𝗗𝗘𝗦𝗜𝗥𝗘 | M.V.

ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ ᴇɪɢʜᴛ

"Asshole," Max muttered as he picked up his cutlery again and started eating his breakfast. Madelyn also grabbed herself back together and began her breakfast as well, not realizing that Gemma had seen her hugely red cheeks and was starting to get suspicious about the situation between her and Max.

A few hours later, the entire team was at the track, and the Grand Prix of Austria began. Max had a better start than Lewis, who started next to him on the front row. Max was able to drive away and leave the racing cars behind him. Lando, who started from P3, had to leave Checo and Valtteri behind him after laps of fighting and settle for fifth place. Max dominated the rest of the race and took victory for the second time on Austrian soil.

After the race and all the interviews, Madelyn and Gemma stood in front of the Red Bull facility talking to each other about the race while both drivers were inside for their debrief with their engineers.

"Can I ask you something?" Gemma asked, to which Madelyn nodded. "Is there something going on between you and Max?"

Madelyn tried to remain as calm as possible, but panic surged hard inside her mind. How the hell did she know? How did she see it? Was it because of this morning? It had to be. She and Max had tried so hard to hide it from everyone else since Baku, and they thought they had succeeded. Guess not.

"No. Why would you ask that?" Madelyn did her best to sound as confused as possible, as if she had no idea what her colleague was talking about. They couldn't afford another person to know, not now when things were going great between the two of them.

"Because your whole face turned red this morning when Bradley started talking about Max's night adventures," Gemma scoffed cynically to Madelyn's response. Madelyn felt like sweat broke out all over her from this questioning by Gemma. Why did she have to do this now?

"That's just because I think it's embarrassing to talk about his sex life, which is not my business," she told her colleague. The words that left her mouth felt like the worst lie she had ever told. However, to her surprise, Gemma seemed to believe her. At least, that's how she made it seem.

Before Gemma could say anything else, they got interrupted by Sergio, who walked out of the Red Bull building. He told his press officer they were done with debriefing, and he was ready to leave. To Madelyn, he said that Max was almost done with his debrief before Gemma followed Sergio inside to leave the track together since they arrived the same way this morning. They left Madelyn alone in front of the building, and she grabbed her phone to kill time while waiting for Max.

Because she was so focused on her phone, she didn't see Lando coming out of the McLaren facility across the paddock. Immediately his attention fell on the brunette on the other side of the street. She was alone for once, and he finally saw his chance to apologize for his behaviour in Monaco. He told Jon, his trainer, that he had to wait for him in the car, and determinedly he made his way to the Red Bull press officer. But when he got close to her, he lost some of his confidence.

"Lyn?" He said softly, causing the girl in front of him to look up and meet his eyes.

"Lando, h-hi," she stuttered and put away her phone. It was clear to him that she didn't expect to see him.

"Can we talk, please? I want to apologize to you." His voice sounded desperate. Madelyn bit her lip and turned around to see if there were any signs of Max coming out of the building behind her. Since there weren't any, she turned back to Lando and nodded. "I have some time."

They walked a little away from the Red Bull motorhome to distance themselves from the rest of the people. "How are you?" Lando asked once they stood across from each other.

"I'm okay," she smiled weakly. "Thank you for asking."

Lando looked down at the red water bottle he was holding and started playing with the attached straw before rattling on. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I don't know what happened to me. Well, I do. I got drunk. But-"

"Lando," Madelyn interrupted him. "Calm down." She placed her hand on his lower arm, and both their eyes shot to the place where her hand was located. Lando bit his lower lip and shook his head.

"You scared the shit out of me when you ran away from me that night. It was never my intention to scare you or hurt you like that. I'm so so sorry." His eyes looked back into hers, and Madelyn immediately noticed how teary they were. It made her feel guilty as well. She had ignored his texts and calls for the last couple of weeks because she was scared to talk to him and explain why she reacted this way. She already knew it wasn't his intention and partly had forgiven him for his actions, mainly because it caused her and Max to get together. How ironic... But she never expected that her ignorance hurt him this much.

"I have to apologize as well," she said. Lando looked confused at her for one second before he shook his head again.

"No, no, no, you've had every right to react that way," he immediately protested against her apology. "I don't know what else to say. I just hope we can put this behind us some way and maybe even go back to being friends again."

Slowly, a careful smile appeared on Madelyn's face. "I think we can." Lando's face beamed instantly after the words left her mouth.

"Lando, you should know that... that there was a reason for reacting the way I did. It's personal, so right now, I'm not ready to tell you yet. But I'm sure I will be one day, and you'll be the first to know, okay? The only thing I can tell you, for now, is that you reminded me of someone when you did what you did. That wasn't your intention, and that's why I'm not fully blaming you."

"You have to blame me, Lyn. What I did... I can't say enough times how sorry I am. The thought of you being scared of me has been haunting me ever since Monaco. I knew I shouldn't make that move. Carlos was right," he apologized again.

Inquiringly, Madelyn looked at him. "What do you mean 'Carlos was right'?"

"That you don't feel the same way about me," Lando sighed a little saddened.

"I'm sorry," Madelyn responded right away.

"Don't be," Lando assured her. "It's fine. But I must admit, it's probably going to take some time for me to get over you."

Madelyn didn't say anything to him, as she didn't know how to respond to what he said. Instead, he took him in an embracement and held onto him tight, as did he.

"Are we okay?" She heard him ask her, and she nodded with a smile on her face. "Yes, we are okay."

They let go of each other after Madelyn's phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw that she had received a message from Max, letting her know that he was waiting for her in his room.

"It's Max. I have to go," she told the McLaren driver in front of her. She gave him a quick hug and walked toward the building behind her. Lando watched her, thinking only of the smile that appeared on her face when she read the text Max had sent her, confirming Carlos' words from Monaco.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

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