THE CLOCK STRUCK EIGHT sooner than isabel had wanted. she'd gone for a run at six-thirty and had gotten back an hour later. by the time she had showered, she had to be down in the conference room of the hotel in just under five minutes.
wearing black cargo pants and her team's shirt and hat, isabel pushed open the door of the conference room. her eyes immediately landed on tori, but she noticed that there was someone else beside her. a man, possibly a bit older than tori was, in a navy shirt. and then she looked down at the only person sitting at the table.
max fucking verstappen.
tori's head perked up at the sound of the door opening. "ah, right on time," she smiled at her friend, ushering her inside with her hand. isabel considered letting the door shut and leaving, but the look tori was giving her . . . yeah, she couldn't. hesitantly, she stepped inside the room under the stare of the two pr managers that looked like parents about to discipline a child.
silently, isabel sat down at in a chair by the white table that was far enough away from max to satisfy her. "so . . ." she trailed off, unsure.
"okay," tori clasped her hands together, "we can begin. isabel," she gestured to the man beside her, "this is will, max's pr manager."
"bonjour," isabel greeted quietly, the cogs in her brain ticking furiously as she tried to figure what was going on.
"both of you have been issued warnings, correct?" will stated, getting straight into the reason as to why the two drivers and their managers were in the same room. "multiple warnings?"
"yeah," max and isabel agreed bluntly.
"christian and alicia are over your shit," tori cut in. "like, this has been going on a few years too many."
"your incessant fighting has got to a point where it's not only just impacting your careers, but it's putting the whole of the sport into a danger zone," will continued, his arms crossed. "the publicity especially is fucking appalling." yeah, it definitely felt like being disciplined by a disappointed parent.
"your teams are more than okay with you two losing your seat," tori added. "they gave you an ultimatum last year, but after your shared behaviour at this grand prix, they've realised that it's gonna take a lot more than a warning to get you guys to quit it."
"what are you saying?" max asked.
"you two are the future of formula one," tori answered. "rivalries are fine until it gets to the point that you two are at. god, the public thinks you're gonna get each other killed!" she paused for a second to collect her thoughts. "so we've come up with an idea on how we can salvage your careers, and no, you do not get a choice unless you want to lose your seat."
"okay . . ." isabel said slowly, leaning back in her chair as if it would brace herself against whatever tori and will were going to say.
"christian and alicia have decided to give you until around round seven or eight to stop all the bullshit," will said. "so we thought, 'what better way for the max and isabel to learn to get over it' by deciding that you two are required to share a hotel room for every single round."
isabel swore her heart stopped beating. "excuse me?" she asked, voice unnaturally quiet as the words sunk in. that can't be allowed . . . right?
"huh?" max glanced up at will from where he was sitting. "there's no way that's something that just happens."
"oh, it is now," tori smiled widely at the two. "if you really care about this stupid shit between you two more than your incredibly successful careers, then by all means, have your own hotel room and end up a contract short. or you could do what we're suggesting and hope that it cures all our headaches."
"and what if it doesn't?" isabel dared to ask as she tapped her fingers against the table. this is a terrible idea, her knee bounced under the table. what about personal space? what about having time to unwind? how is this remotely fair?
"then you didn't try hard enough," will shrugged, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets. "it'll work if you commit to it rather than put in no effort. work out what works for you."
max looked like he'd seen a ghost. he'd removed his cap from his head, leaving his messy hair to fall against his forehead as he rubbed at his face. "as long as the hotel has two beds i don't care," he settled for. formula one came first to him, and if this is what he needed to do to at least pretend things were fine, then he would do it in a heartbeat.
"of course," tori agreed. "even if after this you can't call yourselves friends, at least you'll hopefully have some sort of respect for each other as racers. remember, a rivalry is fine as long as it isn't to the toxic extent that it's currently at."
it took everything in isabel not to slam her head down onto the pristine table in front of her. there was no way this had any sort of good ending, right? having isabel leclerc and max verstappen in a close proximity was like waiting for a bomb to go off: one wrong move and everything would turn to shit.
sighing, isabel glanced over at the pr managers. "fine, alright," she gave in, refusing to look anywhere near max.
tori's smile was blinding and isabel didn't like it one bit. "then it's settled!"
x
NOAH AND ISABEL WOULD be flying straight to saudi arabia with no detours in between. the team was pretty much silent now that they were in the air in the private jet. alicia was conversing with a few employees, tori was asleep, and noah and isabel sat together talking.
isabel was distracted. she was trying to listen to noah, but all she could think about was the fact that, in order to save her career, she had to stay in the same hotel room with the one person that she'd rather die than be near.
"belle?" noah said, snapping his fingers in front of her face. she blinked, eyes refocusing on him. "you alive in there?"
"very much so," she slapped his hand away from her face. she turned in her chair better so that she was facing him. "i have something to tell you."
noah's eyebrows shot up. "oh?" he asked with a smile. "what's the drama this time?"
quickly glancing back at tori to make sure that she was still asleep, isabel leaned closer to noah. "i'm being forced to stay with max," she said softly, relaying the information she had been told that morning. "send help."
what she didn't expect was for noah to burst out laughing.
"noah!" she hissed, reaching out to cover his mouth with her hand to silence him. "this is serious! i am having a crisis."
"how can i not laugh?" he asked incredulously, "this is the funniest shit i've ever heard. man, this season is gonna be hilarious."
isabel facepalmed, sinking into her seat. "you are the worst teammate i've ever had." it was a total lie, she wouldn't swap noah out for anyone else. he had joined f1 last year as her teammate once her old teammate had decided that 2021 was his last season after six years, and ever since, noah had been continuing to improve himself. noah was twenty-one, and even though he wasn't the best driver on the grid, he definitely would be up there in a few years time.
"that's bullshit and you know it," noah waved off. "but genuinely though, maybe this is for the best . . .?" he said carefully. "think about it. if you and max are just a little civil, then there'd be less crashes and more points."
she faltered. he's right, she thought numbly. a large portion of the crashes that isabel and max suffered in the past few years were the cause of each other. "i get it," she said, "but i do not wish to be civil."
"you act like parents after a messy divorce," noah groaned with an eye roll, sinking back into his chair. "and i'm going to sleep. don't wake me up unless the plane's on fire."
x
TUESDAY MORNING ROLLED AROUND rather quickly with the rest of monday after the flight being spent in the gym with her personal trainer.
tuesday was the day that red bull were landing in jeddah. tuesday was the day that max would be moving into isabel's hotel room.
IMESSAGE — HOTTEST ON THE GRID !
TINKERBELLE + LORD PERCEVAL + CHILLI
LORD PERCEVAL
carlos carlos carlos
CHILLI
what
TINKERBELLE
aren't you two next door
CHILLI
actually he's next to me right
now
LORD PERCEVAL
guess what
TINKERBELLE
what
CHILLI
whatttttt
LORD PERCEVAL
BELLE HAS TO STAY IN A
ROOM WITH MAX SDADKFJHKSD
FOR THE WHOLE SEASON
CHILLI
HAHAHAHHA WHAT
belle is he serious
this is hilarious!!!
TINKERBELLE
why did you have to message
the group chat. he's next to you
LORD PERCEVAL
because its funnier :)
wanted to remind you
TINKERBELLE
merci you're the nicest brother
ever
CHILLI
awww siblings 🥰
NO BUT THIS IS REALLY
FUNNY
AWW YOU ARE GONNA BECOME
BESTIES AND PAINT YOUR NAILS
AND GOSSIP
this is so cute!!!!!!
TINKERBELLE
carlos
shut the fuck up
hope your quali is shit
back of the grid start
CHILLI
someone's sensitive
LORD PERCEVAL
children we are not arguing
this is a new era for them
we must be proud carlos
i have to tell arthur
TINKERBELLE
DO NOT
CHILLI
. . . too late
TINKERBELLE
once you land in jeddah i'm
gonna kick your ass charlie
youve been warned
x
DESPITE THE LOVELY CHAT with her brother and best friend, isabel still managed to forget that max verstappen was going to show up and stay in her room. she'd been playing subway surfers again, and that was enough to distract her from reality for just a little bit.
three knocks knocked her out of her daze. who the fuc— oh. taking a deep breath, isabel hopped up from her bed and walked over to the door. her hand brushed the doorknob, the cool metal sending chills up her spine, but they weren't pleasurable at all. the chills were like electric shocks that set her inner defenses off like fire alarms, warning her of the boy that was on the other side of the door.
isabel opened the door like the metal was burning. it flung open with a soft creak, and there max was. red bull team shirt, black shorts that stopped just before his knees . . . and that stupid face that made her want to shove her own into a blender and switch it on.
neither of them said anything for far too long. their stare was ten times more fiery than any possible insult that could have been spat out.
"you gonna let me in?" max finally asked.
"i'd rather not," isabel answered, but she still stepped to the side so that he could walk in. he did so, navy suitcase trailing behind him as he walked over to the other bed.
shutting the door, she didn't move from there, only turned to face him as he set his things down on the nightstand. the beds were on the same side of the room with a significant gap between them, two nightstands in between them. it was a large enough distance apart in theory, but it definitely wasn't for isabel's liking. she would've preferred if he was three streets away in another hotel, and that was still too close.
the atmosphere was tense. the silence draped over it like a suffocating blanket and only made the intensity worse. the air felt stiff and like it was constricting around the two explosive drivers as if it were preparing itself for any sudden set off from either of them.
isabel had no clue what to do. it's not like the hotel room was at all small, but it felt small now that there was another person in it. they'd be sleeping mere metres apart at any given time when they were both in the hotel room. way too close. their garages being on either side of ferrari's in the pitlane was bad enough but the same room? that was asking too much.
if i make tori think it's working, maybe she'll let us have separate rooms again, isabel thought optimistically. with that thought in mind, she walked into the kitchen to make herself cereal.