In the Spotlight (Max Verstappen - Book Two)

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Feeling generous, here's a proper chapter!
Hope you enjoy it!
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I go from Silverstone back to the factory for the next week, trying to get as much work done with the team as possible while I ignore Max's continued existence in the country, seemingly he also chose to stay rather than head back to Monaco.

We take turns on the simulator, carefully using go-betweens to avoid talking to one another with no more big blow-ups. Neither of us make an effort to build the bridges that were burnt down to the very ground the week before and to be honest, I'm miserable. I miss him.

As much as I had tried to push it all down, saying that I didn't care, I wasn't affected and I was totally invested in my racing. I had been sad and cried...a lot. I had tried to convince myself that we could be friends, that I could treat him as though he was my teammate and nothing more. Recently...last week was the prime example...I had been angry.

This led me to where I was right now as I played with Senna on the grass beside the track at the Hungaroring, having opted to do the motorhome thing again as Senna was with me once more. Not at peace with it, still very broken up about it. But I was at peace with the fact that I was upset still. I successfully navigated my way through the five stages of grief and am ready to recommit to my never date a driver promise once more.

"Elodie, a question from a fan, how do you get over a broken heart?" Sydney asks coming up to me with a mini mic and her phone causing me to quietly groan as I look up at her, grateful to Senna for jumping into my lap.

"I don't know, if someone has the answer I would love to hear it," I tell her frankly feeling that will be enough to get her to go away and that she can just not include it in her video later and I see her eyes raise in surprise.

"I'm doing a live," she informs me showing me her phone screen and I just make an unimpressed face as I shoot her a thumbs up, reminding her that she should really give me a heads first before doing stuff like that.

"Dogs are good companions through any sort of hardship," I say in an effort to get the chatters focused on the dog content as Senna sits stoically in my lap to my amusement as he is still quite a small puppy. Sydney smiles and sits down next to me, holding the phone up to capture her with me and Senna. I read a question out loud, realising I'm not getting rid of Sydney. "Where is Max? I don't know...should I get my Max tracker out?" I joke around, feeling like it's still the best course of action to pretend that there's nothing wrong. "Who broke my hea- oh I guess it's too late to pretend I didn't see that. Er, no one important, this girl is still thriving," I tell the chatters and see a flurry of messages come through. "God no, it's not Max guys. Max and I are doing just fine."

That's not what he said. Ignore the chatter as I try to look for other questions I can answer.

"Yes, Senna travels with me everywhere. I remember when discussing getting a dog with Max and Lewis that I thought a spaniel would be a good dog for me as he can go on runs with me and is small enough to travel so I'm not surprised it's the one they got for me." I tell the chat with a wide smile on my face until I see the chat blow up again.

"There you go guys, breaking news, Elodie got Senna from Max and Lewis. That's my clickbait sorted," Sydney jokes as she stands up and I nod smiling and lift up Senna's paw as a wave from him as she walks away. As soon as I'm confident that I'm out of the firing zone I let out a loud groan and lean forward, burying my head in Senna who wriggles slightly, clearly not entirely keen on my decision to engulf him.

When I lean back up he leaps out of my lap and sits directly across from me so I put my head in my hands as I lean forward again, resting my elbows on my knees. "When is it going to get better?" I ask the dog in front of me with a frown on my face, stubbornly waiting for the puppy to give me an answer, mimicking him when he tilts his head to the side in confusion. "Don't know? Me neither buddy." I say as I pick up the stick I had been throwing for him before.