Starstruck - Max Verstappen

9

LEYLA'S POINT OF VIEW

The sun was slowly setting as I returned to my apartment with Jasmine and we were getting ready for going out tonight. The doorbell rang as MacKenzie was already dressed up for the club and came to hangout with us until we were ready to go. I was still doing my makeup when MacKenzie entered the bedroom and noticed Max's t shirt thrown over the bed.

"You should totally wear this tonight!" MacKenzie joked as she picked up the t shirt making me roll my eyes ironically.

"You know what I can't believe?" I placed down the palette I was using for doing my eyes. "The fact that Zane saw some texts from Max, then he started talking about F1 at Fairmont earlier! He isn't even thinking about Max being the driver he was talking about." I explained as the girls laughed in realization.

"I can't wait for his reaction!" Jass laughed.

"Shut up, he's here!" I rushed to the door after I heard Zane knocking. "Come in!"

"Jesus, you all look like you're straight out of a magazine!" Zane smiled softly admiring us.

We went outside as we picked up my parents's Cullinan so we would all fit in one car as we were finally off to the club. I could feel my heart almost popping out of my chest, but I couldn't really find a clear explanation why. Opening my clutch I checked myself one last time in my small mirror when suddenly my phone buzzed. A wide smile appeared on my face when I saw Max's name in the message notification.

Max🦁   just now
We're already here. Richard is waiting at the entrance to take you to our table.

Leyla🧚🏼‍♀️
We're almost there.

Zane parked the car while I couldn't help myself but check again if I looked good enough. After running my fingers through my hair to fix it, I took out my lipgloss applying it to my lips even though I didn't really need it. I noticed Zane looking at me with the tail of his eye just before he stopped the engine.

"You look amazing, don't worry." He turned to me as I finished my final retouches. "That guy's jaw will simply drop when he'll see you."

"It's not about that at all!" I blushed as Jasmine and MacKenzie giggled in the back.

"Oh, come on..." Zane rolled his eyes just before he stepped out of the car. "I'm not stupid, Leyla!"

Why is everyone making these little jokes about me and Max all the time? I closed the car's door taking a deep breath and just hoping they'd stop for tonight at least, especially Lando, Daniel and Charles. I was already quite nervous, so I didn't need anything to stress me any more.

"Where are your friends?" Zane curiously looked around as we approached the entrance of the club.

"Inside, somebody will take us to them." I told him as I have already noticed Richard standing at the entrance waiting.

"Good evening, miss Leyla!" The all suited up man politely saluted us while I noticed Zane still being a little confused and I knew very well it was about to be worse. "Follow me, please."

"Who is this guy? What is going on?" Zane whispered while he walked right beside me.

"Please, just don't be too shocked about it, alright?" I turned to him whispering back to his ear as he displayed his nervousness already.

"Leyla, I swear I don't know what this is, but it already is looking strange!" His panicked voice cracked a little.

"Just calm down, Zane! Everything's just fine!" MacKenzie softly explained observing the way he was already acting.

We walked inside the club behind Richard as the music blasted and it wasn't long until I saw Max and the boys in the distance through the crowd. I looked back at Zane only to see how his eyes were already stuck in their direction. Max's eyes closely watched me from the first moment I stepped inside the club.

"Hello, hello! Look who's finally here!" Max exclaimed softly taking me into his arms while the boys high fived me.

"This is my cousin, Zane." I smiled as Zane stepped in front of me shaking the boys's hands.

I didn't really expect Zane to act completely normal not really looking surprised in any way about the boys. He did his best to do so clearly. I exhaled in relief but a couple of moments later I felt Zane's hand grabbing my arm and pulling me closer to him.

"Leyla, do you know who these people are?" He whispered in my ear as I nodded.

"I've found out this morning."

"I can't believe you didn't tell me!" Zane exclaimed meanwhile still trying to seem completely unbothered to the others. "The guy texting you was fucking Max Verstappen."

"Quit it already, we'll look weird discussing right now." I explained as I faked a smile like Zane would've told me something else.

Max poured me a glass of champagne as we were finally ready to have fun and forget about anything else. Soon, a tray full of shots arrived to our table as we all hurried to get one. I coughed a little after drinking 3 shots, my neck literally burning from their strong alcohol taste. The moment I saw waiters bringing bottles of vodka and several Red Bulls I realized how badly we were mixing all the different alcohols. My head was spinning like crazy when I accidentally bumped into Lando.

"Hey, are you alright?" He caressed my arm, trying to make sure I wouldn't lose my balance. I looked at Lando shortly before noticing how Max was already closely watching what was going on between the two of us.

"Yeah, sure! Sorry about that!" I laughed as I left the table walking towards the bathroom of the club that was in the back of a long and quite narrow hallway.

As soon as I stepped inside the bathroom, I turned on the cold water and got my hands inside the stream before placing them on my neck. The coldness made me feel fresher and it was quite relaxing. I snapped a little bit out of the drunkenness when I started checking myself in the mirror before leaving the bathroom. I felt just ready to go when I rapidly opened the door and noticed I just hit somebody with it.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed to the man covering his head with his hand as he was keeping it down clearly being hurt by the impact with the door.
"Are you alright?" I wanted to make sure as I caressed his arm while he finally raised his head and looked at me.

"No worries, beautiful!" The man sweetly spoke giving me a soft smile as I suddenly turned completely frozen not having any trouble recognizing him.

There he was standing right in front of me while I displayed a numb poker face. The jerk guy, as I used to call him, and Max's worst enemy, Lewis Hamilton. I tried to mimic a tight smile before I quickly turned my back at him and started rushing out of the narrow hallway. I didn't know why panic has flooded my veins all of a sudden as all I wanted to do was go back to the others.