Mutual Friends | Lando Norris

Chapter8 - Sleeping At Last

Lando's Pov

The car performed how we expected today and that was not too well. The Belgian Grand Prix had come to a close and I finished in 12th place. I should've finished a lot higher but the engineers said the car still needs some more fine tuning. Hopefully in Zandvoort they'll have it figured out.

The ringing in my ears got louder since it wasn't competing with the heavy bass sounds of the nightclub speakers. I'm pretty sure an early set headache was on its way too judging from the pounding aches I was receiving in my head. A little bit more alcohol and I'd definitely be throwing up right now.

It's standard behaviour for drivers to party in the cities the Sunday after the race. Some people like to get an early start to the following Grand Prix and others like to saviour in the glory of a race weekend coming to an end.

Normally I don't drink too much when we go out to party. Normally Max and Kelly don't have to drop me off early at my hotel because of said drinking either. I think they were also just looking for an excuse to get out of there.

But this wasn't my hotel...

I should've taken the elevator because these stairs just seem to keep going on. "Come on Norris, one foot in front of the other." I need to work off this edge, I want to be in control of my emotions when I see her.

I thought after everything, I would be okay with not seeing her, okay with not knowing how or why. I was making it out to be bigger than what it actually was, just one drunken night of fun.

But then she showed up to the track again today and acted like she'd been coming for weeks. This time she wasn't shy or hiding in the shadows of her boyfriend. Zak was too focused on the race I guess. I watched her like we were back on the boat again but this time she acted as if I didn't exist.

"I'm never drinking and climbing up 9 flights of stairs again, fuck."

My hands were clammy as I pulled the door leading to the 9th floor open. I was trying to decipher the door numbers and figure out which way her room was in. It took me a bit to get my bearings together as my vision was a bit blurry and the room seemed to be spinning.

"935? 942? 951? 956?? 956. Yeah, she said 956." I rubbed my eyes to make sure I was seeing the right number.

"Fuck. What am I even doing here?" I put my forehead against the door, letting the cold wood touch my skin and wake me up a bit.

"I'm already here... there's no point in turning back."

~~

Liv's Pov

After The Belgian Grand Prix , my dad and I had dinner to close off my first official race weekend. It was nothing crazy, just the two of us with Andreas Seidl and his partner.

Earlier that day I'd also had a meeting with Charlotte to help prepare me for anything that might arise in my time here. Sooner or later, the media outlets, staff outside of higher management, other teams and drivers as well were going to find out who I was. Some fans were already starting to snoop and leave comments on my Instagram account.

"I'm not saying we're outting you, because we're not. At best you have about a week before there's an official blip on you somewhere on social media but here at McLaren, we strongly believe in not only respecting but also protecting the privacy of anyone who wears the team logo. This means that even though you aren't directly affiliated with us, as Zak's daughter it's our job to help you navigate finding your own voice in the f1 community and seeing what that might mean for you later on."

The idea was to dip my toes into this world but this lady was talking about walking into a colossal wave. The thought alone made me really anxious.

When I got back to my suite, I took a hot shower and started to prepare for my departure tomorrow. Zandvoort was only a few hours away by car and having lived in The Netherlands for 4 years, I opted to drive myself there instead and to stay with my friend Bianca for the week.