barely legal | max verstappen ✓

chapter 7 | make it real

«Forget about our mothers and our friends, we're fated to pretend.»

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"I'm arriving right at this exact moment."

Sloane fished into her pocket for the keycard to open the hotel room. Her phone was being held by her shoulder and pressed against the side of her face, and she should've probably dropped her bag to make it easier to slide the keycard, but her mind was elsewhere. Vivianne hummed on the other side of the line, and she smiled triumphantly when the door finally opened.

The first thing that welcomed her was a rather big bouquet of flowers. It was an arrangement. Marigolds and jasmines...and others she couldn't recognise. Sloane smiled and dropped her bag to the floor, walking closer to the arrangement. There was a card with her name sitting next to the flowers. Sloane. It was handwritten.

"Please Sloane, I'm trusting you one more time. Do not show up with another hickey again." Vivianne warned, followed by a sigh. "Tell Max to behave this time. I'm serious."

She played with the card between her fingers, chewing on her lip. "He'll behave, don't worry." They weren't even close to having sex again anytime soon. Never actually. Vivianne had nothing to worry about. "I'll make him behave if necessary."

Her manager muttered a quick God. Almost too low to hear. "Alright, that's enough." Vivianne sounded distressed. "I don't need to hear that. Keep in touch, okay? And take care. Text me or call if you need anything. Have fun, but not too much fun, clear?"

"All clear, don't worry. It'll be like the last race, I'm going to be back in one piece." She swore which was true. Sloane did promise to not deviate from her work just for this one thing with Max.

They bid their farewells, with Vivianne asking for another promise that she would behave and be careful. Vivianne cared for her, she knew that. That's why all the warnings and promises weren't exhausting. Placing the phone down next to the flowers, Sloane sniffed them and grinned. Then she remembered the card in her hand. She carefully opened it and clearly, it had been written by the man himself. What a detail.

Two wrongs CAN make a right.

— Max

She should've known he would stick with that. Taking her phone in her hands, she snapped a picture of the card, or the part where it said her name, the arrangement of flowers was visible enough in the background. That was going straight to her Instagram story. They were practically hard launching that weekend, anyway.

Leaving the flowers alone, and her bag in the room, Sloane wandered out of the room in search of something to drink or to distract herself until Max decided to make his presence known. She was almost reaching the girl at the front desk when someone calling her name with a very peculiar accent she already knew distracted her. Sloane turned to the origin of the voice and grinned.

"Daniel," She walked over to him and received the hug he was already offering. "I'm so happy to see you."

"How's my favourite Dutchie doing? Don't tell Max I said that." He smiled, holding her by the arms as they pulled away. "What are the chances of finding you here, huh?" His eyebrows were raised in a curious-sort-of-entertained manner. Sloane knew what that meant.

She shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a big fan." He looked at her rather mischievously. "Supporting my fellow countryman."

They hadn't had the chance to see each other yet, but she knew Daniel was aware she was there. Probably heard of it. Like everybody else. That one had been the practice, this one was the actual deal. And she was definitely feeling more prepared this time. No more panicky Sloane.