Madelyn was screwed. So badly screwed. Last night the Daily Mail article came out about her and Lando. However, the person in the screenshot was not Madelyn but Luisa. If people had looked closely at the entire video, they would've seen that she was sitting next to the couple along with Max. Only they hadn't, and because she had posted photos of Lando on her Instagram earlier that day, people thought it was her.
When she saw the article she immediately called her boyfriend and explained to him that it was not true. To her great relief, Max believed her, even though he did sound a little jealous of the fact that she was having so much fun with Lando. But when she managed to reassure him and tell him that she was extremely looking forward to their week together in Monaco next week, that jealousy seemed to disappear again. Max tried to calm her down and told her that this would blow over on its own. Only it didn't. The article had gone viral, and all of F1 social media was full of photos and gossip about her and Lando.
Madelyn hadn't slept that night. Worries about how the team would take this and what kind of trouble she would get into because of this haunted her mind. The first thing she had done that morning afterward was to call Max again. Together they tried to come up with a plan of action without having to tell the team that they were in fact the ones in a relationship. It took longer than they had expected. To be exact, it took all afternoon. But maybe that was also because they couldn't resist talking about their plans in Monaco. Max was still being secretive about where they were going but promised her she would love it.
While Madelyn was working all day to come up with a solution, Lando hadn't been in touch with her about this issue. Therefore, she decided to visit the yacht. Lando would be here for another two days before they would leave further toward Greece, so she needed to speak to him before then. She texted him right after her FaceTime call with Max. Not much later, she received a reply that told her to come Lando's way immediately.
As fast as she could, she left toward the dock. As she stepped onto the big boat, she was greeted by Oliver, Lando's brother. He immediately told her where to find Lando. With a quickened step, she walked through the halls of the yacht. In one of the hallways, she ran into Max Fewtrell.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" He asked, a bit confused.
"I need to speak to Lando," she told him in a hurry. She stopped in front of Lando's bedroom door since that's where he was according to Oliver.
"I wouldn't go in the-" Max tried to warn her. But before he could finish his sentence, Madelyn had already knocked on the door and opened it, not wanting to wait for an answer. She should've because she walked in on Lando and Luisa making out on the bed. Luckily, still with all their clothes on.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" She immediately said with burning red cheeks, hearing Max's laughter behind her. Startled, Lando and Luisa jumped off the bed with cheeks the same color as Madelyn's.
"Lyn, hi. I didn't know you were here already," Lando mumbled ashamed.
"Look, I didn't mean to interrupt anything but we really need to talk, Lan," Madelyn said.
"Yeah, you're right." Lando scratched the back of his neck before he turned to Luisa. "We'll be right back." He kissed her cheek gently before he walked passed Madelyn out of the room.
"I'm sorry," Madelyn said to Luisa, who gave her a kind smile.
"No problem. Your problem is more important than this," she said with a soft Portuguese accent. Madelyn gave her a thanking nod and followed Lando into the hallway.
"Let's take a walk," Lando suggested, to which Madelyn agreed. They walked off the boat and made their way to the beach. It was the end of the afternoon, so the sun had already started to go down. When they arrived on the beach, they took their shoes off and decided to walk close to the sea.
"Luisa seems like a nice girl," Madelyn started speaking, not wanting to talk about their problem right away.
"She is." The smile Lando had on his face while he said that showed everything to Madelyn. That boy was deeply in love, and he put no effort into hiding it from everyone.
"When did you two meet?"
"I met her on Instagram the same week in Austria where we cleared things up between us, remember?" Lando told her.
"Oh, I remember," Madelyn chuckled. "So you moved on fast, huh?" She smirked his way, watching Lando's cheeks turn pink.
"Oh, no... we didn't immediately... it took a couple of weeks before we started flirting with each other..." Lando stammered.
"Relax, I was joking," Madelyn winked at him, after which the both of them chuckled for a while.
"So how have you been holding up?" Lando asked. He knew Madelyn was quite new in this world, even though she had handled all media rumors about Max. But this was the first one where she was involved, and Lando knew that could be hard.
"I'm fine. For now, at least," Madelyn said.
"Has the team contacted you yet?" Lando asked as they stopped walking for a moment.
"No, I only spoke to Max this morning. He tried to calm me down a bit, which worked. I'm a lot calmer now than I was this morning, trust me," Madelyn chuckled. Lando looked down at her and smiled.
"I'm glad Max is there for you. Wasn't he mad at you, at us?"
"No, why would he be?" Madelyn asked a bit confused.
"I don't know," Lando shrugged. "He already didn't like what happened between us in Monaco. I can only assume he didn't like this either, especially now he's your boyfriend." He grinned at her after saying the last word.
Madelyn's eyes widened. "How... how do you know that?" She said speechless.
"I didn't until two seconds ago," Lando said to her, still having a massive grin on his face. "I already had my suspicions after Austria. After our conversation in the paddock, he texted you. The way you looked at that text betrayed you. It was also the moment that made me realize you belonged to him, and not me." Madelyn's head turned completely red, causing Lando to chuckle.
"Don't worry, I'm happy for you two. When did it happen?"
Madelyn bit her bottom lip, not wanting to answer that question. But she kind of had to, now that he knew about her and Max. "Monaco," she mumbled. "It happened after I..."
"Ran away from me," Lando finished softly, guilt clearly present in his voice.
"Yeah," Madelyn confirmed him. "He was there to comfort me. One thing led to another and before we knew it we confessed how we felt about each other."
Lando looked down at his feet as he nodded. When he looked up again, Madelyn saw the same regret he had in Austria again in his eyes.
"Lyn, I'm still so sorry about what happened that night. It never should've, but it did and I still regret it."
"I know you do," Madelyn said and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "And I already told you it's okay." She bit the inside of her lip, doubting whether she should tell him her reason. Maybe not the entire reason, but a bit more than last time.
"Besides," she continued. "I never told you my reason."
"Yeah, because you said you weren't ready for that. And that's fine. I don't need to know it," Lando said determinedly.
"But I want you to know. Maybe it will help with forgiving yourself because you clearly haven't fully." Madelyn sat down on the sand, her knees pulled to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. Lando joined her and looked at her waitingly.
"When you kissed me in Monaco, you reminded me of someone. Someone I have no good memories of," Madelyn started. "The guy was my boyfriend. He took me out to a club in London for my twentieth birthday with Isla and Ellis. We had a great night until he got too drunk."
"Don't tell me he touched you without your permission," Lando said warningly, even though he knew he had done the exact same thing.
Madelyn nodded slowly her head. "He did. Luckily, some other guy pulled him off me and dragged him out of the room. I'm okay with telling people this now, but in Monaco, I wasn't. I'm also still not over it. I still have nightmares about this. When you touched me in the same spots as he did, I got flashbacks."
"So you got scared and ran away from me. Understandable," Lando concluded.
"I ran to the dock. Max apparently saw me running away and followed me. We eventually went back to his apartment, and-"
"Yeah, yeah. I don't need to hear those details," Lando smiled, and Madelyn chuckled along with him. They stayed quiet for a while, enjoying the view over the ocean until Madelyn heard Lando sigh next to her.
"If I had known..." He started mumbling to himself.
"Stop." Madelyn turned her head toward him. "Don't finish that sentence. You didn't, and you never could've known. It happened, you apologized, I forgave you, and we move on now. You have Luisa, I have Max, and we are good friends."
Lando wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into a hug. "You know, a couple of months ago the word 'friends' would've broken my heart," he joked. Madelyn softly laughed against his shoulder. Now it was her turn to sigh.
"So, what are we going to do now?" She asked him.
"I don't know what to do about your team. I'm sure they'll be furious," Lando said as he let go of her.
"Ugh, don't remind me." Madelyn covered her face with her hands as she let out a loud, frustrated groan.
"However, I do know what we could do about all those fans gossiping about us," Lando continued while he grabbed his phone out of his pocket. Madelyn looked at him, confused. "What are you doing?"
Lando smiled at her as he pointed the camera at her. "Just wait and see."
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landonorris 21m
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Can't believe it's already the last race of the season! 😭 I'm not ready to say goodbye to Danny, Seb, and Mick (and Goatifi ofc). Yesterday's photos of the dinner were SO CUTE. Let's focus on the last race and make it a good one! 🇦🇪