though they saw him a couple of weeks ago at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Flo and Cisca hugged their brother like they hadn't seen him for months.
"I missed you as well," Lando laughs as he tries to wrap his arms around them. He lets go of his sisters, who then walk towards Amelia and embrace her. Soon, Lando's parents, brother, and Sav join the hugging party. They all walk inside after having hugged everyone.
Everyone sat together in the living room. Lando's parents sat with their first granddaughter in their arms. Adam gave Millie a bottle under the supervision of his wife. Amelia, Oliver, and Sav were catching up, and Lando had joined his sisters in a playfight with Uno. After Adam was done feeding Mila, he handed her over to Cisca and stood up from the couch.
"Alright, I think it's time for presents," he says and walks over to the Christmas tree in the corner of the room. Lando, Flo, and Cisca stop their playfight with the golden retriever and walk over to the couch. After jumping on the couch next to Amelia, Lando wraps his arm around her and looks as his dad grabs the first present of this afternoon.
"Looks like the first one is for our newest guest," Adam says with a smile and hands the present over to Amelia. She unwraps the present with slight blushing cheeks and takes out a beautiful necklace. She immediately recognizes it from the holiday in Greece last summer, where she saw it hanging in a small boutique when she was shopping with Sav and the other girls.
"You remembered," Amelia says with a big smile around her lips as she looks at the necklace in her hands. "Thank you so much." She walks over to Oli and Sav and hugs them.
After a couple of gifts, it was Lando's turn to get one from underneath the tree. He grabs a small one and hands it over to Amelia. "This is from me," he says and sits down next to her before sliding his arm around her middle.
"You didn't have to," she tells him before unwrapping it under Lando's vision. A small black box appears under the wrapping paper. When she opens it, a golden bracelet appears. It had a heart charm that matched the one from her necklace he'd given her when he asked her to be his girlfriend.
"It's beautiful," she says softly and looks at him. He picks it out of the box and puts it on her without saying anything. "Thank you," she whispers to him before giving him a kiss on the corner of his mouth.
"First a necklace, now a bracelet," Flo sums up. Amelia and Lando both look at her. "When is the ring coming, brother?" She jokes at them. Lando looks back at his girlfriend and automatically gets a grin on his face.
"Soon enough," he answers his sister, making Amelia blush.
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After more presents, a lovely dinner and a lot of chatting, it was time to go to bed. Amelia had just finished her shower and walked into Lando's old bedroom. Lando was already in bed, waiting for her to join him.
"Who would've thought I would be sleeping in your childhood bedroom?" she says as she closes the door behind her and walks towards the bed.
"I didn't even think I would ever sleep here again," Lando admits chuckling. Amelia gets in the bed and cuddles up to him. She lets her head rest on his chest and listens to his heartbeat while he strokes her hair with his fingers.
"How was your first Christmas with the Norris family?" He asks her after a moment of silence.
"Absolutely perfect," she answers him and looks up at him. "I already knew they were lovely. I really enjoyed it spending it with them and you."
"That's good to hear," Lando smiles at her. "On to more Christmasses together then."
Amelia nods at him, and they both lean in for a kiss before they slowly fall asleep together.
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I can't believe it's only two more chapters left after this...
I know I promised you a teaser from the new Max story that's coming after this one. It will be called 'desire', and this is the book's quote:
"𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚒𝚛𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚢 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍"
I'm so excited for it! I hope you can't wait either! Let's enjoy the last two chapters for now before we move on to a new story :)
See u sunday! xx