FOUR

Song of the Chapter: Lonely Call by RaeLynn

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Aimee's POV

"Fuck" I mutter as the bag of avocados I was holding rips open. All my precious avocados rolling over the Monaco curb. 

"Here." A somewhat familiar voice says, handing me a few of the avocados I dropped. I look up while taking the avocados from the stranger to be met with Max's eyes.

"Thanks." I say, putting the avocados in the other bag I was holding. I put the keys into the door to open the entrance to my apartment building. Eager to get home for a short bit after a tough recording session this morning, and having rehearsals later today. 

"Need some help?" Max asks as I'm struggling to get my three bags of groceries inside. I sigh deeply, knowing I could choose the easy way here.

"Yes please." I give in, handing him one of my bags, but he takes an extra one as well. Leaving me with only one of the three grocery bags. Such a gentleman.

"You know, you can get those things delivered to your door right?" He asks as he puts the bags of groceries in my kitchen, so I can unpack them later.

"I know," I tell him. "But I prefer going to buy them myself. It keeps me sane." I chuckle. It's the truth though. I love going to the grocery store, it's one of the most normal things I get to do. It's also one of the few places I barely ever get ambushed by fans. 

"You, Aimee, are a piece of art." Max chuckles, before saying goodbye and leaving my apartment again.

We've seen each other a bit more since the Dutch Grand Prix, just running into each other around Monaco. Having small interactions like this one. It's nice to have someone to speak with while in a foreign country. However, I know it won't happen more often. Especially with him flying around the globe for Formula One and with me starting my US tour. I am about to go into final rehearsals before I fly out to Los Angeles next week.

I quickly put the groceries away, before changing into my workout clothes and leaving to go to the dancing studio. Today should be a day on which we finalise the last songs we have not managed to get a routine for. 

"I think I've got it now." I say confidently, after doing Lonely Call for the third time. Still screwing up my placement with every run, although the last one seemed to be close to perfect. 

"I think you've got it too." Tony my trainer says. "But let's run it again." Tony is one of those people to keep on rehearsing until you get it right, and then keeps you going until you can't get it wrong. 

I sigh deeply, I'm so done with this rehearsal. We've been at this for the last four hours. My body's gonna be aching tomorrow. Tony puts the music on again as we run the song one more time.

"Okay that's it." Tony says, a proud smile on his face. I knew I made some mistakes, how is this the good run. I look at him, confusion written on my face. "Now I am confident you can do this even if you're extremely exhausted."

"Thanks Tony." I say, grabbing my bag, knowing we're finally done for the day.

On my way home, I decide to grab a salad at one of the salad bars on my route. I walk into the little restaurant, ordering without really looking around me. The employee gives me my salad in a to go container, as I requested.

As I turn around to leave the salad bar, I bump into someone. I seem to do that a lot lately. 

"Gosh, is this gonna be our thing now?" The person I bumped into says, voicing my thoughts. I take a step back to look at, who I just bumped into. He clearly knows me.

"Lando?" I ask, surprised to see him here. I barely see any F1 drivers around here, and now I run into two of them in one day.

"That's what they tend to call me." He says, a small smile on his face. "How are you?"

"I'm good thanks, how have you been?" I ask him, genuinely interested. Our short conversation in Zandvoort had been on my mind every now and then. I genuinely enjoyed talking to him. 

"I'm fine too. Just went to grab some quick dinner." He admits, pointing at the counter. He still had to order dinner.

I look down at the salad in my hands, making a split second decision. "You wanna eat together?" I ask him, surprising even myself with this question.

"Sounds cool, let's just go to my apartment. I'd rather not the media have a field day with this. They seem to always link me to whatever girl they spot me with" Lando says, and I quickly agree, two famous people together always draws attention to them. A small smile lingers on my face as I realise what I have just agreed to. It just feels so easy to be around him.

Lando goes to order some food for himself, before walking with me out of the salad bar. "So my apartment is around the corner." He says as we're exiting the tiny restaurant and walking through the streets of Monaco. 

His apartment is stylish, but a little cold, it maybe just lacks a tad bit of personality. Max had told me Lando just recently moved here, so maybe that is why it's lacking a bit in the decorations department. We sit down on his couch, while he hands me a fork to actually eat my salad.

"So what have you been up to lately?" He asks me, before taking another bite.

"Rehearsals, lots of rehearsals." I tell him simply. "My tour starts next week."

"Where are you all going?" Lando asks me, seemingly interested in my upcoming tour.

"It's a US tour, so pretty much all of the United States." I tell him.

"I'm going to the States too." He says a playful smile on his face. "At the end of October. I don't know if you'll still be touring then."

I laugh at his comment. How did this guy think you can finish a whole tour in a month. "I'm starting in LA, making my way east from there. I think we might be in Texas at the end of October." I explain to him, trying to make it sound like I don't know every date of the tour by heart.

"No way." He says laughing. "We're racing in Austin, Texas then."

"Maybe, just maybe we could meet up." I suggest with a sly smile. Neither of us continuing on the topic after that though. "So what do you do when you're not racing?" I ask Lando, genuinely interested in what else he does. Your life can't only be driving really fast cars, can it?

"I've got my own lifestyle and esports brand." He says proudly, a big grin on his face "It's called Quadrant."

"So what does that mean exactly? Lik what do you guys do?" I ask him, his explanation a little vague.

"We basically make fun content for YouTube, and then we sell merchandise, but we also got some esports teams we back." He explains, "Come on, I'll show you some." He says standing up, grabbing my hand and leading me to another room.

He showed me his streaming set up, explaining that he likes to stream whenever he can. Mostly with friends, he even explains that that is what got him through the lockdowns. We ended up playing a game of F1 2022, him mostly explaining me what to do. I have to admit I really enjoyed that he was showing me more about him. It wasn't just the obvious things though, the small details about how he'd always stream during lockdown to feel less isolated made me feel appreciated. Once we finished playing games, I realised that a lot of time had passed. Deciding that it was time to go home. 

Tomorrow's another day of rehearsals.

"I'll walk you home, it's close, right?" He asks and I raise my eyebrows. How does he know where I live, I don't think I've told him. "Don't worry, Max told me. I'm not some creepy stalker." He says laughing, making me laugh as well. 

"Good, but yeah sure walk with me." I tell him, it's only about a five minute walk to my apartment building. I grab my keys, happy to finally be going home so I can finally rinse the rehearsal sweat from my body. 

"Aimee?" Lando asks, as I'm about to enter my apartment building. I turn around facing him again.

"Yes?"

"I really enjoyed tonight." He says, a shy smile on his face. "Maybe we could do this again?"

"I really enjoyed tonight too. So yeah, I'd like to do this again." I admit, before closing the door and walking to my apartment.

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Edited 28-08-2023