Jules
The last thing I saw before the doors closed was Max. Obviously. I noticed the way he looked down and sighed, in a way I never imagined him doing. Like he didn't feel so sure of himself anymore. But he always did. I let his words sink in while staring at the closed elevator doors.
'I'm scared I'll be no one when I'm not what they expect.'
Was it really just an act? Was he actually a really nice person? It couldn't be. He was just messing with my head.
I turned around and walked towards my door. I needed to sleep. I looked at my phone while getting inside. I had one message from Alice.
'Meeting tomorrow after the race.' it said.
What would that be about? I fell down on my bed and just closed my eyes. Qualifying 11th wasn't that bad. It wasn't bad at all. Everyone congratulated me. Well almost everyone. I still couldn't believe he didn't just hold the doors open for me. He didn't even know that it was me. That proved to me that he was just a jerk. Even though for a split second it seemed like an act. It wasn't. It couldn't be.
...
I woke up early and took a cold shower. Today was my first race. I was really exited and nervous. I couldn't tell if the stomach flipping feeling was a good one or that I would be sick again. I met up with Yuki to go eat breakfast. We always stayed at the same hotel, because we were teammates. I took the elevator two floors up and when they opened I walked towards his room.
"Jules!" someone yelled at me. I turned around and was greeted by a big smile. It was Daniel. He came up to me and gave me hug. "Ready for your first race?" he asked me. "I hope so." I answered. He laughed while turning his head.
"Max don't hide!" he yelled. I looked over his shoulder and saw Max standing a few feet away. He looked up like he didn't realize I was there and smiled. I could tell it was fake.
"Good morning." he said while walking up to me and giving me an akward hug. He smelled like soap. But I didn't know what kind. He looked like someone who just bought the first thing they saw.
"Morning." I answered. If it was a good morning I wouldn't be here next to him and I wouldn't have this terrible feeling in my stomach.
I knocked on Yuki's door and he immediatly opened. He smiled at me and walked out.
"Yuki San." Daniel said while shaking his hand. Yuki laughed and shook hands with Max too. But he was laughing a little less.
"Let's go I'm starving." Daniel said and he pressed the button of the elevator. I turned to look at Max, but he was already looking. Those blue eyes.
So blue.
So full of lies.
How could he tell me that personal stuff yesterday and now look at me with that hard look again. The soft eyes he had yesterday were gone. But really, they were never there. It was just him beeing him and trying to get into my head just before my first race. How dare he?
...
Max
Her hair was in a braid. It had never been that way before. Atleast, I've never seen her with it before.
It looked special.
Actually, it looked quite nice.
Really nice.
She turned her head and looked in my eyes. It seemed like she forgot about yesterday. I thought she would feel sympathy for me. She clearly didn't. I told her about something I had never told anyone else and the next day she acted like nothing had happend.
"The breakfast here is really nice." Yuki suddenly spoke. I looked away and tried to clear my head. Why wouldn't she get out?
"Yeah, try to keep it inside this time Lavigne." I joked. Daniel chuckled and Yuki let a little smile slip. But she put on a sarcastic smile. "I'll do my best." she said still smiling.
I rolled my eyes. Why couldn't she be as mean to me with other people around as she was when we were alone? How would anyone believe me if I told them she was rude and annoying if she acted nice around everyone else?
We arrived at the buffet and picked out a table. Daniel sat next to me and in front of me was Lavigne. Great, I could look at her cold stare the whole time. Everytime that I looked into her eyes I got goosebumps.
I went to grab a plate and some food. I walked towards the scrambled eggs and got some on my plate. "Almost done?" I heard a voice. I turned around. "I like eggs." I simply answered. It was her, obviously. Who else would judge me on the amount of eggs I ate? But I wasn't going to make a scene. I wasn't going to be a hot head. I was going to be nice.
"I can tell." she pointed out. I looked down at my pile of eggs. I did like eggs. "Can I get some now?" she asked while pointing to the scooper I was still holding. I immediatly stepped aside. "Thanks." she slowly answered.
How could she be nice and rude at the same time? She was just messing with my head. How dare she?
...
Narrator
'We got Verstappen and Hamilton on the first row.'
'Starting behind them are Bustamante, Sainz, Alonso, Charles, Russel, Floersch, Tsunoda and Ricciardo.'
'Then we have our rookie; Lavigne followed by Norris, Magnussen, Bottas and Ocon.'
'Who had an engine failure yesterday.'
'Indeed. Luckily he looks ready to race.'
Breath in, breath out. Focus on your heartbeat.
'It's lights out and away we go in Bahrain.'
'The first race of the season, very exiting.'
'For sure.'
Deep breaths, deep breaths. She never felt this stressed. She was sure of that.
'Amazing reaction of Verstappen.'
'He's still leading after the first corner.'
'It looks like Bianca tried a move on Hamilton, but it didn't work out.'
'She's still very close.'
''Floersch just passed Russel.'
'What a move, looks like Russel's reaction wasn't fast enough.'
'Everyone else keeps their position as we almost finish sector 1.'
"Good job with the start." her engineer told her. A sigh of relief left her lips. The stress dissapeared into nothing and she focused on the race.
...
'It's lap 15 and some drivers are boxing.'
'Verstappen still leading but in second is now Bustamante.'
'Also Lavigne fought her way into 8th position.'
'Excellent work from her.'
'After a wheel to wheel touch with Sainz and Alonso they both lost a few places.'
'That opened up a spot for our rookie.'
'But that's not the only reason she's at that position, she did some amazing moves.'
'For sure, amazing work from the rookie.'
"Box, box." they told her through the radio. Her heart was beating in her chest, it felt like a hammer. She was exhausted, but proud. So proud. Finishing in the points was her goal. More than she could ever wish for.
'Lavigne is going to box. Let's see how that goes.'
She paid attention in the pitlane so she wouldn't go over the speed limit. It would be a stupid reason to get a penalty.
'That's a 2.6 from Alpha Tauri.'
'Pretty good. Where does that bring Lavigne on the board?'
'11th, back at the place she started.'
'Behind her is Bottas and in front of her is Alonso.'
...
'Max Verstappen wins the Bahrain Grand Prix!'
'What an amazing start for the dutchman.'
'In second place is Bustamante.'
'She is going places, I'm telling you.'
'Definitely.'
'Hamilton is also on the podium with third place.'
'Than we have Charles, Ricciardo, Tsunoda, Floersch and Lavigne.'
'What a day for the rookie.'
'Behind her are Russel, Sainz, Norris and Alonso.'
'Sainz had an amazing comeback, but Alonso didn't recover from the small collision they had.'
"That's 8th place girl!" she heard in her ears. Her heart skipped a beat. 8th. She placed in the points.
"Thank you so much. Everyone." she breathed out into the radio. A tear rolled down her cheek. She was so thankful.
...
Jules
It felt unreal. Getting out of my car and running towards everyone. The same way I ran to them when I won the F2 championship. Placing 8th may seem less impressive. But in F1 it didn't feel like that. Everyone told me how amazing I did. I never felt better. Never.
And when I finally found some rest in my drivers room I immediatly called my parents.
'Ma chérie! Nous l'avons vu, vous avez été géniaux.' (We watched you, you were amazing.)
'Merci maman.' I answered almost crying.
'We are so proud.' I heard my dad yell.
'Can you guys come to the next GP?' I asked hopeful.
'I'm sorry, we can't.' I heard them answer through my phone. I stared at the screen and silently cursed at it.
'It's fine. I'm glad you watched this race at home.'
'We won't miss any race of you.' they said reassuring.
'That means a lot to me.'
The tears almost fell from my eyes.
'I have to go. Je t'aime, maman et papa.'
'Nous t'aimons aussi.'
Then I hung up and let myself cry for a while. Crying wasn't a bad thing. It was the best way to let all the bad thoughts run away with the tears. Falling onto the pillow and dissapearing, hopefully never returning.
After a shower and asking Sophia what I should wear to the party I remembered the meeting Alice told me about. I still didn't know what it was about. I was curious. But it was quite obvious that it had to do with Max. Somehow it seemed like he appeared in my life more then I wanted to.
...
Max
I had won. I should've been at some party by now. But I had a meeting. According to Christian, a really important one. So when I got out of the shower and had put on a suit I went straight to his office. I wanted this to be done quickly. When I opened the door I saw some other people sitting at his desk. I recognized the way her hair fell over the chair. It was Lavigne.
"Max, welcome." Christian said pointing to a chair. Next to him was Tom and some woman I had seen before, but I didn't know who she was. Next to me was her. I could tell by the way she stared to the ground that she didn't want to be here either.
"We're here to discuss what's happening lately." Tom started. "Some of these articles are really negative." the woman said. "But we're here to fix this. Because you guys couldn't." Christian told us. I tried not to roll my eyes, which was hard, and I could hear Lavigne quietly sighing.
"Walking out a building together once isn't going to make people believe your friends." Christian said. "So we planned a few things you guys can do together." he followed. I bit my tongue while trying really hard not to say something about it.
"It's also important that you talk in a more positive way about eachother in interviews." the woman pointed out. "Right, we'll send you both a mail about the things you can do together." Tom finished. They all looked at us, but I didn't know what to say.
"Okay." I heard Lavigne say. Then she got up and left. Pretty rude, if you'd ask me. "Max?" Tom asked while looking at me with a hard look. "I don't really have a choice, do I?" I said while getting up. "Go to Jules and drive to the party together." Christian ordered just before I walked out. "I just won a race, I want to have fun." I answered and closed the door.
"Too bad Verstappen. We're going there together." I suddenly heard. I looked to my right and saw Lavigne leaning against the wall with an annoyed look on her face. "Let's go." she said and walked away.
She was wearing loose pants and a white top. She had green eyeshadow on. But I barely noticed it. Only when I looked really well I saw it.
"I'm driving." she said when we got out of the building.
"Absolutely not." I immediatly answered. She scoffed and looked at me. "Why?" she asked. "Because I'm obviously the better driver." I simply said. She just sighed while we walked through the crowd and tried to ignore the flashing lights.
When we finally reached the parking lot she walked towards her own car.
"I'm not going with you if you're driving" she explained. "I don't want to go with you either." I answered. "But don't you want to fix this?" I asked her trying to keep my voice down. "I do, but I've been trying for long enough. I'ts you who's been ruining it." she shot back. She looked at me with no emotion on her face. She was so confusing. For a second I thought she was going to get into her car. But then she turned around and got into mine. Without saying anything I also got in and drove away.
"Let's get this over with." she said quietly.
...
The party is going to be interesting :)))
Very exited to write that chapter already.
Please vote if you liked this chapter <333
xxx