Faking it || Lando Norris LN

20

Olivia Reyes

Tuesday. Barcelona.

"It's okay, yours were true."

I dropped to the floor after the last set of crunches I was able to complete. It was embarrassing. Despite having been able to finish all of the sets in my workout, I was awfully exhausted after each one of them, more than I had ever been. The white ceiling of the hotel gym in Barcelona stared at me right back as I tried to catch my breath.

"You're distracted," Santiago spoke, towering next to me with both of his arms crossed over his gym clothes.

He wasn't in the lightest of moods. Santiago had all of my workouts planned down to the minute and he did so carefully at the beginning of each month, planning ahead the intensity, duration, frequency, and targeted areas of each one to increase my physical condition.

Today had been scheduled as an intense session, but my thoughts hadn't made it possible in the least.

I stared back at him as I got up to my feet, panting and conceding his statement, completely mute.

Distracted. It was impossible not to be. Lando's words kept echoing inside my mind and playing over and over like a broken record.

"It's okay, yours were true."

I'd called him a bluff, insecure, unworthy of love, and in the end, he'd conceded. He'd agreed and declared my venomous words as true.

"You can't afford to," Santiago said, his brows were arched and even though we were both now at eye level, I still felt like he was towering over me. "Go take a shower."

I nodded with embarrassment and took my gym towel as I headed to my room.

It was true, I couldn't afford to be this distracted. But it was also true that I couldn't fathom a parallel universe in which I could be unfazed by Sunday's events.

"Yours were true."

As soon as those words had left his lips, his lashes fluttered slowly and then shut. His loud and steady breathing was the only reason that confusion was able to take over me instead of my previous panicking.

I'd stayed there for a couple of endless seconds —that could've easily been dozens of minutes— just kneeling next to him, my brows furrowed and my gaze glued to his hanging head.

I stood up to get a trash can from the bathroom in case Lando woke up to throw up and fumbled through my suitcase for an oversized t-shirt and some loose pajama basketball shorts I could lend him. I got into comfier clothes and reclined my back against the couch like Lando was, taking a place next to him and throwing my head back.

What was I going to do? The internal debate had been hell, but Lando was now asleep and a lot calmer, which gave me time to think.

I couldn't call Davies, so that was scratched off from the list right off the bat. Calling Gianna would've resulted in Davies finding out anyway, so she wasn't an option either. I trusted Charles more than anyone, I could've called him, but Lando had made it crystal clear that he didn't want anyone seeing him like this, and for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to betray his request.

I kept thinking, bringing my eyes to the stack of clothes folded on top of the coffee table next to us.

I could leave Lando a note over the stack of clothes and go to sleep in Gianna's room. I could tell her I just felt like I needed a sleepover. Or maybe I could search for Lando's keycard and stay in his room while he kept mine for the night.

I shrugged the idea off. I couldn't leave Lando unsupervised. I didn't know much about dealing with drunk people, but I knew that leaving them alone wasn't the smartest choice. He could literally fall back into the floor and choke on his own vomit.