I had been hugged non-stop for the last hour as more and less random people had congratulated me. I wasn't too excited for all those people but I was really grateful that there was also people who were actually my friends and I tried to found time to talk to them more. I was also going to be wasted soon if I wanted to keep up with the amount of drinks people brought me. I gladly gave away most of them but there wasn't a time my hand would have been empty. I had seen Mick, but I tried to keep my distance to him because I knew that there was no coming back from there if he would see me.
Right now I was sitting in this small patio outside to get away from the people for minute. I hadn't had a chance to really breath during the past hour. I hadn't been able to even say hi to everyone yet. I mean, I had the drivers pretty much covered but I hadn't been able to talk Ria and guys or even Nick and Cami, who I was sure were somewhere around.
I heard the door open and knew my cover was blown, but the door closed again and I turned to see Lando walking to me.
"Hi birthday girl" he said happily sitting next to me. "Are you okay?" he then asked little more concerned.
"Yeah I'm fine, that is just a lot of people" I said as the music played on the background through the walls.
"Yeah" he agreed. "I can catch up with you later if you wanna be alone?" he then said looking at me.
"No, stay" I told him. "I don't mind having company, I just needed a break from all that" I gestured towards the door.
"I got something for you" Lando said putting his hand on his pocket. "It's nothing big but I want you to have it" he continued giving me a small box.
"You shouldn't have gotten me anything" I looked at the guy next to me and then the box on my hands.
"Open it" he said excited but I could tell he was a bit nervous. I lifted the top of the box and under it was revealed a beautiful necklace which had a small heart and formula car hanging from it.
"I love it" I said speechless. I stared the gift my mouth little open picking it up with my working hand. It was beautiful. It had a little silver chain and the objects hanging from it were the same color. I was absolutely starstruck. "You really didn't need to" I said lifting my eyes back to Lando sitting next to me with a proud smile playing on his lips.
"I wanted to" he said softly. "Can I?" he then asked and I nodded getting up. I was wearing this what I thought was a cute dress. It had an open back and the hem of the dress came half of my thigh. It wasn't tight. More like a sundress than anything else cause once again I had thought this would be a small gathering with my friends, but the dress worked in this case too.
I gave the necklace to Lando and turned my back at him. I could feel his hands coming in front of me and I picked up my hair so it wouldn't be in his way as he placed the necklace around my neck. I felt chills all over my body as his fingers touched the back of my neck and I could feel him close behind me as he breathed while concentrating.
The butterflies on my stomach went wild as he put his hand on the small of my back. "All done" he said and I picked the small formula car between my fingers before turning around. Lando's hand didn't leave my skin as I turned around at it was now rested on my side.
I looked up to meet his eyes that were watching as I twirled the necklace on my fingers. Neither of us said anything we just stared each other and that was the moment I just wanted to kiss him again.
"There you are" the door flew open and Max walked on us, which made Lando drop his hand quickly and I stepped away from him. "We've been looking for you, come on" Max said gesturing me to follow him. I gave Lando an apologetic look before following his friend back inside.
Once again as soon as I stepped inside I had a drink in my hand and this time I drank ít cause I wasn't going to be able get through the night sober. I walked to Ria and gave her a hug as she wished me happy birthday and did the same with everyone else. Lando had walked inside with Max after me and they made their way to us. There was a new face among the once I had already met the week before and he introduced himself as Ethan when I shook his hand.
"So how do you guys know each other?" he asked me and Lando.
"Oh she's like my best friend" Lando said and my stomach dropped. Friend.
"Yeah" I tried to fake a smile. "I need to go say hi to Cami, see you guys around" I said quickly slipping from under Lando's arm which he had placed on my shoulders just now.
"I have a huge problem" I said walking to Cami and Nick taking their hands and pulling them side with me.
"Woah woah, slow down" Cami said as I finally stopped. "Happy birthday by the way" Nick said quickly but I gave him a glare and he shut up.
"I like him, like really like him. I was not supposed to like him again" I shouted over the music as my two friends one extremely confused and one with a huge smile on her face.
"YEES" Cami screamed an jumped up and down. "Finally"
"Yeah well that's not all" I sighed which made Cami little more worried. "He thinks us just good friends" I told them and Cami's face dropped.
"No fucking way" she looked devastated.
"Yeah, so who's gonna get drunk with me and dance til I drop?" I asked and two hands shot up. "That's what I'm talking about"
Next half an hour went past us downing shots with different people and they hit. I could feel the little buzz on my head and decided that it was time for me to take a break from the drinking. I made my way to the crowd looking for a familiar faces. I spotted the Quadrant gang but thought that Lando would probably be there too so I headed towards Charles, Pierre and Carlos who were actually chatting with Mick, but there wasn't really anywhere else for me to go and maybe he wouldn't recognize me after all.
"Hey guys" I said tipsy.
"Woah, easy there" Pierre took a hold of my waist as I almost lost my balance.
"Thanks P" I called him with a nickname I had just came up with. Looking over the crowd I saw Lando looking straight at my drunk self and gave him a fake smile before turning my head away. There was no need for him to know that I was once again falling for him.
"Pierre" I turned to look the guy still holding me up. I had a serious face on.
"Yes" he looked at me little amused.
"I'm starting to get real drunk and I need you to keep an eye on me" I told him.
"I mean sure" he nodded grinning.
"I trust you, and one more thing" I lifted up on finger in front of his face. "Keep me away from Lando, I don't trust myself when I'm so.. you know, let's just try to avoid the same kind of situations than last time" I said making him laugh.
"Oh wow, you really are wasted" he laughed and I could see the amused and little shocked faces of the rest of the guys I had totally forgot were standing around me. The expression on Mick's face was the most confused.
"Wait you two?" he asked moving his finger between us.
"Yeah we fucked but we're just friends" I blurted out making Pierre whine and tilt his head up.
"You really don't have any filter do you?" he looked at me raising his eyebrows while both Charles and Carlos had almost choked on their drinks.
"Nope" I said popping the P in the end.
"Why are you all looking like you've just seen a ghost" Lando said appearing from behind me and Pierre gave me a pointy look.
"Oh Sof was just telling a lovely story to us" Carlos said sarcastically.
"Yeah I think we need to get some water in her" Pierre pointed out still holding me up which seemed to caught Lando's eye.
"I'll take her" he offered and Pierre looked at me trying to find out if he should safe me or not. Turned out he didn't have to as Mick said he would come with us and I smiled him gratefully. I was a bit nervous to be around him as well but I guess little too drunk to care too much about it.
"How did you get yourself so drunk so fast?" Lando asked as we walked towards the counter.
"Well, I had a motive" I told him. "And I've been eating a lot of painkillers this weekend so that might have an affect" I let out like it was no big deal but it made both of the guys stop.
"What?" Mick looked me as he had went all serious. "You know that is dangerous, right?" he then asked.
"Yeah, but I made sure their okay to take with alcohol, so I'm totally safe" I said being the responsible twenty-one-year-old.
"Why have you been eating them?" It was Lando's turn to investigate me.
"So I could do my job" I picked up my cast which was now filled with autographs and drawings.
"You were not supposed to move your wrist" he looked at me disappointed.
"Yeah, well I have time to get better in the summer break" I shrugged my shoulders.
"You're unbelievable" he shook his head.
"I'm going to dance" I said walking away from the guys towards the dance floor finding Ria and rest of the guys dancing and joined them. I was feeling already less drunk so it was now all about having fun and staying away from Lando.
After a while Daniel, Cami and Nick joined us and Daniel handed me a drink.
"Thanks" I told him taking a sip. "Have you heard anything from Max? Is he okay?" I asked him. I had soon after arriving realized Max wasn't here and that he must have been still suffering from the crash he was earlier today.
"Yeah he's fine, just a bit bruised" Daniel smiled which made me feel a little better.
"Good" I said and went back to dancing.