beyond the grid - max verstappen

chapter nine

café de paris. the first café that I visit when I moved to monte carlo, quickly becoming my favourite place to sit for coffee. it was the ideal spot to soak in life in Monaco. I would watch over the people that walked past, guessing where they were going, who they're going to see, how long they've lived here.

I often dragged lando to join me, but I did enjoy just taking it all in by myself as well. it was another way for me to relax, truly getting to enjoy the perks of my new job.

"do you think they're a couple?" the familiar british accent spoke from beside me. he was wearing the shirt I bought him for his birthday before we broke up. to be honest it fitted him really well. the sleeves were short revealing his slightly toned arms and I couldn't help but remember how they felt around me. my eyes flicked over his body, before returning to the pair take was walking past the café.

"she's just visiting" I avoided his eye contact gesturing him to take a seat "maybe an old friend"

I let myself look back toward him, catching his eyes with mine. it made my heart warm that he was here with me.

"how do you know she's visiting" his eyes studied mine

"the way he is confident walking through the city, she seems to be slowing looking around. she shorts are also screaming American" I didn't bother to look back to the pair.

he broke out into a smile, listening to my explanation. I grabbed my cup of water from the table taking a sip, I was quite thirsty but more so using it as an excuse to look away from him.

"I tried to call" he spoke softly "I didn't know how to reach you"

"I didn't want to be reached" I sighed fiddling with hem of the white table cloth.

"becky? its so good to see you back" the thick French accent caught my attention. I quickly stood from my chair pulling the monégasques in for a hug.

"andré! I've missed you" I pouted still holding onto his shoulders. "im only back for a week"

"nooooo" he leant back dramatically "oh who's this?" he glanced over my shoulder.

"this is ben" I took this opportunity to slide back into my seat, still keeping my eyes on andré. he grew up in monaco and started working at the café to partially pay off his tuition, the more time I spent here the better friends we became.

"what can I get for you ben?"

"ahhh" ben scanned his eyes over the menu that was sat in front of him "just a latte please"

"oat milk too? and anything to eat?" andré didn't bother to write down the order

"im all good for food but just regular milk please" I bit my lip trying not the laugh at the shock on andré's face. "and for you?"

"iced caramel latte on oat with a vegan croissant?" andré picked up the menus in front of us not even waiting for my response before walking away, leaving me sat with ben. neither one of us wanted to speak first and I could sense him getting restless under the thick tension that settled over the table.

"you seem really happy here. the city, the travelling, being at races, its everything you wanted for your future" he reached forward taking my hand in his, my body responded like it did all those years ago when we first started dating. I miss this

"not everything" I watched as his thumb traced mindless patterns over the back of my hand. it was the soft touches that I craved the most, it was always something that made me melt.

"I thought you were happy." it was hard to look into his eyes. he had been so unaware of my feelings towards the end. "you walked out and there was nothing I could do to fix it, I waited for you at the office, graham told me you resigned, I went to your flat and you were gone. I wanted to fix it, I still do"