Mutual Friends | Lando Norris

Chapter13 - Secrets In Your Eyes

Liv's Pov

I opened the bathroom door, releasing the sweet escape of trapped steam. The citrus smell of the shower gel spilled over into the empty hotel bedroom.

Lando's quadrant T-shirt was two sizes too big but fit comfortably.  His faint smell lingered on it as I tried to remember the last time I wore a guy's T-shirt. It had been months but this was different.

I put a brave face on and was ready to face him, even if I didn't know what I was going to say.

Eventually, I found the driver lounging by the pool attached to his suite. He was eating a bagel sandwich, shirtless with his back to me, feet in the water.

The closer I got, the more I noticed the muscles that outlined the definition of his back. They stretched and pulled with every movement he made as he continued to eat.

I slowly went to sit next to him, hesitating to put my feet in the water so I opted to bring my knees up and wrap my arms around my legs.

"How you feeling?" He asked.

"Fine, I guess." I wasn't lying, I'd cried most of it out in his shower at that point. "So you probably want to know what all of that was about?" I said twiddling my fingers.

"Not really," he answered looking at me. His eyes were empathetic as his tongue flickered nervously from one corner of his mouth to the other. He let out a short chuckle breaking our gaze.

"You really don't want to know?" I asked surprised.

"No, does that make me some kind of sociopath or something?" He joked.

"Well not exactly but most people would want to know I think."

He ran his hand through his wet curls and sighed before speaking. "You said you wanted to go somewhere where he hadn't been..."

I forgot I'd said that to him at the track before he brought me here.

"Bringing it up would be like bringing him here and I'm not entirely sure that's what you need right now. Besides, I've asked you 'why' enough in the past. I can let this one go." He smiled and looked away, taking another bite of his sandwich.

"And what is it that you think I need Lando?" It made me anxious to even ask. I dipped my fingers in the pool as a distraction to keep from overthinking. The water was warm, of course it was, it's a heated pool.

"For starters, I would say you need to go out with Mick so he can be more distracted and less competition for me on the grid but we aren't even racing in the same league so it's fine. What you need now is maybe just some sleep."

"Lando fucking Norris?! What did you just say?" I scoffed, splashing water in his face.

The Brit laughed so hard at his own joke, it was as if someone had told him the funniest thing in the whole world. The more he tried to suppress it, the more it came out in snorting fits of giggles. He even started crying.

"You need to take that back?!" I demanded. "It's not even remotely close to being funny."

"I think it's genius," he continued, wiping tears from his face. "Unless of course you really want to go out with him then I am sorry. No, I'm not sorry. It's still funny." He started giggling even more.

The young man wheezed, tears rolling from his eyes. He had his stomach clenched from all the laughing.

I stood up to kick the pool water at him. I wanted him to be properly soaked and I thought my foot offered the best weapon of attack.

"Oi, you're getting my bagel wet."

"It needs the moisture if it's anything like your dry sense of humour."

"Oh, you're going to pay for that."

Lando's laugh was stupidly infectious as he chased me around the corners of the pool. I begged and pleaded between laughing but he was relentless. For a moment I forgot about the instagram post that announced my ex-boyfriend's proposal to his 'childhood best friend', the girl I was told not to worry about. "Can't wait to fucking marry you," he captioned it.

My "ex" and I broke up a little over six months ago. I say ex loosely because we'd been sleeping with each other and hanging out almost every other day for a year when I asked him what we were. We were basically dating without the title so I was absolutely gutted when he gave me the whole, "it's not you it's me speech. He said that maybe in a different world we could've ended up together but he just wasn't ready and wanted to focus on his master's program.

I kinda hated the Netherlands after that because it went from being my chosen safe haven to being a reminder of everything I ever wanted but never got. It didn't help that he was a diehard f1 fan either. I suppose every Dutch person is born with an allegiance to the orange army.

Lando was chasing me through a thunderstorm he didn't even know existed or maybe he was just leading me out of one. This guy who I inevitably always seemed to be finding my way to was making me feel like a kid again and man his laugh, his laugh was so goofy, so childish and pure but also just effortlessly and unapologetically him.

"Norris stop! You're going to get my hair wet!"

Our bodies collided with a small thud and in an instant his arms wrapped around me, grabbing on to folds of the white T-shirt as his other hand landed on my ass cheek revealing the lace thong underneath.

"Fuck." He mouthed quietly. "That was close."

I gasped unexpectedly and held my breath at our close proximity. I was nervous we'd fall into the pool at any second if either one of us made a wrong move.

I was also nervous that I'd fall all into him too if I wasn't careful.

His skin was wet and cold which was a contrast to the warmth that radiated from mine.

We were so close, he could basically kiss my forehead if he wanted to. I was certain he could feel my second heartbeat coming to life, I know I wasn't imagining the bulge in his pants pressing against me.

I felt conflicted because I keep saying I don't want anything to do with him but sometimes he looks at me and I forget how to breathe. I feel like I have this unspoken burning desire towards him and it's starting to be a secret I won't be able to keep for much longer.

It's one thing when it's just the two of us, it's completely different when I think of what it would mean for us to step out into the world like that.

He  held my entire weight against his as I watched his chest move up and down with ease, every breath feeling like an eternity and then his lips parted slightly.

~~

Lando's PoV

I knew just when to stop to prevent us from falling into the pool. I guess having quick reflexes does come in handy outside of driving supercars at 300km/h. We stood at the edge maintaining our balance.

Liv glanced up at me from behind her lashes and I felt a bolt of lightning go through me. It pained me because I wanted so badly to kiss her.

She closed her eyes and moved her lips closer to mine and I knew I was going to regret what followed. I took a step back releasing her gently from my hold. Her brows furrowed in confusing when she realised what I'd done.

"Not like this..." I said.

~~~
A/N: I know this story is moving up and down, side to side, like a rollercoaster. Thank you for sticking with it.🧡