Lando woke up startled by a series of loud knocks on his hotel room door. If he had a nickel for every time this had happened to him lately, he'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's strange that it happened twice.

With a sigh, Lando got up and opened the door, only to see Carlos Sainz standing there. All the sleep left Lando's body immediately, replaced by anxiety. 'Did he figure it out?' he thought, staring back at Carlos in shock.

"Is everything okay? You look like you've seen a ghost," Carlos joked. "Now, will you let me in or not?"

"Huh? Y-yeah, uh, come in," Lando replied, still in a daze as he stepped aside to let Carlos into the room.

Carlos glanced around the room before turning back to Lando. "Mila isn't here?" he asked.

"N-no, she's home," Lando stuttered, trying to hide his fear. "Why?"

"I just thought," Carlos trailed off, "anyway, you're late. Go get ready!"

"For what?" Lando asked, confused. Did they have plans? What was he forgetting?

"What do you mean, 'for what,' mate?" Carlos rolled his eyes. "We planned to go golfing today, remember?"

"What? When did that happen?" Lando asked, more confused.

"Last night," Carlos said in a 'duh' tone. "Mila said she wanted to learn, and we said we would teach her, remember?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think that was us making plans for the very next day—"

"Well, we're all free, so I booked the place," Carlos shrugged. "Why waste time? Besides, I want to get to know her better now that you two are officially together."

"We're not official," Lando replied. "It's a secret."

"Yeah, you're not public," Carlos corrected, "but you're still official, or what do you say, um...exclusive. You're exclusive, right?"

"R-right," Lando nodded slowly, still nervous. "But, uh, I don't know if Lani is free or not—"

"Well, then call her and ask," Carlos interrupted. "If she can't join, we both can go."

"Maybe we should just go without her then—"

"Hey man, I planned this to get to know your girl better and because she said she wanted to learn. But now I just feel like you don't want me to meet her or something," Carlos sighed, jokingly, but Lando's panic only grew at his words.

"W-what? No, of course not! Why would you think that?" Lando replied defensively, causing Carlos to laugh.

"Relax man, I was joking," Carlos reassured. "But you should call her and ask. We have to be there in an hour."

Lando nodded and nervously grabbed his phone from the coffee table, dialing Mila's number. As it rang, he tapped his foot nervously on the floor while Carlos sat on the bed, waiting for Mila to answer.

When she picked up, Lando asked, "Hey Lani, good morning, did I wake you?"

"Hey Lando, no, I was already awake," Mila replied. "Why? What's up?"

"Guess who showed up at my hotel this morning?" Lando said, trying to sound excited. "Carlos!"

"Oh?" Mila replied, confused. She wondered why Lando sounded so strange, but now it made sense. He was nervous.

"Why's he there?" Mila asked. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, remember how you said you wanted to learn golf?" Lando continued. "Carlos booked us a place to go today and play. He was wondering if you wanted to join. It's okay if you're busy."

"Aw, that's so nice of him!" Mila replied. "Sure, I'm-"

"Oh, you already have plans?" Lando cut her off as Mila's face scrunched in confusion.

"What? No, I don't-"

"It's okay, I'll tell Carlos you will join us next time," Lando went on as Mila grew more confused. Was he not hearing her?

"Lando, what-"

Before she could say more, she heard shuffling and then Carlos' voice through the call. "Hi Mila, I put you on speaker," he said. "You cannot join us today?"

"Uh, I..."

"She was planning to meet her brother, man," Lando spoke up before Mila could reply. "We can make plans with her later."

"How about you invite your brother too, Mila?" Carlos suggested, and it finally clicked for her. Lando didn't want to make plans with Carlos. And that annoyed her.

He was the one who suggested she get to know the drivers, even though she was nervous. He said it was 'good practice' and now he was preventing her from meeting them? All because he was scared? How would they get better at acting in public if they didn't practice?

"I can cancel the plans with my brother, don't worry," Mila replied as Lando's eyes widened in shock but he quickly masked it.

"I don't want to get in the way of your plans-"

"No, it's okay, Carlos," she reassured. "It was so sweet of you to actually plan this. I'd love to join you guys."

"Great!" Carlos beamed. "We will pick you up on the way then. In an hour, okay?"

"Okay, see you!" Mila smiled into the call as Carlos said goodbye and ended the call. He looked back at Lando with a smile.

"Now go get ready, Lando" Carlos said with a victorious smile. Lando smiled back, trying to look excited but feeling incredibly nervous inside.

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Forty minutes went by as Carlos waited impatiently. Lando took his time showering, drying his hair, and then spent another ten minutes picking out an outfit.

He was trying to delay things so they wouldn't have to golf together for too long. Carlos, however, was growing frustrated.

"Man, can we go already?" Carlos fussed as Lando put on perfume and then crouched down to put on his shoes.

"Yeah, let's go," Lando finally said. Carlos sighed in relief, ready to head out.

"Will you drive?" Lando asked, and Carlos nodded. "Can we make a stop on the way? I want to get some flowers for Lani."

"Aww, that's so sweet," Carlos teased, bumping Lando's shoulder with a smirk. "Lando's in his loverboy era." Lando just smiled shyly as they got into Carlos' car and headed to Mila's house.

A few blocks before her apartment, they saw a small flower shop. Lando asked Carlos to stop the car there. He quickly got out, bought a single tulip, and paid for it, jumping back into the car within a minute since Carlos was rushing him.

"I must say, this is a good look on you, Lando," Carlos suddenly said, breaking their silence. Lando looked at him, confused. Carlos continued, "You know, it shows on your face how happy you are when you're with Mila; or even just talking about her. Even before you two started dating, Max, Charles, Pierre, and I often talked about it. I think Charles and Pierre even had a bet going on when you two would start dating."

"W-what?!" Lando exclaimed. "What bet?"

"Pierre bet you'd be too scared to ask her out, and Charles bet you'd ask her out before the end of this season," Carlos laughed. "I guess Charles won then."

Before Lando could ask more, the GPS indicated they had reached Mila's apartment complex. Carlos drove into the underground parking and parked the car.

"Will you wait here while I go get her, or do you want to come up?" Lando asked Carlos, who shrugged.

"Just give her a call, mate."

Lando hesitated, but Carlos held up his phone, pointing at the time and reminding him they were already late. So, Lando sighed in defeat and called Mila, letting her know they were waiting for her in the parking lot.

A few minutes later, the elevator chimed as Mila stepped out, scanning the parking lot until she spotted Carlos in the driver's seat of a car. She smiled and walked over as the passenger door opened and Lando stepped out.

"Hey Lani," he greeted with a smile, hugging her. Mila smiled back, returning the hug. As they hugged, Carlos also got out of the car. Lando felt a wave of nervousness and, as they pulled away from the hug, he leaned in and softly kissed her cheek. Mila's eyes widened in surprise but she quickly masked it as they moved apart and Carlos approached them.

"Hello Mila," he greeted with a smile, and Mila smiled back.

"Do you want to drive?" Carlos then asked Lando, offering him the car keys. Lando hesitated for a second but then nodded, taking the keys from Carlos' hand.

As Carlos moved to the backseat, Lando held the passenger door open for Mila. He closed the door behind her and got into the driver's seat.

Lando's eyes then caught the tulip resting on the dashboard. He leaned in to grab it, which caught Mila by surprise as they were suddenly very close, their faces almost touching. It felt like time stood still for a moment as they looked into each other's eyes, forgetting where they were.

At this close distance, Mila noticed the tiny freckles scattered across Lando's face, almost like they were kissed by the sun. Lando, too, found himself captivated by the warm hazel color of Mila's eyes as they stared back at him.

It was a different and unknown feeling to them both. They didn't recognise it or understand it, but for some unknown reason, they couldn't look away from each other.

That was, until suddenly they were snapped out of their trance as Carlos cleared his throat from the backseat. "If you want to kiss, you can. Just pretend I'm not here," he joked, covering his eyes with his hands and laughing.

A deep blush rose on both Lando and Mila's faces as Lando quickly grabbed the flower and moved away.

"Got this for you," he said softly, handing the tulip to Mila, who smiled happily, taking it from his hand.

"Thank you," she beamed, their touch lingering for a second too long before Lando cleared his throat and looked away, starting the car and driving out of the parking lot.

Watching from the backseat, Carlos observed their interaction and couldn't help but smile. He found their shyness adorable. He thought about how cute it was that they were still getting used to being more than just friends. Carlos couldn't wait to share the details with the guys in their group chat later, so they could all tease Lando together.

But more than that, he was genuinely happy to see Lando like this again. He had seen firsthand how much Lando was affected by his previous breakup, and he hoped that Lando would find someone who would make him happy and love him like he deserved. As he watched the two in front of him, he couldn't help but hope that Mila was that person for Lando.

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Did I finally win the bet? Can't wait to see the look on Pierre's face 😂