Away We Go • 2 • Formula One

Chapter 72

sorry for the long break in between chapters. i've been super sick and busy with literally no time to myself. it's half five in the morning - perfect time to post, no?

lys is finally going to give max her decision in this chapter - are you ready?

who's going to be the first to cry? answer: me.

don't forget to vote and leave comments throughout!

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I had expected my dreams that night to either be filled with Max, Lando, the upcoming race, or a tangled nightmare of the three. Instead, it was dreamless. I just closed my eyes and woke up with my alarm at nine AM. In a way, I would've taken the dream and risked the nightmare as it would've felt like longer before I had to break the news to Max. The race starts at three o'clock local time, which gave me just six hours to tell him. If I hadn't promised to tell him before the end of the Grand Prix weekend, I'd have waited until the race was over as to not have an impact on his mood, and thus his performance. Oh, this was going to hurt.

Seb knocked on my hotel room door half an hour after I woke up. I was still slowly getting myself ready for the day so I invited him inside. Today was the most humid it had been for the entire heatwave and I was feeling sluggish because of it. I decided on choosing an oversized team polo shirt that I could wear as a dress; the fewer clothes touching my body the better. My hair was pulled away from my face and off my neck in a high ponytail. There was no point in wearing anything more than my eyebrows, mascara, and some SPF. Murray was not a fan of this heat, either, and often opted to sleep on the cool tiled floor in the bathroom despite the fact that there was someone else in the room.

I sat down on the end of my bed when I was finally ready with a huff. Seb turned to me, his eyebrow raised. "You okay?"

"Define 'okay'," I mumbled into my hands as I pressed them against my face. "I need a day off."

Seb wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me against his body. His hand gently rubbed the side of my arm. "At least it's the summer break after this one. It'll give you enough time to gather yourself and come back even stronger."

"I need a nap, too."

Exhaling in amusement, he pressed a kiss to the top of my head. "You can have a nap later," he told me. "C'mon, we should probably get going to the circuit. I know you qualified front row but I'm sure you can find something to preoccupy you before the race. You're going for your fifth win, yeah?" I nodded my head. "That's a great number, you know. It belongs to an extremely handsome, young, talented-"

"Okay, okay," I interrupted, unable to hold back my chuckle as I sat forward. I turned back to look at Seb to see he had a smile on his face. "I get it - you're amazing."

"That's why you're one of my favourite drivers on the grid - so honest and kind."

I let out a groan and stood up. I offered my hand for him to take to help him stand from the bed. "I guess we should get going to the paddock. The time until I face the music will tick down just as fast if I'm here or there, so I might as well start focusing on my race. I know I should be kind to Stoffel, but there's no way I'm gifting him a win when the championship is so close. I want to head into the summer break in the lead."

"You will," he said in encouragement, "or I'll retire at the end of the season."

"I'll retire whenever you do."

Seb and I got into a debate on the short walk to the circuit about when would be the best time to retire. It was mostly me trying to convince him to hold off from ever retiring so that I could always have him racing alongside me for however long my career lasts. He was definitely one of my favourite people on the current grid, and I couldn't picture the sport without him. Murray was also a huge fan of Seb and, even though I was holding the lead, chose to skip happily by his legs and looked up at him with admiration. The topic of conversation was enough to keep my mind occupied away from my inevitable heartbreak. As soon as I spotted the Red Bull building when we entered the paddock, it was impossible to keep Max from my thoughts.