“But you’re so pretty when you cry.” I pull his hands away to look at his gorgeous face.
“Okay.” He smiles. Puffs out a breath. “Okay.” Laughs. “Okay, let’s do this. Oh my god. Oh my god. Am I actually gonna do this?”
“If you hate it, we’ll just find something else for you.”
“That easy?”
“Yup.”
“This is so wild. Okay, you need to help me like . . . work out what I need to do. Where do I start? What do I even search for? Do I need a CV? Oh my god, okay. I’ve never done an interview before. Shit, I’m so nervous already.”
“We’ll figure it out. I’ve never interviewed either,” I tell him. “Well, I’ve done media day interviews and . . . Fuck, it’s media day tomorrow.” I grab my phone to look at the time. “Today actually.Noooooo,I hate media day, and I just remembered, they already announced who they want to be captain. Co-captains.”
Lando raises his eyebrow.
“Pi and Eggo. But we’re not allowed to say anything to the press. They want to give them a couple of weeks to adjust, and then they’ll announce it officially at the awards party.”
“Pi as in your best friend? Australian bloke that heard me going down on you?”
“Yeah, that’s him.” I try to feel embarrassed about that day, but I can’t. I think about it way too often for me to be ashamed.
“And Eggo as in the guy who dressed as a Village People Pokémon?”
Now I’m laughing. “Village People Pokémon, good one. Yes, that’s him.”
“He’s . . .” Lando begins but obviously doesn’t know how to finish that sentence.
“Certifiable? Yes. Yes, he is.”
“In a good way, though,” he says, as though displaying penitence the second after he’d sinned will make his intentions seem innocent.
“Of course in a good way,” I say, because I’m no better.
“You weren’t there at the last Halloween party.” Lando looks guilty. He knows it was his fault I didn’t go, not that I would’ve relished hanging out with Mathias outside of training. “Finn’s—Eggo’s—costume was Tom Daley. Literally just hair gel to make it appear wet and a Team GB Speedo, and that was it. Not even any shoes. In October.”
Yup. That sounds about right.
“What did you go as?” I ask him, suddenly FOMOing over an event that happened over six months ago.
“Princess Diana . . . in the revenge dress.”
“Lando!” I punch him on the arm, though the revenge dress was probably my fault. “That’s so despicably on brand for you. Did you win?”
“Naturally.” He flips invisible hair over his shoulder. “Oh my god! I can do a couple’s costume for us this year. Yes!”
“Wait, wait, wait . . . no. I’m not cross-dressing again.”
“It won’t be cross-dressing. I have the perfect idea.” Lando balls up his fists under his chin and squeaks. “But we might need to wear bald caps.”
I give him that look. The “I’ll think about it” look.
“Anyway,” he says, flapping his hand in front of his face as though he’s waving away thought bubbles. “How are you feeling about the captaincy thing? Also Eggo? Like for real? That’s . . . a choice.”
I sigh. “It’s such a choice.”
I can kind of see the logic behind Dan and Eksteen’s decision. What Eggo lacks in structure and discipline he makes up for in spontaneity and quick thinking. Whereas Pi’s weaknesses lie in improvisation and his rigidity to the rules, but he’s great at organisation and motivating a team full of very strong-willed blokes. They have the potential to be each other’s yin and yang. A balanced duology. I can’t be annoyed that they were chosen because, yeah, it makes sense.
But that won’t stop me from being a grumpy, jealous, whiny baby about it.
