Chaos beyond the grid

Arriving at the hotel Lando was even more pissed off, having been silent on the drive. Mia was annoyed at this behavior, and Lando was surprised that they hadn't been invited to stay with Mick or with Eleanore, had he expected that anyone wanted him around? She didn't even understand why they were in Mallorca – they were supposed to be just them, that was what he had promised her, but on Saturday evening, when he saw all of the videos on social media about the huge group here he hadn't stopped whinging about how happy everyone was. So she had given in and agreed to go to Mallorca, not expecting to hear that Fewtrell and Carlos were here and staying with Eleanore and Charles – though it didn't surprise her, she knew that Pietra and Eleanore were close and that Eleanore had become close with Isa in the paddock.

It did sting Mia quite a bit that she didn't get to be part of the group – especially as the guys were her boyfriend's best friends, and she felt annoyed that Eleanore had invited two of Landos best friends to stay with her, she couldn't help but think it was a ploy for Lando's attention. This was particularly stupid of Mia to think, but she was blaming Eleanore for the difficulties in her relationship right now, because if she acknowledged Lando was at fault, then she needed to re-evaluate whether or not he was who she wanted to be with, and that was not something she was remotely prepared to do at this point. No, Eleanore was the cause of all the problems – before her, the paddock had been fine, but since she had arrived it had been nothing but drama.

Lando: I wonder what the villa is like.

Mia: she said when we were here before that it was small – though it can't be if she has that many people staying.

Lando: you ok?

Mia: yeah fine, just think it is a bit weird that she has invited your two best friends to stay with her.

Lando was not going to argue with that, part of him thought it was a ploy to get his attention as well. Why else would she have those two people stay? He knew by now that Arthur must have arrived at Mick's place, and waited for an invite to hang out or to stay, but he had to wait a whole day for that to come, and then it was an invite to dinner at a restaurant – nothing about staying with Mick though.

Lando: sounds good, who will be there?

Mick: my group – Max V, Chelle, Sabby, Seb, Hannah, Arthur, and Carla, then also most of the Leclercq group – Fewtrell, Pietra, Carlos, Isa, Pierre, and Kika.

No Charles and Eleanore – were they avoiding him? What he didn't know was that the only reason they had been invited to dinner was because the women wanted to see Mia and make sure she was ok, none of them wanted to deal with Lando.

Lando: awesome, see you in a couple of hours.

He put his phone down and got in the pool, swimming with Mia at the bar.

Lando: dinner with the others at 8.

Mia: who exactly?

She had no desire to see Charles or Eleanore, they were the last people she wanted to be faced with – Eleanore was the cause of her problems, and Charles was the one person she couldn't lie to, he would know immediately how upset and angry she still was. Of course, the week in Corsica had been amazing, Lando had been sweet and attentive – like the guy she knew he was, he did everything to make her happy and show her how much he loved her. It was perfect, right until he started moping about the others in Mallorca and then suggested coming to Mallorca. Lando confirmed that Charles and Eleanore would not be at the dinner and Mia smiled, at least she wouldn't have to deal with that. They went back to the room and she went to shower, they had not had sex much since the live stream, and Mia felt too self-conscious, Lando acted as though it was fine, but he was getting a little frustrated with it all. She had forgiven him, so why were they not back to before – he didn't understand what everyone's problem was – he told the truth, and didn't know it was being broadcast live, if anyone was to blame it was whoever didn't mute their microphone.

Mia could tell he was frustrated when he went into the bathroom to shower, he was tense and had that expression on his face. She sat on the bed thinking about Corsica and how much happier she had been there; how much better things were there than in Mallorca. Realizing her hairbrush was on the sink she went into the bathroom to grab it, Lando never locked the door and hadn't heard her come in, she looked up at the mirror and saw him jerking off, he didn't notice her there, and she quietly left the room – wiping a tear from her face. Was he thinking about Eleanore? Yes was the answer to that question – though she only suspected it to be the case, Lando was thinking about Eleanore – he always did.

As much as he claimed that the whole thing had been nothing but Zak's doing, in reality, he did have feelings for her, and still wanted to be with her – he loved Mia, and wanted to be with her too, it was confusing. Especially when his management team kept telling him to play up the bad boy side, that it would help develop his 'brand' by bringing in older fans – but then he would see people's reactions to things he said or did and it was contradictory to what he was being told. What Lando needed was someone to get him away from the toxic management that had taken over and warped his reality – unfortunately for Lando, he didn't know that was what he needed, so he took the advice he was given, and let it change him into someone that his friends did not like very much.

When he got out of the shower Mia was drying her hair, and he could tell she had been crying, he went to her and kissed her neck and she smiled at him. It was a fake smile, but he didn't realize that. She was going to ignore what she had seen, pretend it hadn't happened, but she couldn't – it was eating away at her, and she put the hair dryer down and turned to look at him.

Mia: I need to ask you something.

Lando: anything babe.

Lando wasn't sure where this was going, and Mia took a deep breath before quickly asking the question that terrified her.

Mia: I saw you in the shower, were you thinking about HER?

Having learned his lesson by now he quickly answered NO.

Lando: of course not, I was thinking about you! I haven't thought about Eleanore since the livestream because I know it was wrong to have ever done that. you are the one I want, the only one I want.

He lied, really convincingly, so much show that Mia fell for it, Lando was relieved when he saw that she had bought it, and he wished it hadn't been a lie. She walked to him and kissed him and he wished it had been Mia he was thinking of, he wished that Mia and him could have the sexual connection that he and Eleanore had – but they didn't. Had they missed their window? Maybe if Mia would take a bit more control – because when Eleanore did it was incredible. He didn't know how to tell Mia that was what he liked, or wanted. He kissed her back and then started getting dressed – excited for the dinner. Little did he know Kika, Chelle, Sabby, Pietra, Hannah, and Isa had all agreed that they would be taking the Brit to the side during dinner to explain why his behavior needed to change and change as soon as possible. The partners of the women had no idea this was their plan, not that they could have stopped them even if they had. So Lando and Mia walked hand in hand to the restaurant – into the lion's den – completely unaware of what was awaiting them.