The Fight • Max Verstappen•

•sixty-one•

MAX

She rolled her eyes, "What the fuck?"

My stomach turned and I couldn't find the air to breathe. What was I supposed to tell her? That since I had met her I couldn't stop thinking about her. That every girl was compared to her.That I ached for her every time we weren't talking but I couldn't bear to hear her talk about him. That I couldn't watch her love him the way she was supposed to love me?

She wanted an answer, and she deserved an answer. However this wasn't going to be a situation we could both walk away from feeling whole. One of us had to lose, and perhaps both of us would. Scarlet deserved the truth, the cowardly truth.

"So what gives Max?" She cried.

I took a deep breath, "I can't do it, Scar." My eyes filled to the brim with tears, whereas hers were looking around at everything but mine.

When she finally looked up at me, her green eyes tear stained. "What?"

I shook my head and looked up to keep from crying. "I can't watch you love Pierre like that."

I watched as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Her hot breath steaming in the cold Spanish air as she sighed, "Like what, Max?"

A single tear trickled down my cheek. "Like he's everything you've ever wanted." I reached my hand out to draw Scarlet back to me, and reluctantly she accepted.

Scarlet stared at me, silence dripping from her lips. I think it might be the first time I have ever seen her truly speechless. Usually she would have a witty retort to spit back or at the very least something sarcastic, but there was nothing but the rain hitting the pavement.

As she goes to speak, her eyes narrow as if she can't comprehend what I had just told her. I could see her mind working behind her eyes. She licked her lower lip holding it between her teeth and her head cocked to the side.

"Max..." She exhaled, "Why are you saying this?" Her voice quivered as a tear fell. "What does this mean?"

I gazed at her, tears still brimming in my eyes. A smile grew on my face which no doubt further confused the girl stood in front of me who held on to my hand so tightly. One of the things I had always admired about Scarlet was that she appeared bigger than she was. For a girl of five foot and four inches she could hold a room as if she was the centre player on a basketball court; however as she stood in front of me, gripping at every word that left my lips, for the first time she seemed small.

"I like you," I said. "I'm not expecting a reaction, and I know you're with him. But I'm just stating the fact that I like you. I've been in denial for months now, but I'm done. I like you. There. It's out in the world."

And in the heat of the moment, almost as if I would never get the same moment again I pressed my lips against hers. The taste of peaches threw against me. Almost like a moment I had long forgotten, but the taste of peach awoken a million sense.

It was then that I knew I could never let her go. She was the one I wanted.

I was, and had been for over a decade, IN LOVE WITH SCARLET CRUSOE