You didn't know the Max Silence Treaty would be so deafening. It really was like he wasn't there. Maybe he wasn't and just came over to sleep, because there was no sound whatsoever from his side and no traces of food or training clothes. Two days of nothing went by like that. You had lunches with the team, went for a run around the premises and played some games at the lounge. Spoke with your family and kinda fixed things with Dave, who still was walking on thin ice.
Max? No idea. You saw him around but he wouldn't even bat an eyelash to you, he could pass by you and it was as if there was nothing there for him. Some people in the team asked you if finally you two stopped the fighting but you had little to tell them, as this was even worse than throwing words at each other at every turn. His hard face whenever he was close to you was like a brick wall, you wouldn't dare breaking it with a comment to see if he was as tough as he appeared to be because it didn't look as an invitation to bicker for the fun of it.
The third day of lockdown, you and Dave broke up. He said some harsh things and it hurt you because he was the person you thought it would be your company during those days and instead he became more of a problem than Max himself, who was the constant troublemaker in your day to day. You said those things to him, way too honest, and he took them the wrong way: he immediately thought you teammate was the cause you would fight so much and the reason you didn't want to come back. By then you didn't have more strength to reply back to that, you just sighed and used your most sarcastic tone to offload your frustrations: "you know what? yes, you're right because Max is everything I would need to spend a lockdown! He doesn't talk to me, he doesn't even acknowledge me anymore, he tried to do one nice thing and I blew him off because I was fucking mad at you and ruined the one thing my boss asked me to do, to fix things at work. And you come here and accuse me of preferring Max over you when I don't even talk to him for prioritising you and your requirements! Fuck off, Dave!" You spat out, holding back your tears and hanging up, letting them out while sitting on the floor of your room.
As if the universe was mocking you, Max came in a few moments later and looked at your side of the room then looked away. He turned back and frowned.
"Are you okay?" He said, not moving towards your room.
You snapped your head to him. "Are you talking to me?"
"Of course I am, I don't see anyone else crying like Meg Ryan as Sally Albright." He chuckled.
This time you chuckled too. "You know that movie?"
"You'd be surprised of my film knowledge," he said and came a to lean over your door frame. "So? What happened?"
You sighed. "My boyfriend and I broke up."
"Shit..." he said. "That can be tough..."
"You think? The one person I thought would be the best company during this period and he ended up to be the most unsupportive prick."
He chuckled and you stared at him with murderous eyes. "No, no!" He rushed to fix it. "I'm not laughing at you, it's just that I find funny how honest you were."
You shrugged. "Well, he was an unsupportive prick, he wanted me back the moment we were told to stay in, and went on about how he was right about Red Bull taking all of my time..."
"It's not the first time you're in Formula One, surely he must know how it is..."
"Apparently he believed it was only on the weekends," you smirked. "And want to know more?"
"You seem keen on letting it all out, so go." He said, sitting on the floor.
"He said I didn't want to even try and come back because I had you!" You laughed.
He laughed too. "Me? Does he know how insufferable we are together?"
"And that shows he didn't even listen to me when I told him you were ignoring me completely!" You kept laughing.
Max instead, stopped his laugh. "Yeah, sorry about that... I was just so frustrated with the whole situation and..."
"No no, Max, I am sorry." You interrupted and he looked at you as if you were mad. It made you chuckle. "Don't look at me like that! I'm sorry because you did a nice thing with the breakfast and I was a dick to you, only because I was in a bad mood thanks to Dave."
He smiled. "You could have told me that, I could've helped you make him understand..."
"Nah, don't worry, it was doomed from the moment they paired me with you here"
"Really? Why?"
"You will forget about this in five seconds because if you say something to tease me about it, so help me god!"
"Oh come on just say it!" He chuckled.
"You were always my favourite." You admitted while looking down, thinking of all the teasing that would come from him.
"I knew that!"
"How?"
"You told me!"
"When?"
"When you first met me, back at Milton Keynes! Remember? When we used to be civil around each other"
"Oh my god, I did!" You laughed and hid your face in shame. "I had no shame!"
Max laughed too. "I thought it was nice, I mean, I wasn't entirely good yet and someone, especially my teammate, telling me I was their favourite was very nice!"
You smiled shyly. "Okay then..."
"Now you decide to have shame? That's new!" He laughed.
"Shut up, I just feel embarrassed now because of everything that happened after..." you chuckled and threw a pillow at him.
He caught it and put it on his lap. "You know what they say: never meet your heroes..."
"Yeah, well, is there a saying for 'never meet your admirers'? You joked.
He chuckled. "It's not that bad, I mean, I've been told I talk too much when I'm passionate about something and when you told me I was your favourite I took it in me to teach you everything I knew so I could be some sort of hero to you and I took it too far..."
You widened your eyes. "I didn't know that..." you smiled. "I've been a right dick to you, wasn't I?"
He just made a face and shrugged.
"You're supposed to say 'no, I always understood!' and move on!" You said imitating his accent.
He laughed and threw the pillow back at you. "You know that's not true because I didn't understand!"
"It's just..." you started. "It's just that I came to an all men's sport and I had had to fight tooth and nail for a place in every category. And then I came here and expected to learn from my teammate and also play fair and equal and found another man explaining things to me as if I never drove in my life. I don't know, I don't even remember now but maybe I was too on edge and instead of making the most of your teachings I took them the internet way and got offended by it..."
"The internet way," he chuckled. "To be honest I wanted to show off a little too..." he looked down.
"I know."
"Was it that obvious?"
"Oh Max, you really think you're that humble?" You chuckled.
"You're right, who am I kidding?" He tittered.
You let out a laugh. "Guess that now you can teach me things I really can learn from you and I can learn not to take them the wrong way?"
"You can teach me not to Maxplain things too much, right?"
"Mansplain, Max, that's when you explain things as if you're the only one who knows them for being a man. Maxplaining is good." You smiled.
"You sure?"
"Yes, and to be honest, many people would pay for that kind of talk!" Then you whispered. "A lot of people on the grid should but shhh"
He laughed at your wittiness. "Okay then, until we race, we sell my wisdom!"
You laughed too and stayed silent for a bit. "Friends?"
He moved to you and extended his hand. "Friends." He shook your hand. "Who would've thought that you breaking up with your boyfriend who was jealous of me finally made us friends?" He chuckled.
You laughed out loud. "The irony in that!" You stood up and helped him up. "Thank you for this, Max, you helped a lot."
"Of course, and I'm sorry for the silent treatment, the ban is lifted now." He giggled.
You did it too. "Between you and me? It was driving me mad so don't do it again. Now let's get dinner."
You left him staring at you and chuckling to himself.