✓ | SUNRISE BOULEVARD, lando norris

EPILOGUE

Max looks happy tonight, dressed in a black top and some gray jeans. His only outerwear was a blue jacket reminiscent of the shade of blue on the livery his car had, and his face was politely holding a smile as he looked her way.

"Hello," she responds, resting her elbow on the bar as she looks towards him. "'Pretty teacher' has a name, by the way."

Max nods. "Yes, yes, I know. I just thought since that's what I called you last time we spoke in person, it would remind you who I was."

Sareena snorts, "You're Max Verstappen. Everyone knows who you are."

He walks over and takes a seat at the empty chair next to her, and shrugs his shoulders. "Out there, I'm Max Verstappen. Today, I am just Max who intends to get through the night without a single drink."

"To ensure you don't forget your bracelet again?" She jokes, rolling the beaded bracelet off of her arm with ease. She dangles it in the space between them, and quirks up at brow. "You missing this?"

"Very," he hovers his palm under the bracelet, and Sareena lets it drop. "It's one of my favorites I've received."

"Sentimental, are you?"

"Sometimes," he closes his fingers around the bracelet and places his hands on the bar. He spins the accessory in his hands as he continues to speak, "How have you been?"

"Busy. Teacher duties," she responds as she goes back to stirring her lemonade. "How are you? Since you're not drinking tonight."

Max shakes his head. "I shouldn't. I said to myself that I would like to remember the next time that we speak."

Oh, so he's crazy.

Sareena laughs, raising the straw to her lips with her hand around the cold glass. "You're so optimistic."

"Still waiting for you to accept my follow request," he points out. "So, yes, I am very optimistic."

Sareena has a grand total of 89 followers on Instagram, all friends that she keeps up with decently and family she's somewhat in contact with, and Max's request to follow her has been sitting in her inbox for a few months now.

The determination, at least, is something she can admire.

"I won't do it, you know," she rejects, lowering the glass back down to the table.

"Someday, you might."

"It would be a misclick."

Max quirks his head from side-to-side. "Then, I can be patient and wait for the real thing."

Patient.

Max Verstappen and 'patient' don't really go together. They're never on the same assembly line of thought, and they're never really two things that you think of at the same time. Sareena's seen him race, seen the articles, seen how short his fuse can be if you leave it out and lit.

She lets the faint sourness of the lemonade linger as she eyes the man next to her. "Are you really patient, or is that your New Years Resolution?"

He lets out a laugh, then shrugs. "Who knows?"

Eventually, the two get their attention taken away by the voice of Daniel Ricciardo, who they can see is holding two pool cues with a beaming smile on his face.