letters [max verstappen]

2

The four of us walked into the cramped London flat, which was probably already overflowing by about 50 people. The air was hazy, the only light coming from neon party lights, and I grabbed onto Pierre's wrist, a bit worried about losing my friends.

"Cal! Good to see you, mate." A shaggy-haired man who I guessed was Oli appeared and hugged Cal. He shook Pierre and Max's hands and wiggled his eyebrows at me. "Any food or drinks you can get your hands on you can have! Have fun!" Oli disappeared again, and Pierre held up a bottle of vodka that seemed to come out of nowhere.

"You heard the man! Let's have fun!"

As expected, I ended up losing all of my friends. I accepted that they were around somewhere, so I just danced with the random people around me. That was until Oli tapped me on the shoulder. "Hey, you came with Cal and that French guy, right? Pierre?" I nodded with a grin.

"Yeah, why?"

"You might want to get him home." He grabbed my arm and let me over to where Pierre was sprawled out on the couch, mumbling in French. I started giggling as I helped him up, and we managed to stumble out of the building and onto the street.

"There is no way we'll make it home." I giggled. Instead, I pulled out my phone to look for the nearest hotel. It was only a few blocks away, and the alcohol in my stomach kept me warm as Pierre and I made the trek. By the time we arrived he had sobered up enough to mostly hold his own weight, and I whispered to him. "Ok, we have to look as sober as possible if we're gonna get a room." He got the message and moved his arm from around my shoulder to around my waist for support, and we walked in.

It was a nicer hotel than I expected but our mission was still a success, and soon I was unlocking the door to our room. I dumped Pierre on the chair and got some water for us both, then fell onto one of the beds and texted Callum.

Pierre and I are at the Rosewood, room 312. I left the key card sticking out under the door.

I threw my phone to the side and glanced over at Pierre. He was knocked out in the chair, but since he was upright I knew he'd be ok and allowed myself to doze off.

——

I woke the next morning to a bright light shining through the windows and the delightful sounds of Pierre yacking in the toilet. I groaned and sat up, and was relieved to see Callum and Max passed out in the other bed. My head was pounding, but I managed to grab the glass of water from last night and gulp it all down.

"Hey, I didn't wake you up, did I ?" Pierre emerged from the bathroom looking quite sickly.

"You did, but I can't fault you for that." I gave him a sympathetic smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Better now." He admitted, and both our eyes were drawn to Callum as he groaned and sat up.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty." I smirked, ducking as Callum chucked a pillow at me. Max sat up too, his hair ruffled and his face white. He said nothing, just staring at the floor. I got up and got us all more water, which all three took gratefully. "How'd your parents react to you not coming home last night, Cal?"

"As a matter of fact, before we even went to the party I told them we were spending the night in the city." He stuck his tongue out at me. "I guessed we'd figured something out, but this is nice. Like really nice. How'd you swing this?"

My cheeks turned red. The hotel was much nicer than I had expected, but the price hadn't been a concern. I had no excuse besides telling them about my family background.

"I was completely out of it, Becca had to find the nearest place." Pierre responded, assuming I hadn't heard.

Callum started to chuckle. "Yeah man, you were really having a good time. Guess we should do that more often."