chapter five
"i can't stay in this town"

The news of Leslie and Lando breaking up spread quickly. How everyone found out, neither of them knew as they hadn't spoken to anyone about it other than their closest friends and family. But the word was out. For many fans, their otp no longer was together. Crazy thing was, the news that Leslie would be pregnant from Lando also spread. Even some fans that had been following the now ex-couple from the beginning, believed she was expecting a baby from their favorite driver.

All of the pregnancy rumors were obviously untrue and people could easily know. And though the blonde didn't mind talking about her cancer journey, it still hurt her to see so many posts and articles about it, because she knew she could never have what they were speculating. The worst of all was that she started receiving angry DM's from Lando fangirls on Instagram, Twitter, etc. Sometimes they would even take them into her Twitch chat. They told her how fake she was, how she had used Lando for the money all along and gosh how she had the audacity to get pregnant with his baby so she could prance with it. In the beginning she replied to some of the DM's on what her treatment had been like and that she wasn't able to have any kids.

But it stung her that Lando never tried to text her these past two weeks. Not that she had told him about the messages she had been receiving. She had to admit that she missed him and that texting or calling scared her. She was afraid to fall back in love and get hurt again. Or was she still in love? Of course she was. They were together for over two years, you don't just not love someone like that anymore in a split second.

She felt a little bit better today. Everyday was a baby step of recovery from heartbreak and the surgery and she couldn't be more grateful for her dad, Amira, her grandma, and, Max's parents. Obviously, she was residing in Birmingham now, her birth city and the city she grew up in. Max and her had been close friends since kindergarten and their parents had gotten very close over time. As soon as they got the news of their beloved 'extra-daughter', as they would sometimes like to call her, for another recovery they came over with a whole care package to cheer her up. She loved them a lot. Max came over a couple of times as well, mainly when Lando wasn't home. So today he came over to hers again, just to chat and check in on her.

Max🦎

Heyhey, are you home?

Hey you, where else would I be?

Still on bedrest according to dad

Poor you lol

Do you wanna hang out?

If we're baking cookies?

Again?

What?! We baked cupcakes last
time

We baked

PLeaaase Max?

Okaaay, only cuz it's you

Ily and you know it. Could we do
the groceries together? I'm dying
to leave the house for longer than
10 minutes

Of course hahahha. Picking
you up in 5. Be ready

🫡

Yes sir

And a little over five minutes later, the doorbell rang. Leslie skipped down the stairs in the rythem of the tune and made her way towards the door.

"You're in an unusually good mood." Amira commented, seeing the girl be so suddenly bubbly and a little more taken care of than the day before. Not that she cared how the girl looked for she understood the cause of her behavior. 

Leslie nodded with a smile plastered on her face. "Yes, I am actually. We're baking cookies today so we're heading out to get everything from the store. We'll be back in a bit and if you need anything from Asda's you can text me. Love you, bye!"

Amira didn't even need to know who 'we' were, because Leslie wasn't hanging out with anyone else than Max Fewtrell this past week. She was happy that her girl was cheering bit by bit again, even if it was for a couple of hours.

The door flung open and Leslie greeted Max by giving him a hug. "Hellooo."

"Someone's happy." he chuckled. Again she nodded and she put on her shoes. "Let's go."

The isles of the Asda supermarket were packed. It was strangely busy for a Tuesday afternoon. Probably the school nearby being over and parent's getting off work early. It was walkable, sure, but sometimes the two had to squeeze themselves through the bunched up crowd in front of isles. "Sorry's" and "pardon me's" were exchanged but eventually they arrived in the baking isle.

"Alright, what do we need?" Max spoke, looking at the tens of baking mix options.

"Ooo, these Oreo-like cookies look nice. We could make those?"

"Yeah sure. Put it in the basket."

They were collecting the goods and also some products for at home that Amira requested and then they went to the cash register. That's where they were held up by the cashier who was checking out their products. At first both Max and Leslie didn't recognize her, but when she started to talk the penny dropped. It was a girl they used to go to school with. Leslie and her used to be friends for a while until she moved and they grew apart. Not that they were ever that close, but still. Her name was Nora. She remembered, and so did Max.

"Les, babes. And Max. I haven't seen you two in so long? How are you holding up?" she asked. Leslie couldn't figure out if she was genuine about it or just trying to create some sort of awkward small talk.

"I'm doing fine, thanks. How about you? Got into business school like you wanted?"

"I did, actually. It's great." she replied with a smile and flicked her hair back over her shoulder. "Hey I heard about you and Lando. What a shame. I actually liked you two together. What did you do to mess it up? He doesn't seem like the person who would cause a breakup."

The words came out of her mouth so quickly and unexpectedly that both Max and Leslie were in shock and at loss for words. "I-" Leslie stammered. "I beg your pardon?"

"You know. He seems like such a lovely guy who wouldn't hurt a bug."

"Listen, Nora, babes, you know barely anything about me and even less so about Lando so I would like you to shut your mouth and let us pay, please." Leslie said, trying to recover what she just heard. She was flabbergasted. What the fuck just happened?

"Oh, so sorry. I didn't know the subject was still so sensitive." Nora tried, but Max carefully shoved Leslie out of the way so she was no longer in reach of the cash desk. Leslie would throw a fight if she had a little more time, so that was something to be prevented.

"Just let us pay, Nora. That was incredibly rude." he said, trying to avoid more attention from people around them. But the man behind Max stepped in and held his bank card to the pinpad.
    "Ma'am, what you just said was really not okay. Not only are you saying harming stuff, you were also invading that young lady's private life. I will file a complaint against you for being rude to customers." The man spoke up. He then turned to Max and said: "Go ahead boy, be a better friend than this girl. I am paying for you, I don't need anything back. And I'm sorry for her behavior."

Max was speechless again. He thanked the man, packed the groceries in the bag and took Leslie outside. She was filled with rage and sadness at the same time, a dangerous combination.

"What the fuck just happened?" He acknowledged the situation. Leslie shrugged in response and just walked towards the parked car at a fast pace.

"Les, hold up."

They sat in the car and Max didn't start the engine just yet. He wanted to know if his friend was okay.

"I don't know what happened or why she mentioned it. I haven't seen her in ages. All I know is that I want to punch something really hard, because I am done with all of this shit. Everything about me is about Lando regarding others apparently. I cannot walk the street without getting stares of pity and concern. I cannot go on my social media anymore without being reminded of him. I am my own person! I am legitamed, I exist and I don't need him to prove others that I do actually have a personality."

It went completely silent in the car.

"That's what I thought. Now let's go home." she snapped at him. Which she really shouldn't have done and she also immediately regretted it.

"Pardon. Leslie, I have done nothing wrong to you so you don't get to turn this on me. This is on Nora right now, and also the people on the internet. But this is not on me."

"I'm so sorry Max. This isn't on you indeed and I shouldn't lash out on you. Can we please go home and bake the cookies? I don't want to talk right now and I need to leave this place."

Max gave her a nod and placed his hand on her knee for comfort, something her did more often so it wasn't weird. In fact, it actually worked really well. But the cheerful and bubbly mood Leslie was in half an hour ago was gone for the day.

They baked the cookies with just some music in the background and short conversations, but they didn't talk much. Amira had gone to work, as she had to jump in for a couple of hours at the last minute, so the house was in a very peaceful state. Only the sound of kitchen utensils and the oven blowing. As Leslie was putting the cookies in the oven, Max turned on the TV and put on the movie 'Matilda'. It was actually their favorite film from their childhood. They always watched it together, and so often that, at some point, they knew it's script for the biggest part.

He waited for her on the couch and when Leslie walked over to him, her eyes fell on the television. "I haven't seen this in so long." She immediately sat down next to him and rested her head on his shoulder, despite the significant height difference. They actually talked more during the movie than while baking. Max told her about what he had been doing in the meantime and Leslie spoke about her stomach and how happy she was that she was back in Birmingham. Still something didn't sit straight with her and the feeling had been growing over the past days. She also told him about that. After all, she so suddenly left her life in London and Woking behind and she couldn't feel complete and fulfilled. Yes, going back would mean having to face Lando again, but that was going to happen sooner or later anyway. But being here for more than two weeks had driven her insane too and she felt like she couldn't be herself here. She needed the big city for that, so maybe her body was right about some feelings again.

"Max?" she softly asked him. He hummed in response, letting her know that he was listening. "When are you heading back to Woking?"

"Pff, I don't know. Probably Friday. Why?"

"Could I come with you? And drop me off at a train station in London. I want to go back home." In this sentence she was clearly intending on her shared apartment. It was actually strange to think about the fact that she basically had four houses to call home. Birmingham, Luton, Essex and Woking. But right now she just needed her own apartment. She wanted to be where Grace would be waiting for her and where she could turn her life back to normal again.

"Are you sure you're ready?"

"I am. I can't stay in this town any longer."

"Okay. Then we'll leave on Friday. Also, I will just drop you off at home, not at a train station."

author's note: hey all, for you who haven't seen my message on my conversations board yet, i am setting the update day on Monday from now on. i noticed how i struggled to get the chapters done by Friday because of work, school and other things, so by setting it on Monday i give myself a little more time to write in the weekends.

hope you enjoyed🤍