Another bonus chapter as requested by LilyMay_44 :)
"Emi there's just one more box upstairs I wasn't able to grab it." Lando said as he walked past Emilia to the removal van outside. Emilia nodded and headed up the stairs to her bedroom. Her bedroom, or rather, Emilia and Lando's bedroom, was the most decorated room in the house yet it still felt bare. Most of Emilia's thing had been packed into boxes ready to be shipped to Monaco.
Emilia would return to her house. It wasn't as if she was leaving it forever but it had been where she lived for several years. She had so many memories there. Good ones and bad. There had been times Emilia had spent with Richard here. Those were not happy memories. Though, there had been many happy memories; a lot of them involving Fred. After all, it was him who had given her the house.
"I got this house for my birthday." Emilia said hearing Lando in the doorway behind her.
"Did you?" Lando asked leaning against the door.
"It was the house that my grandparents used to live in. After my Grandma died he moved out. He couldn't keep up with it, the cleaning and all the stairs. Grandad bought a new house and just rented out this one. He gave it to me on my eighteenth birthday so when I was in my first F2 season." Emilia revealed.
"How come you never mentioned it?" Lando questioned sitting down next to Emilia on her bed. She took his hand and laced her fingers with his.
"I know most of you bought your houses and I just felt bad that I got given it." Emilia shrugged.
"Our new house or well apartment will be ours. We've earned that. You've earned that." Lando reminded.
"Yeah I know." Emilia answered leaning her head on Lando's shoulder. "Do you feel sad about selling your house?"
"A little but I don't have as many memories there as you do here. Plus, I'd rather build this new life with you." Lando pressed his lips to the top of Emilia's head and she smiled.
"It's going to be the best chapter." Emilia lifted her head to meet Lando's eyes. Emilia was looking forward waking up next to Lando every day but it didn't stop her not wanting to leave her home. To not be reminded every time she walked into a room about the times she'd had with her family, her friends. The laughter. The chaos. All of it.
"It's okay to be sad." Lando assured tucking a strand of hair behind Emilia's ear. "I'll take this last box down and send the van away. You come and join me when you're ready to leave." Emilia nodded and Lando kissed her before he left.
Emilia sighed and looked around. There were enough memories in this bedroom alone. This was where she's received the call from Jost that Emilia was going to race for Williams. Her bedroom was where her Formula 1 career started. From just one phone call.
In the smallest bedroom there was a cupboard. Emilia went into that bedroom and opened it. It was her favourite place to hide when she played hide and seek with Josh and her Grandad. Fred would always knew where she was but put the effort into looking everywhere else in the room. Emilia would be watching him opening the cupboard door slightly and trying to muffle her giggles. Fred pretended to not hear them, to not spoil the game for her. Emilia would eventually spring out the box and Fred would claim that she was such a good hider. Little memories like that were the reason Emilia didn't want to leave. She didn't want to forget. Her house had so many reminders of him and Emilia was desperate not to forget. Fred was not there to make any memories with her anymore so Emilia had to cling onto the ones she had.
When her parents were away, Emilia and Josh would live with their grandparents. Chocolate for breakfast, chocolate for lunch, chocolate for dinner. Emilia and Josh would come home and they would have eaten so much and laughed so much their stomachs hurt. Those were the good times. Before Emilia started karting, before the fragmentation of her family.
Since moving into this house, Emilia had made new memories. Countless dinners and sleepovers with Lando, George and Alex coming up with craziest games to play. Like the one time they blindfolded George and gave him a nerf gun to try and shoot everyone. He had gotten close to Alex so many times that the biggest struggle was not avoiding being hit by the nerf bullet but instead not bursting out into laughter.
Christine and Aurelia used to come over for girls' night too. Now, it was just Christine who came over. Where Aurelia was and what she was doing Emilia didn't know and she'd rather it stay that way. She didn't want anything to do with her. Despite that, she still had good memories of her though after Monza the memories were tainted.
It had been a good home but Emilia was ready to move on. To live somewhere else with someone else. Emilia had never done that before. It was another new challenge after Emilia's year had already been full of challenges but it was one she was ready to take on with Lando, the two of them, together.
Okay so this is the final bonus chapter because I need to focus on planning the sequel and revising for my exams (I wrote this on my revision break). I loved this chapter, it was slightly inspired by my real grandparents who are just amazing. Very excited for you guys to see what's in the sequel. If anyone wants to ask questions about it so I can give some hints drop a comment because I'd love to talk about it but obviously it's a surprise what I will say though is we hit the ground running in the first chapter. I feel like this story was a little slow to start but this one we go straight into the action. See you all in July :)