formula1kate

[formula1kate]

A Dubai Reunion Pt. 3: Now or Never

check out my masterlist to read parts 1 and 2

I could practically feel the Dubai sun tanning my skin. The droplets of water stuck to my body from my swim in the sea were disappearing by the second. But I was too distracted to care. Not distracted by a certain McLaren driver, for once; but from a book, which helped me to ignore the mixed signals my brain was sending me about my best friend. Why did it feel so different today? 

In the past, I would've never thought about the small things that happened between us which gave me butterflies. I wouldn't have given a second thought to Lando's hands being so close when he was helping me buckle into my seat. Or how good it felt to run my hands through his curls. How brilliantly blue his eyes looked as we swam in the sea. And I certainly wouldn't have gotten butterflies from something as simple as him opening my door -- which he'd been doing for years. 

"Max is here," a British voice interrupted my thoughts. The same thoughts which had distracted me from the book that was supposed to be my distraction.

I tore my eyes away from the page and raised my brows, waiting to see if there was going to be any more information about his best friend. Evidently there wasn't going to be any as Lando simply stared at me, awaiting a response. 

"I'm guessing you mean Fewtrell," I assumed. 

He pushed his sunglasses on top of his head and said, "Obviously, you muppet. Why would I go on vacation with Max Verstappen?" 

"I don't know, maybe you guys had become friends. Anyway, where has he been? I haven't seen him since I got here." 

"He actually got here today. You guys should have dinner tonight or something." 

Max and I had been friends since he and Lando became friends. Obviously we weren't as close as Lando and I, but I still wouldn't hesitate to tell him details of my life that most people wouldn't know. I didn't see Max frequently because I wasn't in London often, and when I was he was usually traveling for a race. It would be good to catch up with my old friend. 

"Yeah, I'll text him. Is there a reason you didn't include yourself in your suggestion?" 

Lando's face told me all I needed to know. He wasn't going to dinner with us because he was going out with the girl he'd met out in Dubai, Stella.

"Oh," was all I managed to say. 

"I'm sorry," Lando apologized. "I didn't know you were going to be here. Otherwise, I would've made sure that I could go to dinner. We're going with Oli and Savannah." 

"It's okay," I lied. 

Knowing that Lando was going out with her instead shouldn't hurt my feelings, yet it did anyway. What was so great about her that I lacked? Was she prettier than me? Probably. She was an instagram model, while I was nothing but a student.  

Lando, Oliver, and Savannah had left the pool to get ready for their respective dates, leaving me by the pool. As the sun set, I decided to call Max.

Finding Max's name in my contacts, I pressed the button next to his goofy profile picture of us playing golf. It didn't even take two rings before he picked up. 

"Hey, what's up?" the Brit's voice greeted. 

"Hey, Max. Lando said you were in Dubai." 

"Oh, yeah. He said you wanted to go out tonight," he recalled. 

Lando had already told Max we should 'go out'? Was he trying to pawn me off to his friend so he didn't have to figure out whatever is happening in our tornado of a relationship?

"Oh, shit," Max said before I could continue my spiral of overthinking. "I didn't mean it like that. I meant it as in hang out and have dinner. Not like a date or anything. Not that I wouldn't want to date you, it's just --" 

"Max," I interrupted his rant, a smile crossing my face, "I got it. I'd love to have dinner." 

"Great! I'll meet you in the lobby at seven?" 

--- 

Part of me wanted to run into Lando on his date. Although there wasn't one single part of me that wanted to see them together, I wanted Lando to actually see me looking put together. As if my life hadn't been revolving around thoughts of him since Christmas. 

Which is why I put in more effort than I normally would for a dinner with Max. A nice dress, heels, and makeup really change the appearance compared to shorts and a t-shirt. This extra effort is also what made Max stare at me as I walked up to him in the lobby. 

"You heard me say that I didn't mean it as a date right?" He questioned as I nodded my head in response. "I mean you look incredible. All this for me?" 

He pulled me in for a hug, and I squeezed him tight. It had been a while I'd been with him, and I always kicked myself for seeing him over FaceTime more than I did in real life. Max was an incredibly nice guy and always managed to know exactly what I was thinking, which usually meant we talked about my problems for a considerable amount of time spent together. Not to mention we always had a blast whether it was a night out or playing uno.  

"Ah," he realized. "You didn't dress up for me." 

He had a knowing smile on his face as we pulled apart. 

"Shut up," was all I said, even though it just made him laugh. 

He led me towards the hotel restaurant where we'd made reservations. 

"How'd things go with Lando today?" Max asked into the silence after we'd sat down at the nice restaurant. 

"We talked about our fight and he said that he was stressed about how his whole weekend had gone, racing wise. And I apologized for making him feel second to Pierre. So I think we're good now."

Max nodded, then said, "What about his lady friend?" 

"Oh, Stella? I think that's her name. What about her?" I tried to brush the question off. 

Max knew my response wasn't how I actually felt, and he definitely knew that I know her name. He knew that the situation had been running through my head before I'd even had a conversation with Lando about it. But I didn't want to admit it out loud, because if I did, then I would actually have to come to terms with it. 

"Bullshit," Max challenged. "You know what I'm talking about. And I know that they're doing something tonight and you called me to be your distraction. I'm more than happy to be your distraction, but you have to actually tell me what you're thinking if you want me to help you. You can't be your usual independent and stubborn self in this situation." 

I bit the inside of my cheek. Max was absolutely right, I needed his help. If not to help me figure out the whole situation, at least to help me get over it. As someone who was used to doing things by myself, it was difficult to force myself to let Max into my thoughts. Luckily, I would trust Max with my life. 

"It's fucking with me, Max," I admitted. "I feel like I missed my chance in Monza. I fucked it." 

This was the first time that I expressed my real feelings to anyone, and it felt good to let it out. It made me realize how much I really liked Lando; I thought it was just some silly crush, but now I see that it's grown to be so much more. 

"You're not fucked," assured Max. "You're just in a-- a sticky situation." 

I scoffed, and we fell into a silence. I expected Max to tell me not to worry, that there wasn't really anything serious happening between the two. 

"What do you know about them?" I asked in a quiet voice, worried about the answer to my own question. 

Max sighed, then: "Truthfully, he hasn't really told me that much. I don't know if they're deep into a relationship, but honestly, I don't think they are. I've only met her once when we all went to a club. All they do is go out for dinner occasionally, go to clubs, and then have --" 

"Okay, Max. I get it. I don't really want to know that much of their relationship." 

"Right," he blushed. "Sorry." 

"Why hasn't he told you anything? You're his best friend, but he hasn't said anything to you?" 

Max shrugged and said, "That's why I don't know how serious it is. Don't you think if it was real that he'd talk about her in front of others? Or she'd have met the rest of his family by now? Or been to a race? I know Lando, and I'm not going to tell you our conversations, but I don't think you have anything to worry about." 

---   

It took Lando about five minutes of being in her presence for him to realize the mistake he made. Why was he so ignorant to believe he could distract himself with someone else? Seeing her sitting next to him, laughing at something his brother had said, made him realize what an idiot he'd been. 

Lando wanted nothing more than for her to be laughing at his jokes instead of the woman sitting in front of him. All he wanted was her. To go to races with him, to go on holidays with her, to go to lunch in Monaco with Charles, George, Alex, and her. But he'd blown it by starting that argument all those months ago. 

That was the same night he messaged the other girl, the very pretty one sitting in front of him. Sure, Stella was beautiful, but she wasn't the same. He enjoyed being around her, but it made him think about what could be. 

These thoughts must have been obvious to his brother, who brought it up to the young driver when the two ladies went to the restroom.

"What's with you? You're the one who wanted to go to dinner and you've barely said anything the whole time." 

Lando didn't say anything in response. He wanted to be able to sulk in his own self pity, like he usually did when he thought about her. Was there really anything he could do about their situation? Honestly, he hoped so. But at the same time, he didn't want to ruin things. If being around her meant that he had to stay friends, he would reluctantly do so. There was nothing Lando loved more than bringing her to a race and being distracted by the stress and pressure by her terrible jokes and incredible laugh. Lando realized that he would do anything to hear her laugh like that again; furthermore, to be the reason for her laugh.

"It's wrong of you to use her as a distraction, you know that," Oliver added, pulling Lando out of his thoughts. 

Lando didn't know what to say, he didn't know how to disclose these feelings to his older brother. Oliver was an understanding person, but would he put up with everything Lando was putting their best friend through? How was he supposed to convey to Oli that he wanted to make it right, but didn't know how. 

"I know," Lando replied, absentmindedly twirling his fork.

"That's it? 'You know' isn't good enough. If you know it, then why are you doing it?" 

"I'm not leading her on," the younger brother tried to convince Oliver, and himself, "I like Stella, I really do. I just don't know if she's what I'm looking for." 

The expression on his brother's face was enough to tell him that Oliver didn't believe him for one second. It was the same reaction Oliver gave Lando when he would say something that was only half the truth. Hell, it was the same one he gave the McLaren driver this morning when Lando begged Oliver to let him drive her, citing that she'd feel safer driving with him, because he always drove her when they were together. 

"If you're going to be stubborn and not admit to what you're doing, then it's only going to make it more difficult. The only thing I'll say is that if you want more than friendship, you're going to have to go get it. And if you don't, someone else will be there quicker than you. You've heard what other drivers have said about her." 

He knew, but that didn't mean he was actively thinking about the comments made by drivers. He'd suppressed that terrible experience in his brain, hoping that no one would ever say anything to trigger the memory. Luckily, with Carlos's help, Lando had politely told his fellow drivers to fuck off. Except Pierre, who he barely spoke to. 

Lando was trying to enjoy to enjoy his dinner, and began to push her out of his head, but those thoughts returned the second he walked through the lobby of the hotel. 

There she was, laughing at something Max had said. Lando could remember very clearly the last time that he'd seen her looking that good. It was the after party in Monza, she was wearing a blue dress, not an orange one as he'd secretly hoped she'd had stashed in her suitcase, and was partying with a certain Frenchmen who'd just won his first race. She didn't speak one word to him, and vice versa; but that didn't mean he wasn't staring at her all night, Carlos had made sure to point this fact out. 

There she was again, wearing the same damn blue dress. Lando had no real problem with the dress. Actually he had the opposite of a problem with it. She looked so absolutely stunning that Lando was pretty sure his constant glances her way were going to be obvious to every single person in the hotel lobby. The last time he thought he stared at her so much was when she'd accidentally worn his hoodie at Christmas. That was a very close second to the blue dress. 

Lando decided to be quick with his goodbyes and excuse himself to bed early, before he did something he regretted, which usually included becoming miserable about his situation and inviting Stella up to his hotel room. 

And hours later, as Lando laid there in his too comfortable bed, his brother's advice finally began to sink in. He realized that Oliver was right, as usual. He was going to have to earn her trust back before he could do anything to satisfy the longing feeling he felt for her. Of course he wanted to go on dates tomorrow and bring her to the very first race of the season, but he'd been too distant and stubborn to expect to receive that kind of treatment. 

Thinking about what she'd say if he went to her door, he instantly knew the first question she'd have was 'What about Stella?' so he knew what he had to do, and he needed to do it now while his adrenaline was still rushing from the thought of being with her. 

Dressing quickly, Lando moved to the elevator. The elevator ride took forever as he tried to think about what to say. How was he supposed to tell someone that they were just being used as a distraction without obviously being a prick? Usually Lando didn't have to do that, he just had to fly to the next race and try to forget it ever happened. 

--- 

I hadn't been asleep for very long when there was a soft knock at my door. The last person I expected to see this late at night was my best friend. For once in my life, I could not read the expression on his face. He answered any questions that I was going to ask with his message, speaking immediately as I opened my door. 

"I know I fucked up, and I know I need to earn back my friendship with you before I even talk about any sort of relationship. But please, let me fix it. I don't want to loose what we have." 

I didn't need to say anything. Lando was right, even though I wanted to disagree and to say that he could take me on a date right now, I couldn't. It's too similar to what he would do with someone casual, someone that he sleeps with for one night and hopes that he doesn't have to run into at the same time next year. I couldn't let myself do that. I wanted to be back to where we were in our friendship before we did anything else. If we could do that, then I would have more hope that if something was to go wrong, our friendship would still survive. If we were going to make this work, it would take a while. 

What I did let myself do is open the door a little bit wider. Wide enough for the British boy to get the hint: if we were going to do this, we were going to do it right. 

///

a.n. hope you liked part 3! there will be a bit of a skip in time between now and pt 4. feel free to message me any requests or thoughts! hope you enjoyed :)

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[formula1kate]

A Dubai Reunion Pt. 2: An Abundance of Apologies

read pt 1 here

a.n. // thank you for the love on part one! if you want to be added to the tag list, feel free to let me know and I will add you!

Climbing into the McLaren, I realized that the thirty minute drive would probably be spent in silence as Lando sped through the streets of Dubai, which is why I had to hide my surprise when he started up a conversation. 

"How is uni going? You're in your third year, right?" Lando inquired. 

"Yeah, it's my last year." 

"Wait, I thought in America you do four years of university instead of three." 

"Usually you do," I told him, "but, I took college classes in high school and earned credit because I did advanced classes, so I finished the first year by the time I finished high school." 

"Ah, yes. How could I forget?" Lando said, glancing over at me before he turned onto the main road, speeding up in the sports car.

Since we'd gotten back to a place of at least being civil, I decided to reveal something which may have a major impact on our relationship in the future. 

"I'm moving to London for the rest of the semester. And the summer." 

"Oh." 

Lando was silent for the next minute. In a hurt voice the Brit said, "Why didn't you tell me?" 

"We haven't been on good terms in months, Lando. I -- I didn't know how you would react."  

His McLaren was stopped at a red light, and he took the opportunity to look over at me. I could tell in his eyes that he was genuinely upset by the fact that I hadn't told him I would be living only a twenty five minute drive from him instead of being an ocean apart. 

"What could you possibly think I would do? Tell you not to move? Plus, I know you and I know that my saying so wouldn't stop you."

"I don't know," I admitted. "I just didn't want to cause another argument." 

Lando's face softened. He looked straight ahead as he drove, but the hurt in his eyes had faded. Although his eyes didn't meet mine as he focused on the road, I continued to watch him. 

"I'm sorry," said Lando. "I didn't mean to start an argument, I was just surprised that you wouldn't tell me. Or that my family hadn't told me." 

"I haven't told them," I revealed. 

"Why?" 

"I don't know, I guess I felt guilty for not telling you so I decided that when I tell them I'll just tell you at the same time." 

He was trying to stop a smile from taking over his face, I could tell. I couldn't help but giggle at the driver in front of me as Lando bit his lip to try and contain his excitement over not being shut out of my life completely.

"What?" He asked, beginning to laugh as well. 

"You're so bad at hiding your emotions," I teased him. 

Between laughters he said, "I know. But it's nice to know you were thinking about me." 

Lando and I had never admitted any sort of feelings to one another; although our friends and Lando's siblings made it obvious that the two of us should be together. But admitting any feelings would be a risk to not only our friendship, but make every shared holiday and race weekend uncomfortable for the both of us. If something didn't work out, having that awkwardness when we're trying to interact in a social setting could make whatever tension previously there worse. 

"Lando?" 

"Yeah," he replied in a soft, calm voice. 

"Are you dating her?" 

"I don't know," he said in the same tone. "I-I don't know." 

"What does that mean?" I asked. 

"Um, it means I don't know," he said, smirking over at me. 

"Lando," I complained. "Please tell me." 

Immediately after those words left my mouth, I realized how desperate I sounded. But to tell the truth, I did desperately want to know if he was dating her. I don't think I would be upset if they were dating. A little disappointed, sure. Lando and I never did anything about whatever feelings that linger between the two of us, we never even tried to speak about it; I never asked him to wait for me.  He's still my best friend, and I wouldn't hold it against him. Not outwardly anyways.  

"We talk and go out, but that's it really. So I don't know if she thinks we're dating or just in the chatting phase, whatever the hell that means." 

"Do you think you guys are dating?" 

"Yes," he instantly replied. 

I was disappointed, but there was nothing that I could do. I would never interfere with something that could make Lando happy, no matter how much I wanted to. 

Lando pulled off the highway and down the road to get to the quad bikes when he said something I never thought would come from his lips. 

"I thought maybe for a bit that there was something between us; maybe that was just me." 

I didn't say anything as we pulled into the parking lot and decided in that very moment that Lando and I needed to sort out whatever it was that was going on between us. I didn't want to spend anymore time or brainpower to think about being more than friends if he didn't feel the same.

Just as I opened the door and was about to climb out the McLaren, I turned to Lando and said: "I thought there was something, too." 

Before the group left to drive the deserts of Dubai, it was established that Sav and Oli would go together and Lando and I would drive together, which was settled by a mix of Lando and Oli wanting to race and Oliver's extraordinary ability to force Lando and I to spend time alone together. 

We both settled into the ATV with Lando in the driver's seat. He did his intricate seatbelt and buckles with ease, seeing as he was used to doing it nearly every weekend for many years; however I was having a bit more trouble. 

"Need some help there?" Lando asked, gripping his belts and pulling on them to make sure that they were tight enough. 

"I don't know how you do this every weekend. It's so confusing," I admitted. 

Lando gave me his signature grin, which, no matter how much I didn't want to admit it, made my heart flutter and put butterflies in my stomach. 

"That's why someone else does it for me," said Lando. 

"What? You don't do it yourself? That seems silly. One guy's whole job is to buckle you into your seat." 

He reached his hands over towards me, gripping the buckles and putting them together. Halfway through, I realized that I was holding my breath. Why was I so nervous around him? Even though I'd had feelings for him for a while, I had never had this feeling when he was this close.  

He buckled the main belts for me, then said, "I know, but it's for safety I guess." 

"Thank you," I mumbled. 

"No problem," he replied with a smile. 

He put the key in the ignition and followed Oliver to the trail that had been created for the buggies. We lined up side by side at the beginning of the trail. 

"You guys ready to go?" A worker yelled over the roar of the engines. 

Lando and Oliver both gave a thumbs up.

I took a deep breath to prepare myself for the start, knowing Lando I knew would make his foot lead on the throttle. 

"You good?" the British boy to my left asked. 

I nodded. Lando looked over to Oliver. 

"Count down from 3?" Lando yelled to Oli over the sound of the engines. Oli nodded in response. 

"One," Oliver shouted. "Two. Three!" 

I lurched forward as Lando pressed his foot on the gas. I was used to Lando speeding on the highway, but I wasn't used to being in an actual race with him. By the time Lando had established a sizable lead in front of his older brother, he finally decided to use the brainpower to speak. 

"Are you alright?" he yelled. 

"Yeah," I yelled back. "Just forgot that you're actually a professional so you know how to properly get off the line." 

I heard him laugh in the seat next to me, then: "They don't pay me for nothing!" 

The next few moments were filled with silence. It wasn't awkward as it might've been this morning, this time is was comfortable. We were both in our element, doing fun things and enjoying each other's company. Back in the day, Oli and Lando had convinced me to participate in karting with them, and the three of us were very competitive. Although it was Lando who had competitiveness with his brother and a desire to beat his best friend. Oli and I were great friends on and off the track. When it came time to put the helmets on, though, Lando was a different story with both myself and Oliver. 

"I know it's not serious, but I'm still focused on this, so if I don't talk it's --" 

"Lando," I interrupted, "You don't have to get me your speech, I've heard it before. And I know how important it is for you to win." 

"Right, sorry." 

I shrugged, showing him that I didn't mind as we yet again fell into a comfortable silence.  Although it was just silence between us, silence was better the recent circle of arguing and awkwardness.  As Lando transported us across the sand, I let my thoughts wander to the last time the two of us had been left alone for an extended period of time. 

---

The English countryside was much colder than winter in the United States, and I hadn't experienced the English winter for many, many months. Luckily, the Norris household was plenty warm. 

My parents, who during the summer months and a few weeks in the winter inhabited the house next door -- although next door was a term used loosely, as there was plenty of land between the two houses -- usually came to England for Christmas. However, this year they'd decided to abandon me for a Caribbean cruise; Mr. and Mrs. Norris had very kindly invited me to stay with them for the holidays. 

I'd arrived to the Norris family home three days before Christmas, and Lando was the only thing on my mind. In the past month since my Christmas arrangements had been made, I'd brought up the topic of Lando multiple times to his siblings. I'd never admitted to them what our fight in Monza had been about, but they all knew that something between the two of use had changed. 

As I was sitting on the couch in what us kids had called the 'reading room' as children, Cisca spoke into the silence. 

"Please, can you tell me what happened between you and Lando?" She asked, then looked to her older siblings. "Or can one of you tell me?" 

I put my book down and looked at the youngest Norris. As I realized that there was a good chance that she'd be able to get it out of me, I looked to Oli for help. He'd never told me that he knew what happened, but I knew that Lando had told him. Lando has told Oli everything that's ever happened between us. Which is fine, because I know that Oliver can be impartial -- he might be Lando's brother, but I've known him just as long. 

"It's not that important, Cis," Oli told her. "And it's between them, it's not our business." 

"I'd like to know, too," Flo agreed with her sister. 

Before anyone could say anything else, there was the sound of a roaring engine in the driveway. All of us turned our heads to the source of the sound. Parked in the driveway was a black McLaren, and the windows revealed a certain British racing driver. 

My head whipped towards Oli before returning to the driveway to see Lando opening the door to his McLaren. 

"Oliver, you told me Lando wasn't going to be here till Christmas eve." 

"Oh my God, Oli, you absolute muppet," Flo said. She turned to me and said, "He told us he was getting here today." 

I narrowed my eyes at Oliver.

"Flo, Cisca," Oliver got the attention of his sisters as he stood up, "let's help dad outside." 

"But, I want to see what happe--" 

"Cisca! Let's go," Oli ushered his sisters out of the room and into the backyard just as the door in the next room opened. 

"Oli? Dad?" A familiar voice called out, only to be met with silence. 

I stood up and walked to the kitchen, where the voice had come from. Standing there in front of the door to the garage was Lando. He looked me right in the eyes and I thought for a moment that I was going to having a heart attack. Maybe that was a bit dramatic, but I hadn't seen Lando in months, except for when Pierre and Charles had invited me to Russia and Tuscany respectively. Although we didn't speak but for a few words and a quick hug before and after races. Tensions were high between us but that didn't mean I wouldn't hug him before and after races. I could never be upset with him in the paddock for fear of Lando getting into a crash. 

His piercing blue eyes were looking into my own, like he was staring into my soul. After an unnatural amount of time for two people to stare at one another, Lando finally spoke; but the words that left his mouth were certainly unexpected.

"You're wearing my hoodie." 

I looked down at the hoodie I was currently wearing:a yellow Alpinestars hoodie.  When I'd arrived to the house last night, I'd been very cold and not yet adapted to the British weather. There was a hoodie laying on the back of a chair in the kitchen. I asked Oliver if it was his, and requested to wear it because it looked warm and I couldn't be bothered to go upstairs and dig through my suitcase to find one of my own hoodies. 

Oli said that it wasn't his and he didn't know who it belonged to, but I was welcome to wear it. I didn't admit it to Oli, and I certainly wouldn't now, but I'd kept the hoodie on since last night because it brought me a sense of comfort. It not only was warm and perfectly oversized, but it also smelled like Lando. After knowing Lando for so long I knew his smell, and it's become a sense of comfort. Admittedly, I assumed that I was just smelling him in the house, not the hoodie that'd I'd been wearing religiously since my arrival last night. 

"Oh, sorry. I can take it off." 

Lando furiously shook his head and said, "No, no, don't take it off. You look good in it. I have loads of hoodies, anyway." 

I tried my best to show that I wasn't affect by Lando's comment about me looking good in his hoodies, but it was immensely difficult to pretend that Lando had just said I looked good in his hoodies. 

"How's school going?" Lando asked. "Still getting your marketing degree? Or was it psychology? Sorry, I should know that." 

I smiled at his trying to show that he cares, and said, "No, you're actually right on both. I'm getting a degree in psychology with a minor in marketing." 

He smiled and said, "Oh, I was right. Nice!" 

"I guess you're officially done with having Carlos as a teammate."

"Yeah. Kinda sad, but I'm interested to see what it's like to work with Daniel," he said to me. 

"Lando?" 

"Yeah?" 

I didn't know what I was going to say, but I just wanted to make things right between us. Things have been tense for a while,I just wanted to be able to sit with him and laugh and be as comfortable as we were a year ago; but I couldn't find the words to  tell him. The only thing I could do was try to fix what happened between us in Monza. 

Before I could open up to the McLaren driver, the backdoor opened and Mrs. Norris, out of excitement for seeing her son, brought both of us in for a group hug.

---

Once Lando had established a sizable lead, he'd put less focus on driving, so I figured now would be the time to try and have a heart to heart with my childhood best friend.  By the time I worked up the courage to tell him my thoughts, he was about to cross the finish line. I didn't have a plan for what I was going to say, or how to start the conversation, so I decided to skip the beginning and start with the important stuff. 

"I'm sorry. For Monza, I mean. I didn't realize you felt like I was ignoring or abandoning you or throwing away our relationship for someone else." 

The buggy came to a halt as Lando took his foot off the gas and turned the engine off the quad bike. He took the time to unbuckle from his seat so that he could fully turn and face me.  

"You don't have to apologize for anything, it's not your fault. I was sort of jealous the whole weekend cause we weren't hanging out as much as I hoped we would. But also I'd just missed out on a podium and Carlos had beaten me. I guess all the stress and pressure and disappointment built up at once. I shouldn't have taken it out on you, and I'm sorry for that." 

I don't actually know what I expected Lando to say, but it wasn't that. The fact that Lando had felt as bad about the incident as I did was comforting -- it showed that, even if he had a girlfriend and hadn't really spent time with me in months, he still cared about us having a good relationship. 

If we don't want to keep having arguments every time one of us hangs out with someone of the opposite gender, we need to make sure that we're both on the same page. Even if that means putting my feelings for Lando aside. I'd rather be on speaking terms with him and not be dating than pining for him at a distance. 

But I didn't know how to speak these feelings into existence. If Lando knew about my feelings for him, and he didn't reciprocate them, then there wouldn't be any going back. 

So instead of using words, I leaned as far over as I could in the restraints of the buckles and hugged my best friend. He squeezed me tightly. It was as if, for the first time in nearly four months, I could breathe normally. All of the stress about Lando hating my guts was finally gone. I decided to push my feelings towards him away for the time being. Just being on speaking terms with the McLaren driver is an accomplishment. 

"Well," the recognizable voice of a British boy yelled, "I think that run shouldn't count, it's been a while since I --." 

"Shut up, Oli," a voice whispered. "Can't you see they're having a moment?" 

Lando and I both pulled apart and turned our heads to the source of the voices to  discover that, while Lando and I were caught up in our hug, the other ATV belonging to Oli and Savannah had arrived at the turnaround point. 

"You guys alright?" Oli asked. 

"Yeah, why wouldn't we be?" Lando called back as Oliver turned off the engine of his buggy. 

Oli looked to Savannah, who shook her head but had a slight smile on her face at her boyfriend. Oliver sighed. Based on my 21 years of experience with Oliver, who almost never sighs, a sigh means he's about to say something that might cause some trouble. 

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe the fact that the two of you get into a stupid argument months ago and don't speak. And now we've just arrived and you guys are hugging as if all this shit hasn't happened. So I was asking if I have to keep hanging out and having separate conversations with the two of you or if you've decided to stop acting like children and have become friends again." 

Oli finished his rant, then stared at the two of us. Lando looked over to me with his eyebrows raised, as if to say 'Can you believe this guy?' and then addressed Oliver's previous speech. 

"We're good," Lando reiterated. "We talked about it and we're good." 

"Oh."

Oli's response revealed that he thought his speech would make us confront the problem head on, although he didn't know that it had been resolved moments before his arrival. Sav laughed at her boyfriend.

"Oli, why would you do that? You knew that they were going to figure it out on some point during the trip." 

"Cause I have to hear them talk about each other to me. Cutting out the middle man -- me in this case -- would really solve a lot of problems," her boyfriend explained. 

Sav rolled her eyes, and I felt my face heat up. Does Lando really talk about me to Oli? I desperately wanted to know the things that he told his brother. Although based on our relationship the past few months, I'm fairly certain it wouldn't be anything I would appreciate to hear.   

I tried my best to discreetly look over to Lando, but he was looking over at Oli, which meant that I couldn't see his face. 

"Let's go back," Lando said, ignoring what Oliver had just said. 

"Lando, could I drive back?" 

Lando looked over at me and said, "You want to drive?" 

I nodded. Lando isn't someone who, when given the option of driving or letting someone else do it, chooses the latter. Usually I don't care. Ever since the two of us could drive, Lando drives anytime we go anywhere. 

"Okay, sure," Lando said. 

I smiled at him and undid my buckles while mumbling a 'thanks'. 

"What's happening?" Oli questioned from his own buggy. 

"We're switching," Lando informed his brother. 

"Oh, now I can get an easy win." 

I'd just climbed into the driver's seat when I looked over at Oli, who had a joking smile on his face. Lando and Sav both made 'ooo' sounds at Oli's remark. 

"Wow, I didn't know you had it in you Oliver. Now I have no choice but to destroy you," I challenged, then looked to Lando, "Can you buckle me in?" 

They all burst out laughing. I pouted and looked to Lando. 

"Okay, okay." 

His fingers easily did the buckles which were so difficult for me. 

"Ready?" Oli shouted once we'd restarted the engines. 

"Wait, this is the clutch, right?" I asked Lando. 

"Oh my God, I'm going to die." 

I laughed as Lando confirmed that it was, in fact, the clutch. 

Sav counted down from three and Oli and I both stepped on the gas. I was quicker off the line though and established a comfortable lead. 

"Wow," Lando yelled through the wind, "I must admit, I'm impressed. I didn't think you'd win, to be honest." 

"Hey!" I exclaimed, although I couldn't even pretend to  be offended when I heard him laugh. 

I drove in silence for the last few minutes of the trail, coming home to make it quite a large victory over Oli, which makes up for the last time Oli and I ever competed in karting and he beat me. 

When I had turned the engine off and unbuckled, Lando put has hand up for a high-five, which I returned along with a smile. 

"Nice! We both destroyed Oli!" the Brit exclaimed.

Once we got out, a worker came over to us, took the keys then said, "Do you guys want a picture?" 

Lando looked over at me. All I could do was shrug. Of course I wanted to take a picture with Lando; Is our friendship already back to the point where we can take pictures and laugh and pretend that all the arguments never happened? 

"That'd be great," Lando said, handing his phone to the guy. We'd both taken our helmets off at this point, and then ran my hand through my hair. 

Lando put his arm around my shoulder and we both smiled for a photo. Then we both held up the number '1' because, as Lando put it, we're now "the undisputed champions". 

"Wait, did I have helmet hair in those pictures?"

I looked up to Lando's hair and let out a giggle. Lando almost always had helmet hair, and the worst part was that it didn't even look bad. My giggle gave him his answer and his hand went to his hair. My automatic reaction was to reach my hand to his hair to help, but I hesitated. Although helping him with his hair is something I would've done in the past without blinking, he could have a girlfriend now which changes I way that we'll interact with each other.

"Can I help you?" I whispered. 

"Please." he murmured back. 

I put my hands through his hair and within a few seconds his helmet hair was gone. We were standing dangerously close -- so close that I could see his chest moving at a rapid rate and I'm almost positive that he could hear my heart beating. As if we both realized our close proximity at the same time, we took a small step apart. 

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[formula1kate]

Masterlist

Lando Norris

A Dubai Reunion 1 2 3

[formula1kate]

hi everyone! thanks for the love on part one of A Dubai Reunion!! part 2 will be up soon :)

[formula1kate]

A Dubai Reunion

I should have never trusted Oliver. That man could convince me of anything, including going on a last minute vacation to Dubai, where he had promised that his brother wouldn't be accompanying us. But there he was, sitting across from his brother and his brother's girlfriend, looking at his phone through his sunglasses and not even realizing my presence here at the table.  

It's not that Lando and I weren't friends. In fact, we were closer than Oli and I were, but things had changed recently. As Lando had continued to move further and further into the rankings of racing, we saw each other less. We still saw each other a lot, but less than we were when we were eight to fourteen years old, or even before we could talk. When Lando got into Formula One, he invited me to a couple of races per year, and this year was no exception. While there was a pandemic, there was still a limited number of passes that the driver's were allowed to give away for the season, and Lando very kindly gave me one of his. But Lando didn't appreciate my friendliness with the other drivers. It wasn't even flirting, it was genuinely me being friendly. The specific driver that always managed to get Lando upset was Pierre Gasly. 

Pierre and I had become good friends since I met him in 2019, but of course, we were not as close as Lando and I. Besides our yearly Christmas get together, the last time Lando and I had spoken was when we got into an argument in Monza. It was Pierre's maiden win, and I was excited and happy for him. The happiness quickly faded when Lando accused me of prioritizing Pierre over Lando and I's friendship, which obviously wasn't true. 

I was patting myself on the back for deciding to wear some actual clothes and not the pajamas which I had considered wearing down to breakfast. Although, I still wasn't looking my best, it was better than pajamas. I had put on a pair of dark blue sweat shorts and a black bikini, which was under my shorts and what I wore as my top. Since we were having our breakfast by the pool, it wasn't too obscure to do.

Oli was showing Savannah, his girlfriend, something on his phone, so no one at the table noticed my presence. Which was probably for the best because my shock from seeing one of my best friends unexpectedly sitting at my breakfast table would have been noticeable to any onlookers.  The only empty seat was next to Lando, so that's where I was forced to sit. 

Oli looked up at me and I immediately sent a glare his way. It was in this moment that I realized by the twinkle in his eye that he had lied straight to my face when I asked if Lando would be joining us on this trip. Oli didn't say anything about the situation, and instead addressed the whole group. 

"Anyone want to do anything specific today? Or just lay around by the pool?" 

Lando didn't say anything, just continued typing away at his phone. Sav just shrugged. 

"I really want to go on one of those quad bikes in the desert. They look really cool and I've never been on one," I spoke, looking directly at Oliver and not the boy to my left; but that didn't last long as I automatically turned my head when there was a reaction next to me. 

It was a good thing that Lando has had years of neck training, otherwise I reckon he would've had a severe case of whiplash. He turned his head to the side and moved his sunglasses to the top of his head -- I guess to make sure he was really seeing me sitting next to him. It was probably quicker than his best reaction to the lights going out on the grid. 

"What the hell are you doing here?" 

"I was invited, Lando," I informed him. 

There was silence from both of us. Oliver broke it by saying, "I'm going to ask the front desk about quad bikes. Sav, you coming?" 

"Yep, I'll come," she said. 

I gave Oliver a pleading look as he got up to leave me alone with a boy who was currently looking down at his phone. He shrugged and then smiled at me before walking away and leaving me with Lando. 

I had seen rumors on Instagram about Lando coming to Dubai to see a girl, although I didn't really know anything about her. I'd just seen from some Lando fan pages which popped up on my explorer page that he had been liking all her photos and commenting emojis on her posts.  But I don't know if that actually means anything and when I asked Oliver about the topic before Christmas he said that he didn't know if they were dating, and that Lando hadn't said anything about her. Although I assume that Oli was trying to spare my feelings, as I know better than anyone that the two of them are very close and share almost every detail of their lives with one another. 

After a minute of me sitting while Lando typed rapidly on his phone, he finished whatever he was doing placed his phone face down on the table, then looked over to me. 

"How's it going?" He asked in a quiet voice. 

"It's alright," I replied. "Just happy to have a break before my next semester of school." 

He nodded, but stayed silent. I decided that I needed to say something, but I had no idea what to say. I had no idea what had been going on in his personal life since the beginning of September when we'd gone to Monza together. So, I stuck to something I actually knew about. 

"So, P3 in the Constructors. That's pretty nice." 

He looked over at me and I couldn't exactly read his emotions in his eyes. Usually we were pretty good at reading each other since we had been friends for our whole lives, but I couldn't tell in this moment. I was fairly certain that it was either disappointment or hurt. 

"Don't give me that fake bullshit that people I'm forced to meet for work say. We're not strangers," Lando said. I could tell that he was offended that I chose a topic that was so impersonal to him, but it's not like I had a choice. 

"It's not like I know you that well at the moment," I argued back at him. "We haven't spoken in months and you just expect me to pretend like we're still best friends when every time we argue every time we're together."

"That's not only my fault," he responded. "And we just spoke like 2 weeks ago at Christmas." 

"That doesn't count, Lando. We had a conversation that lasted 5 minutes. The rest of the time you ignored me and we didn't say anything that was genuine when we were in front of your family." 

"Maybe that's true, but we still spoke." 

I was instantly reminded of why I tried my best to make sure that Lando would not be accompanying us on this vacation. I wanted so badly to reconnect with him, but it was so difficult. Especially when I was wishing that we could be more than friends. For a few months there I think we both believed that the two of us were going to get together, but then the incident with Pierre happened and it fizzled out. And every time I think about us, I become disappointed about the fact that the two of us haven't been able to work it out. 

Lando looked as if he was going to say something to me, but there was a voice calling my name from across the pool deck. I turned my head towards the voice, which I had recognized but didn't want to confirm yet. But as I turned my head I saw him walking towards us -- Pierre. The man which had caused the riff between Lando and I. Pierre and I hadn't ever brought up the possibility of us dating, it was strictly a friendship, no matter what Lando thought. 

Pierre walked over to the table, and I stood up when he finally made his way here and gave him a hug. 

"Hey," Pierre said, "I didn't know that you were here!" 

"It was a last minute trip. My friend convinced me to come only a few days ago," I explained to the Frenchman standing in front of me. 

"I see," he looked down at Lando, who was staring at his phone. 

Although it was only when Pierre began explaining the details of his trip to me that I snuck a glance at Lando and saw that he was indeed staring at phone, but it was a blank screen. He was just staring at his phone as if there was something very interesting going on, but it was completely blank. 

"So, I'll be here for the rest of the week, if you want to hang out," Pierre finished. 

"Yeah, I'll have to ask Oli what the plans are for the week, but I'd definitely want to hang out." 

Lando had eventually pushed his phone away and looked up at the two of us standing, which was when Pierre decided to say something to his fellow driver. 

"What's up Lando?" Pierre greeted, putting out his fist, which Lando reluctantly bumped. Pierre looked between the two of us and appeared to have realized something. "Are you guys here together, or..." 

We, of course, weren't here together. Although upon further thought I realized that since Oli and Savannah had left it appeared as though we were having breakfast, together, and on a vacation, together. 

"Sorry to ruin the party, but I think our food is here." 

Lando had completely ignored Pierre's question and settled for quite a rude way to tell my friend -- and his colleague -- that it was time for him to go. Pierre wasn't affected by it, and instead gave us both a very friendly goodbye. 

He hugged me again before saying: "Hope to see you soon, let me know if you have a free day soon!" 

"Will do!" I responded before sitting down. 

"See you mate," Pierre said to Lando. 

Lando replied with, "See you Pierre." 

However, the tone in his voice implied that he wouldn't be in a rush to see the Alpha Tauri driver anytime soon. I doubted that Pierre could detect this tone in his voice, but as someone who had been dealing with Lando for many, many years, I could easily tell. Before I could say anything the waiter came over and left our food with us, the food that Oli had ordered for me being placed in front of me. 

When the waiter left, I said, "Why don't you like Pierre?" 

Lando put his phone down and looked over at me. 

"I like Pierre," He lied. "What makes you think that I don't like Pierre?" 

I furrowed my brows in confusion as I was trying to tell if he was joking with me or not. 

"Cause you're very cold to him. And you basically told him to fuck off when he asked if we were here together." 

"Yeah, because the food was coming," he reasoned. Although I gave him one look to let him know that he couldn't lie to me so easily and he softened and told me a bit of the truth. "And it's none of his business who you're here with. He shouldn't ask those types of questions, you guys aren't that close." 

I smiled, finally glad that he was partially telling the truth. 

"But if Pierre and I aren't close enough, how close do you have to be to ask questions like that?" 

He pondered my question as he took a bite of pineapple. I took a bite of my omelet  while waiting for his response. As I did so I noticed that his hair was curlier than normal. Maybe he was finally embracing the curls, as I had been requesting him to do for years. 

"You have to know each other for a few years," Lando eventually concluded. "You have to really know them." 

I was going to ask him if we were at a place in our friendship to ask these sorts of questions, but Oli and Savannah arrived back to our table.

"Alright, we can go to ride quad bikes at ten, and then this afternoon we can go to this cool beach nearby. The concierge told me about it," Oli told us as he and Sav sat back down at the table. 

"You coming, Lando?" Savannah asked. 

"Yeah, of course," Lando replied. "How could I pass up the opportunity to destroy Oli on some quad bikes?" 

"You're dreaming, mate," his brother replied. 

---

An hour later I was making my way towards the front of the hotel to meet Oli, Sav, and Lando to drive 30 minutes into the desert and ride dune buggies. 

Since we were still going to be going to the beach later in the afternoon, I had only thrown on a black crop top and changed from my slides to a pair of Nike running shoes. (Even though I will not be doing any running.) I opted to wear only the bare minimum of makeup and my usual jewelry. 

Going outside, the rest of the group was standing there waiting to go. There were two McLarens parked out front of the lobby; I could only assume that one of them was for Lando, and he had also managed to snag one for his brother. 

"Sav and I will go in our car, and you and Lando can go in his," Oli said to me. 

I glared at him. I didn't want to ride in a car with someone who I hadn't had a real civil conversation with in months, but I didn't really have any choice. 

Oliver and Savannah climbed into their black sports car, fired it up, and sped out of sight. Which left Lando and I standing there in front of his gold wrapped McLaren. 

a.n. // this is my first post, so let me know what you think!! and if you want part two!