Mutual Friends | Lando Norris

Chapter 38 - "+52... Calling"

Lando's POV

The scent of strong black coffee lingers in the quiet corners of the aircraft when we arrive at the international airport in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday morning.

Liv remains sleeping in the comforting lap of one of her best friends - no doubt still exhausted from the crazy birthday weekend.

I've been watching her intently from the sidelines since yesterday. Maybe I'm being paranoid, an overprotective boyfriend or both but I can't seem to shake this feeling about her.

Daniel's raspy voice at my side catches my attention. "She's a keeper that one," he says gently nudging me in the ribs. "I don't know how you did it but good for you Norris. You finally stood up to Zak and went after what you really desired. That takes some serious man balls."

I sigh and anxiously unbuckle my seatbelt as we all prepare to descend the private aircraft. "I can't say for sure it was all my doing. She definitely stood up to him once or twice too and in more ways than one."

Daniel simply shrugs and smiles at me as I look over to Zoey who's now gently waking Liv up. Her sweet angelic face is tired but the cute little eye rub she does soothes my heart into a comfortable rhythm. Zoey giggles and whispers something into her ear.

"No shit brother," says Daniel stretching out his arms. "But I bet that's what brought you guys closer. The minute you two stopped running away from each other and towards one another was one of the best finishes we've ever had in the McLaren garage."

The Australian makes me laugh as the thick foreign air welcomes us back to this familiar territory, "You're being dramatic mate," I say behind a hidden smile. We're walking over to the five black Suv cars that have lined up next to the plane so we can determine which has been assigned to us.

"That's what you think," he says with a boisterous laugh and a crooked wink. "All those  swooning stolen glances and excuses to cross paths, it's the things bad high school romcoms are made of."

Our designated driver introduces himself to us and points to our car. We're the first to get off the plane which means we'll be able to help guide the girls, especially since we came with such a big group of friends for the final Grand Prix of the year.

"Why is she in the Ferrari hospitality?" continues my teammate. "How come she never supports the McLaren team even though Zak is her father? Do you know if she's more than friend's with Mick?" Daniel teases in a bad English accent that's meant to mock me.

Thinking about it, I'm a bit embarrassed and can't help but turn red at the realisation that I didn't do a good enough job at all of hiding my attraction or feelings towards Olivia Brown before we were officially together.

I scratch the back of my head and laugh my awkward laugh. It feels like many moons ago when all of that happened but everything instantly washes away and is replaced by my heart frantically pounding when I hear the screeching sound of a helpless Olivia screaming.

Daniel and I quickly snap our heads back in the direction her voice is coming from. My breaths are having a hard time catching up to each other while sweat builds in the palm of my hands. Finally, I take in the situation and am paralysed by the perplexing interaction.

Liv's face has lost all colour and is as white as a sheet of paper. Pierre has picked her up from behind and is spinning her around in what seems to be a harmless gesture of a childish prank. He is laughing, evidently enjoying himself at her panicked expense.

Bianca stands a few feet away, watching the whole ordeal unfold while Zoey tries to get the blonde to get her French boyfriend to stop but she won't . Liv's hands are frantically clawing away at Pierre's arms around her body but the cast on her hand is in the way.