malicious | max verstappen

twenty two.

I shrugged, "I don't know. I can't stop thinking."

"About what?"

"Everything?" I looked at him, showing him the hint of uncertainty that littered my every thought. "My life now. My life in a couple of weeks. There's no other way to say what's bothering me except for everything."

"Well, from the top of your head, what comes to mind when you first start to think about your life problems?"

You. "My mom." It wasn't necessarily the first thing that came to mind, it sure was the second though.

I watched as his smile shrunk. It was a sore topic for everyone nowadays. "I can't even imagine how you're feeling now. I don't know what the future holds regarding this but I'll make sure I'll be with you each step of the way. Even if you don't want me to."

I smiled at his words, not knowing how to reply. I was praying he couldn't feel or hear my heart rapidly beating or I'd evaporate. Simply hearing him promise me things, sweet things, made me actually believe he was doing this because he liked me and not because it was some part of a stupid plan. I wished there was never even a stupid plan to start with.

I hugged him and got up, "I can't thank you enough for these past few days, Max. Seriously, thank you."

"You don't have to thank me for anything, Ly." He used part of the nickname my mom have me and I felt my cheeks burn up.

"I like that." I pointed it out with a smile on my face.

"I'll make sure to use it more, then." He winked at me, my eyes nearly twitched. Stop. I started walking towards the door.

"I'll make sure you enjoy being behind me tomorrow, golden boy." This time I winked at him as I was exiting the door.

"That fast? Couldn't at-least wait until our first date?" I heard him say.

I rolled my eyes at him before flipping him off and leaving the rooftop for good.

The next morning was quite a painful one being sleep deprived. Per usual, Lewis barged into my room dragging me to the bathroom to start getting read for the day. I couldn't be assed to look glamorous so I settled for an okay look and was being rushed to the paddock by Hailey.

The mechanics were still working on my car from yesterday's incident until before the race by 10 minutes so I was a nervous wreck until then. I had to take three Xanax's in the span of 1 hour.

Hailey helped me practice my pre-race breathing exercises to calm myself down and I was off. Staring P8 wasn't the best but considering I crashed during quali, I wasn't necessarily complaining.

The lights were out and I climbed 3 spaces in the first corner. The race was pretty boring until I was on the fight for first place by lap 32.

Just 12 laps until the checkered flag and it was us, the three championship contenders, Lewis, Max and I, fighting for first.

At first, it was just us two Mercedes' fighting. One corner it was me leading, then the one after was Lewis. Back and forth. Then Max caught up to us and was involved once again.

Our tyres collided a bunch of times and apparently I was under investigation. I brushed it off for the remained of the race where I finished P2, behind Lewis and in front of Max.

I wasn't the happiest but I was grateful. I wasn't fully in the zone this weekend, which wasn't an excuse, but once again I wasn't complaining.

I pulled Lewis into a death-crushing hug. It's been a good few races where he hasn't won thanks to my previous win streak, as well as Max's. Then, before I knew it, Max was pulling me into a hug with a pat on my helmet, screaming congratulations. I never realized it before, but validation from him filled me with so much serotonin. It made me actually feel proud of myself, which never happened unless I won.