In the Spotlight (Max Verstappen - Book Two)

Chapter Fourteen

The rest of the trophies were handed out and soon Max, Lewis, Bono and I were spraying champagne at one another and while I had a quick sip from mine for the sake of tradition, I left it at that as it immediately made my stomach lurch once more. I stood briefly with the guys for the sake of the group photo on the top step of the podium but soon after I left in a moment of craziness with Max and Lewis distracted, the fast-acting energy packets wearing off and the serious fatigue starting to set into the point where Nick was practically supporting all my weight as we made our way to the car and later back up to my room where the doctor from the last day was with a couple of IV bags already set up. I rolled my eyes as I let her run her tests so that she could figure out exactly how best to treat me and was relieved when she let me go for a quick shower before we started given how gross I felt. My hair and body were wet from a combination of sweat and champagne, although I kept the shower brief and walked back out in a pair of jogger fabric shorts and an oversized grey t-shirt and zip-up hoodie. I sat down on the sofa with Liv next to me as I pulled one arm out of the hoodie and let the doctor stick the needle in me before I closed my eyes and finally breathed out a long sigh of relief. The stress of the weekend was over and I could finally relax.

Or so I thought!

In reality, the next few hours were spent with calls, both on the phone and in person. My family stopped by before I shooed them out and told them to celebrate my personal victory for me and they were followed by Christian who I chatted with for a bit and debriefed - not talking about the final lap in depth however and he asked, with very real and genuine concern that I keep him up to date on how I was doing. I quickly promised that we would before I also told him to leave and go celebrate the double podium with the team. After that, there were calls from Sebastian and JC to return, as well as messages from a few of my other friends and some of the drivers, concerned about my health as yet more videos went viral of me throwing up.

Finally, everything was done and everyone was out celebrating so I could relax, at which point the IV drip was also finished and the doctor said she was happy with my vitals, but that she would be by tomorrow morning and to hold off on any travel plans for tomorrow as she wanted to check before she gave me permission to fly. I agreed, purely in the interest of getting her to leave, now exhausted and in desperate need of sleep, hoping that by some miracle I might wake up all better.

That miracle did not come true, and I still felt rough as hell the next day but the throwing up seemed to have stopped and the fever wasn't nearly as when I got back to the hotel the night before. It was about midday when I woke up to a knock at the door and I was so happy that despite the fact I could tell I still had a fever, I wasn't sweating nearly as much as before. I plodded out of bed and over to the door, making sure to ignore the awful sight of myself in the mirror as I opened the door and leaned on it slightly, squinting my eyes at the bright light in the hallway.

"Hi?" I say but it's more of a question as I see Max standing outside my door.

"Oh...were you still asleep?" He asks guiltily as he sees the dark room behind me and I nod slowly as I see the doctor standing next to him. "I, er - you didn't answer my messages so I got worried that things got worse." He said in form of an explanation, I just let out a sound of realisation before opening the door wider and letting them in. I greeted the doctor, who told me her name was Emily and I felt relieved to finally know given that I had been too tired to care the last few times we met but I didn't like feeling rude. Max walks straight past the two of us as I close the door and he opens the curtains before looking around the room, seeing the mess it's in. "Have you been sick again?" He asks nervously as his eyes stop scanning the room and rest on me again.

"Er, no, I think I still have a slight fever but I'm feeling better than yesterday," I say out loud although it is more directed to the doctor than to Max. Emily nods and motions for me to sit down on the same sofa as before as I follow her instructions and notice Max pacing in the background, randomly tidying around the room. "Max," I say softly trying to get his attention. His head snaps towards me and he looks from his position where he was remaking my bed. "You're making me dizzy, would you please sit down?" I ask and he nods as he clambers onto the bed, sitting opposite me as he watches intently as Emily takes my blood pressure. "I'm fine, but you shouldn't be here, you could get ill," I tell him warningly and he just squints at me as though I'm a really difficult maths problem.