Max
"Give me a break!" I shout, dousing Daniel with water. The man laughs, running away from me. Red Bull decides to take me, Checo, Daniel and Yuki to the track so we can drive drift cars. During the boy's race, my friend and I make a beeline for each other, dousing each other with water and chasing each other like kids. I laugh when he accidentally throws a bottle at me, which slips from his hands.
"Give me a break!" he prefaces me, crooking at the same time oddly. I roll my eyes, looking at him and Checo, who does a hundred and eighty, causing him to lose first place. I'd be surprised if he chose, because while he doesn't want to insult him, somehow first place puts him off.
"You're happy." says Daniel quietly, standing next to me when the cameras are no longer pointed in our direction.
"I am." I answer honestly.
After yesterday's day and night, despite having slept only a few measly hours, I feel like a newborn today. I've had a smile on my lips ever since I woke up. Yesterday we returned to my hotel room late at night, showered and went to bed for a measly few hours. I feel that I am sleep-deprived, but it doesn't take away from my joy. Charles and I agreed that for now we won't tell anyone about our relationship, it's far too early.
"Did something happen on the date?" he queries.
"Yes, I kissed Charles." I say amused and walk towards the car when our time to race comes. Daniel looks in my direction offended and I cross my arms over my chest, satisfied with the answer.
We spend the next few hours making fun of each other in front of the cameras. I have fun overtaking Daniel and then laughing as we all race, hitting the cushions that the towers are made of on our way to the finish line.
Tired, I return to the paddock and, bypassing the reporters, walk quickly to the driver's room. I have interviews in two hours and I want to rest until then. I hate media days. I'd rather race than prance around in front of the camera, unless it's prancing around with Red Bull, because then I have a lot of fun with the various activities they prepare for us. I sigh tiredly, closing the door and leaning my back against it, closing my eyes.
"Hi, Maxie." I suddenly hear Charles' voice in the room. I shudder in fright and open my eyes, looking at the boy who is sitting on the bed, watching me with a smile.
"Hey, baby." I reply, immediately moving toward him. The brunet moves over, making room for me, so I lie down on my back and lay my head on his legs, looking up at his face as he begins to comb one hand through my hair and stroke his thumb across my cheek with the other. I immediately notice on his collarbone the raspberry I made for him yesterday, as he continues to wear my T-shirt. "What are you doing here?" I ask, smiling lazily.
"We were supposed to go to Christian's." He reminds me, and my smile disappears. "Hey, it'll be fine. We'll be there together and..."
"I love you." I interrupt him, at which he stares into my eyes in surprise, after a moment smiling broadly.
"I love you too, Max, but those words don't change anything in this situation. You really need to get up." He leans in, placing a kiss on my forehead and takes his hands from my face and hair.
Reluctantly, I rise, and he stands up so that I don't lie down again. The only people who will know about our relationship are Frederic and Christian, because Charles and I know that they will help us with contracts and the rest of the stuff. Am I stressed? I don't, but I know the Ferrari driver does, because he cares more than I do, so I hope everything goes well and nothing will spoil our good moods after yesterday.
"Then maybe today a repeat of yesterday?" I mumble into his ear, standing right behind him and placing my hands on his hips, pushing him closer.
"How about switching roles?" He laughs when he sees my horrified face, shaking my hands off his body. "Come on already, you perverted man." He rolls his eyes, leaving. I wonder if he knows he's wearing a Red Bull T-shirt, and although at first I want not to tell him about it, I know he'll be angry later.
"How about changing clothes?" I suggest, following him. "Unless you want to suggest to people whose bed you are sleeping in." Confused, he looks at me until he finally glances down at his shirt and presses his lips into a thin line, turning toward the Ferrari garage and running towards it.
I decide to wait for him in front of the Red Bull garage, so I look around, leaning against the wall. Suddenly I spot Lewis Hamilton, who greets everyone, walking ahead. I see that he no longer has any wounds, and when he notices me, he moves toward me. I immediately straighten up, not knowing whether I should run away or better stay. I don't know what goes through his mind.
"Max." He says, standing close to me.
"Hamilton." I reply reluctantly.
"Listen, I don't want to make trouble for you, because it will also affect me badly. Let's just forget about what happened, okay?" he asks, extending his hand toward me.
"No." I reply immediately, looking at his hand, which he withdraws confusedly.
"No? Why not?" he asks.
"If you think I'll forget how you treated Charles, you're ridiculous. I may be thrown out and lose in court, but I won't shake your hand or reconcile with you. The likes of you should be cured of your overly large ego." I say in disgust, measuring him with an appraising glance. "All I can do is pretend you don't exist, but I won't shake your hand."
"You love him." He states, lifting the corners of his mouth upward.
"I love." I reply without thinking and after a moment I beat myself up in my mind for the foolish words I pronounce, he shouldn't know that. "I mean..."
"That's fine. I won't tell anyone about the two of you, I promise. Let's just pretend we don't know each other, and him, if you let me, I'll apologize him in passing and I won't stand in your way again. In fact, I should thank you, because through what you did, I realized how cruel I was." he continues with a smile and walks away, leaving me alone. With an unconcerned expression on my face, I look at the fans in the distance and force a smile as they look at me. Finally Charles returns to me and we walk towards the office, and the boy looks at me strangely.
"What?"
"Did you talk to Hamilton?" he asks surprised.
"He came up to say He's not going to the police with this. He said he wanted to apologize to you and went. If you don't want to, I'll explain it to him..."
"It's okay, Max. All you have to do is be next to me, and I can handle it when he comes." He assures me with a smile. I nod, making a note not to leave his side, because I have no idea when the Mercedes driver will decide to talk to him, and if Charles doesn't want to be alone with him, I'll make sure that doesn't happen.
"Then let's go to war." I say reluctantly, opening the door and waiting for Charles to enter first, which he does with a smile that he tries to hide. We climb the stairs to the office, and just as I want to go inside, the boy puts his hand on my chest and presses his lips into a thin line. "What?"
"Culture a little." He rolls his eyes, knocking on the door, and when no one answers, I grab the handle, contentedly stepping inside. "I'm about to sew your mouth shut." He says behind me, to which I parry amused.
However, my face returns to serious when in the room, instead of our bosses, is Charles' brothers and my parents and sister. What the fuck. Confused, I glance at the brunet, who also looks shocked. Everyone looks at us, and we look at them. I won't say, it looks strange and I feel uncomfortable.
"What the fuck kind of family reunion is this?" I ask, and Charles jabs me in the ribs with his elbow. "I mean it's nice to see you all." I correct myself immediately, forcing a smile. Leclerc is the perfect actor, as he walks up to the family with a wide smile and greets them. I see my father following him with his eyes, so I decide to break it up by walking over to them. "Hi mom." I say, and the woman stands up and hugs me tightly to herself.
"Everything will be fine, Max." She whispers concerned into my ear, which confuses me even more. He steps back and strokes the skin on my cheek with his thumb, looking at me sadly.
As she moves away, I glance at Charles, who is smilingly talking to his brother. I see his mother looking at me intently, but I ignore it and return my eyes to my family. My father looks at me with hatred, and my sister looks at me with concern.
"What's going on?" I finally ask, hearing all the talk fall silent.
"Leaked footage from the elevator cameras." says my father suddenly. I crinkle my eyebrows at first, having no idea and what he is talking about, and then I recall our first date with Charles. I swallow my saliva, skipping my eyes over my parents' faces, looking for any sign of a joke, but they look at me seriously.
"How many people saw it?" asks Charles.
"Thousands, maybe millions, probably all of them now." says his mother quietly. "But your bosses are already working on it and will talk to you soon. Nothing happened, Charles. You know we love you in spite of everything, and it's not the end of the world..." begins the woman, standing up.
"Not the end of the world? Mom, it's over! Everyone will have me as the worst person! They'll throw me out of Formula for this! They're probably already preparing a termination notice! And I fought so hard for Ferrari!" he starts to shout and with tears in his eyes runs out of the room without even looking at me. He purposely avoids me with his eyes, slamming the door behind him.
"You know Max..."
"Spare yourself." I straighten up, measuring my father with my eyes. Unlike Leclerc, I am not going to run anywhere. I stand confidently, looking at my father's face, who raises a surprised eyebrow. "Maybe it's not the best time and moment for what happened, but it worked out that way and I won't turn back time, and I don't regret anything because I love him and I'm not going to leave him just because the world found out about our relationship." I say, and my sister suddenly squeals and hugs me happily.
"I knew you were in love! I've seen how you're happier in every photo taken by journalists!" she says, to which I reciprocate the hug with a smile. "And I apologize for that argument, I was stupid to say so." she adds with remorse.
"I'm sorry for you too, Max. You're right, it's not the right time, and it's not right that someone decided to make it public, forcing you to reveal your relationship, and it's also not a good time to apologize, but nothing is appropriate now, so I hope you'll accept the apology." Mom also comes up to me and hugs me. "I'm proud and glad you're happy." she adds as he steps back.
"I wanted to tell you, but not yet, because it's fresh and..."
"Come on, we're not angry." Arthur waves his hand in the air. "Since Charles is happy with you, we are also happy that he has found himself such a rich, handsome world champion." His brother slaps him on the back of the head. "Ouch! Well what!" he shouts indignantly. "Our brother has settled down in life." he laughs, to which I nod in disbelief.
I glance at Charles' mother, cursing his name in my head for leaving me here alone. And I don't know what's going to happen to us, because after his reaction I don't think he'll choose me when the price is a seat in a Ferrari, but I'm not going to give it up, so I swallow the lump forming in my throat and watch his mom get up and walk over to me.
"I always told him you were better than Lewis." She rolls her eyes, at which I involuntarily smile. "And now you're just reassuring me in my words, Max, but as a mother I have to remind you that if you hurt him, I'll find you even at the end of the world." She adds, then hugs me, kissing my cheek. "Welcome to the family, baby." she adds quietly, smiling.
It's a good thing she didn't mention this before I did stupid things at the party, because I would have been dead already.
But through her words, I smile broadly, feeling warmth spreading through my body. I can't even tell you how grateful I am to her at this moment for those words, because from second to second she was able to come up and accept me into her family, barely knowing me. She trusted me because her son trusted me, and if it weren't for the fact that I still have that video in my head, I would be crying with happiness.
"I won't apologize." says my father, standing up as the woman moves away from me. Well, yes, the tenderness is over, the spell has broken. "For that, I'll say that Christian is calling you to sign the contract, so leave these pathetic sensitivities and let's go." he said.
"You said I'm not your son." I cross my arms over my chest.
"You will be it when you sign the contract." He leaves the room, leaving us all alone.
"Afterwards, you're invited for coffee and cake." says my mother suddenly, and Charles' mother starts discussing with her as she bakes her showpiece cake. Arthur winks at me, and Victoria smiles reassuringly.
I follow my father out of the office and walk toward the Red Bull garage, where everyone looks in my direction with either a reassuring smile or disgust, but I ignore it, entering Horner's office, where he sits behind his desk, holding a piece of paper and a pen. As I sit down in silence in front of my desk, I feel like a small child who has armed himself and doesn't know what will happen. He's scared, and there's no one next to him to hold his hand and offer encouragement. That is, a repeat of my childhood, I will advise.
"Your relationship is not well received. Most fans are happy, but our sponsors not so much, and they are the more important ones. You know, Max, that I adore you and am very happy for you, but this time there is no other way. Either you sign this contract, or I will be forced to replace you with someone else." Horner says, showing me the contract.
I read it and tighten my lips into a thin line. Among other things, of course, there is a lot of stuff about confidentiality and one point that made my heart beat harder with stress. Severing all relations with Charles.
"He got one too?" I ask quietly, holding the pen in my hand.
"Yes." Christian looks at me with compassion. I feel like crying, screaming, running away. After all, things were just starting to get good, and now I have to choose between love and driving.
I know how much I promised him yesterday, and I already have a test of my words today. I don't know if he agrees. I don't know if he loves me enough to stay. I don't know how my future will turn out if I choose the contract, and how if I don't. On top of that, I don't know what my boyfriend is thinking, if he continues to be one, and it feels wrong with everyone looking at me expectantly. I want to disappear.
"Did he sign it?"
"I don't know, Max."
I return my eyes to the contract again. I keep the pen turned on just above the box for my signature. Just a few dashes and I close the love, able to continue racing. I don't know what Charles will do. I know I can expect anything from his reaction, but am I capable of giving up something I was created for out of love? Will he do the same? Or will I walk away and he will leave me anyway, because he will choose Ferrari?
"Love or ride, Max." says my exasperated father. "I don't think I need to explain to you how much you will lose by choosing Leclerc, do I?" He adds.
If I had to choose between you and being a driver in Formula, I would choose you, Charles.
I bite the inside of my cheek, feeling the pain in my stomach and the hum in my ears. My heart is beating like crazy, and the voices in my head are screaming for me to behave as I should. Suddenly, with the pen almost touching the page, I turn it off and put it next to me. I see Christian smile, as if it wasn't his idea with this deal. He looks at me proudly, taking the deal.
"Love." I say after a while.
"What?" dad wrinkles his eyebrows.
"I choose love." I look in his direction. I'm just playing with fire. I'm in danger of getting badly burned, but I don't care. Without Charles, nothing will give me joy. Even winning more championships and many people will say that it's just an infatuation from which I will recover. Perhaps, but there is one correct decision here, and I just made it. I want to be next to him, and if he doesn't choose me, I'll know I tried and won't regret anything.
"Throw him out." Jos looks furiously at Horner.
"I will talk to the sponsors, Max. Those who leave will be replaced by others. We will also write a statement and record a video of you to answer fans' questions. Plus a confidentiality agreement, or rather several such agreements. We'll manage, because you have the right to love who you want." Christian gets up from his chair, so I do that, too.
As he walks up to me, he hugs me, to which I, slightly shocked, also do so. I close my eyes hugging him. I hear my father leaving slamming the door shouting something about regretting his decision.
"Thank you." I say quietly as the man moves away.
"You are for me, like a son. It's clear that I will always be on your side." He says, placing his hand on my shoulder. "What if Charles chooses a Ferrari?" he asks quietly.
"Well... I'll see that it wasn't real and forever." I bite the inside of my cheek, praying that he will choose me after all.
After speaking with Christian and making an appointment with him tomorrow to make a statement and sign various contracts, I leave the Red Bull garage in a strange mood. On the one hand, I'm happy that my mother, sister and Horner are on my side, and on the other, I'm stressing about whether Charles loves me enough to give up Formula, because even though I promised him I would do it for him, he hasn't mentioned anything about it.
I bite the inside of my cheek as I see my father's satisfied expression as he talks to the Ferrari director. A red light flashes in my head, and tears come to my eyes, because this is tantamount to Charles signing the contract. He didn't choose me because he didn't love me more than Ferrari. Suddenly all the negative emotions hit me with double force, so I want to go home as soon as possible. I walk toward the parking lot, dodging all the people who are looking at me curiously.
"Max!" I hear shouts behind me, and as I turn behind me, Charles, who was running toward me, hugs me tightly, almost knocking me over. At the last moment I catch my balance, and all negative emotions fall away as I embrace him around the waist, pressing his body against mine. A smile uncontrollably appears on my face, and as I close my eyes and inhale the scent of his perfume, I feel the longed-for peace and hope. "Did you sign the contract?" he asks suddenly, without moving away from me.
"Of course not." I respond immediately, gently pulling away to look at his face. "After your reaction, I was afraid that you would sign it." I say sincerely.
"And despite these doubts, you were ready to quit this Formula seat?"
"Of course, because I love you." I stroke his cheek with my hand. "And now I'm sure we'll manage it all together." I add, to which he nods, smiling.