One Night (Max Verstappen)

Chapter 2 - Closest Confidant

A/N: I'll try my best to get a chapter out next Saturday, but I may need to miss a week. 

TRIGGER WARNING

Mentions of a life threatening racing accident

As Max threaded his arm through Alicia's to lead her away from the bar, she let out a gasp of surprise since the feeling of his touch had caused the best kind of tingles to rush throughout her entire body, her heartrate increasing massively once she had noticed that during their journey the quiet corner table which Max was leading her to, Max was protectively watching over her, the Dutchman's eyes travelling upwards from being on her whenever he would notice that another guy would look lustfully in her direction. Once they had reached their table, the two of them sat in the corner of the semi-circle shaped bench which wrapped around the table, meaning that the bench was largely shielding their bodies, Max and Alicia only being viable to those few who would walk directly past their table.

"So, are you going to tell me what's bothering you, the reason why you wanted to come out and get drunk tonight?" Max asked Alicia with concern once they were sitting down, turning his body to face hers as he took both of her hands in his.

It was as he did, as Alicia met his eyes, that she suddenly could no longer deny to herself that she had always cared for Max as way more than like a big brother, the rush of adrenaline which the tinges were making her experience causing her body to lightly shake with anticipation of what could come in the future if Max felt the same way. After becoming lost in his eyes for a moment, she remembered that she needed to answer his question due to his expression hardening. 

"I'm just sick of Lando beating me week after week!" Alicia exclaimed, the negative emotions which she had been experiencing earlier in the night now rushing back to her as he worries were brought straight back to the forefront of her mind. "When I won the F2 title in 2020, everyone up and down the paddock couldn't praise me enough. The team who I've always dreamed of driving for, McLaren, called me one of their stars of the future, but with the car being more suited towards Lando, I'm struggling to prove that I've still got what it takes. What if they drop me?" 

Just as she was about to go on, Alicia stopped speaking as she felt tears welling up in her eyes, which she began to rapidly blink away with the fears of them ruining her makeup, this causing Max to begin to lightly dab underneath her eyes with the fingertips of his index fingers. 

"It's alright, I've got you," said Max softly once he had dried her tears, pulling Alicia's head down onto his chest as he wrapped both of his arms tightly around her, resting his chin on the top of her head, before he pressed a gentle kiss to it.

As Alicia melted into the feeling of his warm touch and felt Max's lips brush over her hair, her heart sank even further as she assumed that there would have been little meaning behind the kiss, rather than realising the truth, which was that Max had been secretly wanting her just as much as she wanted him.

"You're the only one I feel like I can turn to, Max," Alicia spoke up after a short while, lifting her head up and meeting Max's eyes once more. "You'd think I could turn to my dad with him being a three time F1 world champion who won his titles with McLaren, but you know he never wanted me to be a racing driver in the first place with the fear that I'd get hurt, so I feel as though with me performing poorly compared to Lando, that he'd be even more disappointed in me than I'm sure the team will be." 

At the sound of the sorrow in Alicia's voice, Max's expression hardened even further, it frustrating him to see her this way when he didn't think there was anything he could do to help. At the sight of this, Alicia began to panic that Max was looking at her like that because he though she was being stupid, but just like he always knew how to do, Max soon made sure that a smile returned to her lips, no matter how small it may have been.

"Your dad will always be proud of you no matter what, Alicia," said Max sternly, not because he thought she was being stupid, but instead because he wanted to get the message through to her. "Once he accepted that you were willing to follow your dreams no matter what, you know just how wide his smile is whenever he sees you doing well. You may have terrified us in F2 when you were nearly taken from us both because of the accident, but trust me when I tell you that we both couldn't be prouder of you. Marcus may have a funny way of showing it at times, but he feels exactly the same as I do." 

Due to Alicia's confidence being unusually high because of the alcohol in her system, she was no longer able to hold herself back, the British-Dutchwoman doing something which she now wished she would have done a long time ago and closed the distance between their lips, Max's kind words being exactly what she needed to hear. Max may have puckered his lips at first once his cheeks were in his hands and their lips had gently connected, but the kiss was very short lived because as much as Max had wanted this for a couple of years now, he wanted to reveal how he felt about her under better circumstances. 

"I'm-" began Alicia urgently, being ready to rush to apologise, before Max cut her words off with his own.

"You don't need to apologise. I just thought that we should do something fun to make you feel better," responded Max warmly, pulling Alicia up to her feet by the hands. "I couldn't help but notice your moves earlier and I've got to admit, I loved them, so how about you show me what you've got up close? How about you have a dance with me?"