We are like diamonds in the sky

lean on me

*Helia

After a night of sleep, I felt a little better the next morning. Nevertheless, I left Sebastian's room before he could wake up and crept back to my hotel room.

I hadn't quite reached the door when I could already see someone sitting in the hallway.

Max was sitting across from my door, his head tilted forward. He seemed to be asleep.

Damn, if he saw me in last night's clothes....

I didn't want to explain to him where I had been, or much more with whom.

As quietly as I could, I slipped into my room, changed into other clothes, brushed my teeth, removed my makeup, and then scurried back into the hallway. I squatted down in front of my teammate. He smelled of alcohol.

Carefully, I nudged him; he just growled.

"Max?", I whispered, immediately he snapped his eyes open and was wide awake with a start.

"Helia!", he sat up "Shit, where were you? I was worried!", he almost tipped over in front as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him.

"Where were you?" he repeated.

"I was asleep," I mumbled, breaking free from the embrace.

Shit, I was really starting to feel guilty and ran my hand through the back of my neck as I looked at him worriedly.

"I knocked, but you didn't answer the door. I thought you weren't there and then I waited for you," he slumped back again.

"All night?", my guilty conscience was definitely audible.

"Kelly wouldn't let me back in our hotel room anyway. So I was hoping you'd open up for me. I guess I fell asleep at some point then," I would never get rid of that guilty conscience.

I stood up and held out my hand to him "It's still early. You can sleep a little.".

He grabbed my hand and I pulled him to his feet, then took him to my room. He flopped down on my bed pretty much without comment. He took a deep breath, then turned over on his back and looked at me.

"How are you?", I heard how seriously concerned he was.

"I don't know.", I answered honestly and settled down on the small sofa.

I pulled my legs to my chest and rested my head on my knees. Max pushed himself up off the bed again. He fell onto the sofa next to me and pulled me to him. His head fell on top of mine.

"If there's anything I can do to help you..." he murmured.

"No. I'm fine. I just need to process this first. It's just...", I took a deep breath "It's just a lot.", he pulled me closer to him, I slumped to the side.

"You're not alone. If you want to talk..."

I shook my head "And you really should sleep now. At least a little before we have to go to the airport.", I pushed myself up from his shoulder "Come on, lay down. I'll be fine.".

He stood back up, but pulled me over to the bed with him "You look like you could use some sleep too.", he poked me gently in the ribs.

"I guess so," I smirked.

He laid down on one side of the bed, I laid down on the other side and closed my eyes.

"Why didn't Kelly let you back in yesterday?", I yawned, feeling how much his presence calmed me down.

"I don't know. I just don't understand you women sometimes."

"Oh, and men are easier to understand?", I laughed tiredly.

"Most of us say what we think," he yawned, rolling onto his side.

"That doesn't make it any easier, though," I muttered.

He gently tapped my temple with the flat of his hand "With women, sometimes I don't even understand what they're saying".

I woke up again a few hours later. Max's hand was still on my temple. He still seemed to be deeply asleep. His breathing was very steady.

I felt incredibly guilty toward him. He had been worrying and sleeping outside my bedroom door while I had been sleeping with Seb. I hadn't worried for a second that someone might have been worried. I had underestimated how much my younger teammate probably did care about me.

I probably wouldn't have done it any differently if I had been in his place.

I was sorry that he had worried.

I would make it up to him. Somehow. And if at first I had been sure he didn't like me, by now I was pretty sure we were getting along just fine. We had adjusted to each other, whereas we hadn't had to adjust to each other much at all. We just got along fine as soon as we got involved with each other. It was quite harmonious, somehow as if we had always had this flow.

Carefully, I took his hand off my temple and placed it on the bed as I stood up and glanced at my phone.

We still had an hour before we had to leave for the airport. I would let Max sleep for a while longer. He seemed to be sleeping so deeply, I'm sure he needed it.

I would talk to Dad later. There was something to what Seb had said. He would have his reasons for letting me think that my birth father was dead. I'm sure he had his reasons, but I wanted to hear it from him.

I wasn't angry. I was just confused. I mean who could have expected him to just show up after so many years? That he would suddenly take an interest in me...?

"Do we have to go already?" grumbled Max.

I turned around, he still had his eyes closed.

"No, you can still sleep. I didn't mean to wake you up, sorry."

"You didn't. It just wasn't warm next to me anymore.", he laughed tiredly "I always get woken up by stuff like that.", he stretched, only to curl up again.

"Let's get something to eat?" he grumbled, rolling onto his back "I think I could use something to eat."

"Sure. We can go straight to the airport then."

"Good idea." he stroked his hand across his face, then slowly sat up "Will you wait for me downstairs?" he asked, I nodded immediately "Might take a little longer, depending on how Kelly's feeling."

"I'll wait, don't worry," I promised.

He pushed himself up from my bed and ran his hands through his hair before leaving my room. I packed up my things and then made my way toward the front desk. We had four weeks until the next race. So it was off home first. For me that meant Monaco. But I didn't really call the apartment there my home yet. I had only moved in after the training week in Bahrain and had hardly spent any time there. It just didn't feel like home yet and during the summer and winter break I would definitely fly to Australia, but for the in-between times it was better to be in Europe. That way I was closer to everything and could travel better. Even though Monaco was still foreign to me. For the last few years, I had lived in America most of the time. I had an apartment in Concord, North Carolina, but I hadn't been in it for a while now. Maybe I would sell it again, because it had been more practical than anything else.

Whether I would keep the apartment in Monaco I did not know yet. It was not yet what I had been looking for, but it had been available and already furnished, so that I could move in directly without having to worry about anything.

Now I would have a few days to take care of such things. I settled down on one of the sofas and put my bag next to me while I waited for Max.

This race weekend had really been an up and down of emotions. But I went home with a win.

A win in my home race, knowing that I could do it even if I wasn't ahead the whole race. And with the knowledge that Max was definitely one of the people I could rely on. He was certainly not just in my life because I was now making some headlines. And I was glad to have someone like him in my corner.