ADMIT IT
— chapter 25

LANDO'S APARTMENT
monte carlo, monaco

upon arriving in monaco, the group parted ways, lando and camila headed to his apartment to rest and relax for the day.

the couple are sprawled out on the couch in his living room, both on their phones aimlessly scrolling through tiktok, occasionally laughing and showing each other the funny tiktok they just saw.

"let's bake!" camila suddenly said, quickly sitting up from her previous position.

"out of nowhere?" he asked as he had no intention of getting up from his current spot on the couch.

"why not right? i just saw a tiktok of someone baking matcha brownies!!" she said before continuing "come on it'll be fun!"

giving in, the couple got up to see what lando had in his pantry for the matcha brownies. after discovering that he had nothing besides a few beer cans in his kitchen, they decided to head to the local supermarket.

taking his fiat jolly, lando and mila made their way towards the store, the blonde chatted about how excited she was, clearly craving matcha brownies after that video.

reaching, they walked side by side, lando holding a basket for their needed ingredients. when looking though all the different aisles, picking up things they needed as well as things that caught their attention.

soon enough lando has 2 basket full of ingredients and other things, clearly over shopping as they had cheetos, popcorn, coca cola, etc. things they did not plan on grabbing while in store.

however, lando gladly paid for everything as he could see how excited his girlfriend was, smiling from ear to ear. as they head back, they bumped into some fans on the road, filming them as they drove past.

"omg," camila whispered under her breath, looking down trying to conceal her face as much as possible without making it obvious.

lando seeing them as well, placed his hand on her thigh, trying to get back home as quickly as possible.

finally reaching, they grabbed their groceries and rushed into the building.

"so you live like this all the time? constantly being filmed and having pictures taken even when running errands?" she asked as he placed the bags on the counter.

"yeah... i've gotten used to it tho," he replied, mila looking at him with a little smile before washing her hands and wanting to get baking right away.

"yikes!" she paused as she looked like she was thinking, "could we act like we're not dating in the outside world..."

lando whipped his head to face her quickly as he was a little taken aback with what she said.

"what why?"

"idk, i don't think i can get used to being filmed 24/7," she answered, a little cautious.

"but i want to be able to show you off to everyone!" he said, placing the can of matcha power on the counter after taking it out of the plastic bag, walking towards where she was, grabbing things from the 2nd plastic bag.

"that's sweet, but all i'm asking is to not go public with our relationship but we can still go out and stuff, just never admit that we are dating and that we're just friends" she said, leaning on the counter as he spun her around so she was facing him.

lando cupped her cheeks before thinking, looking into her eyes and agreeing with what she was asking for. smiling, she thanked him before giving him a peck on the lips.

"baking time!!" she said, trying to turn back towards the counter to continue was she was doing when lando didn't budge.

mila looked at him confused, "are you mad?"

pouting a little lando pretended to be mad at what his girlfriend was asking when he reached behind her, grabbing a handful of flour before grinning widely.

"LANDO!" she shrieked, flour all over her face. wanting revenge she turned around grabbing flour in her hands as lando ran away.

able to catch up with him camila threw flour into his face too. him opening the matcha and throwing it at her right after, a full on food fight started. lando grabbing her in order to stop her from going further, she wiggled in his arm laughing.

camila stood amidst the aftermath, her face adorned with a mixture of mischief and amusement. flour dusted her hair, and a smudge of sauce was smeared on her cheek. lando, equally adorned with the evidence of their playful battle, leaned against the kitchen counter, a grin tugging at his lips.

"you're lucky we bought way more than needed," mila teased, shaking her head as she surveyed the scene.

lando burst into laughter, his eyes sparkling with a playful glint. "well, i must say, your aim is quite impressive, but i think i had the upper hand with that whipped cream ambush."

he chuckled, his fingers moving to gently wipe off a bit of sauce from camila's cheek. "i should've seen that coming, shouldn't i?"

mila's laughter faded into a soft smile as lando's touch lingered on her skin. camila playfully picked up a bit of flour and gently dusted it on lando's cheek. he faked a surprise look, his expression mockingly serious. "oh, it's on now," he declared, reaching for a cushion from the nearby couch.

what followed was a flurry of laughter and gentle teasing as they engaged in a lighthearted pillow fight, his apartment becoming a battlefield of playful affection. as they finally settled down, cushions strewn around them, they found themselves sitting close on the couch, the atmosphere filled with a comfortable ease.

lando's hand brushed a strand of flour-dusted hair away from mila's face, his gaze warm and affectionate. "you bring a special kind of chaos to my life," he said softly, his tone tender.

mila's gaze met his, her heart swelling with emotion. "and you bring a sense of adventure that i've never known before."

as their eyes locked, the playful energy of their food fight transformed into a quiet intimacy. lando's fingers intertwined with camila's, their hands fitting together as if they were pieces of a puzzle. in that moment, the flour on their faces and the sauce on their clothes seemed inconsequential, fading into the background of their shared connection.

"you know," lando began, his voice a gentle whisper, "whether it's staying up till sunrise with you or having an impromptu food fight, these are the moments that make life memorable."

camila nodded, her smile radiant. "exactly. it's the spontaneous moments that become the stories we'll tell for years to come."

after cleaning the apartment and themselves they decided to actually bake the brownies, having fun as they had their favourite songs playing in the background.

💌

lia's corner

had to make mila address the dating thingy so i can actually connect it back to the book title 😀👍🏻 also i think lanila is so cute i can't. thanks for 14k reads 🫶