barely legal | max verstappen ✓

chapter 13 | the ball is in your court

«Darling I can't seem to quit completely falling to bits. I really might be losing it, the idea that you've existed all along's ridiculous. I don't know what to say.»

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Sloane, I'm sorry. Please let's talk.

— Max

She reread the note in her hands at least five times. The bouquet of flowers had no marigolds, but it did have jasmines. Weirdly placed jasmines. It was a very pretty bouquet. She felt her heart sinking, the last thing she expected was flowers from him, again. Much less an apologetic note with them. Sloane chewed on her lip, her fingertips softly touching one of the flowers. God, he was so annoying, and she did like him a lot. What a nightmare.

"Oh, cute bouquet." Aurora walked into the living room and startled her. For a moment she'd forgotten her friend was there. "I never took Max Verstappen as a flower guy, but those are beautiful." Her friend's smile vanished the moment they looked at each other. Sloane did not seem like someone who just got flowers. At least not romantically, more like for a funeral. "Or are they not?" Aurora awkwardly chuckled, her nose scrunching a little bit. "Are you okay, Slo?"

Sloane blinked, then nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I—he's very nice, actually." Her lips curved into a tight smile, barely visible.

Aurora tilted her head and creased her eyebrows. "You don't look fine." The statement came out with a matter-of-factly kind of tone, along with a hint of worry. "Sloane, are you really okay? Is everything going well with Max? You can tell me if something is troubling you."

If she told Aurora, all she could do was scold her for being stupid enough to get into a situation like that. She needed to tell someone about her feelings, the real ones, not the ones she was supposed to pretend to have, and if Sloane continued bottling everything inside, it would swallow her. Somehow. Emotionally speaking, that would happen for sure. She had to tell Aurora.

"I need to tell you something." Aurora now seemed truly concerned. "But you have to promise you won't talk about this with anyone. Especially with Charles. Aurora, you have to swear on my name."

Her friend reached to place her hands on her arms, trying to twirl her so they could be face to face. "Come on, you know me. I wouldn't tell anyone your personal things, even if they had me at gunpoint." Aurora's frown deepened. "What is going on? Does it have to do with Max?" She nodded, having an extreme urge to avert her gaze. "What is it?"

"Don't kill me," Sloane tried to smile, but Aurora looked too serious to buy into it. "And don't think I'm the stupidest person in the world, please."

"Oh my god, are you pregnant?" Aurora gaped a little.

The way her face twisted into absolute terror could even be seen as comical. "What? Fuck no! Jesus, shit, don't even—don't even put that out there. Fuck. Don't manifest that!" She screeched.

"Sorry, sorry!" Aurora squeezed her arms. "Out of sight, out of mind."

"I'm not pregnant." She said with a strong voice, then snorted a laugh. "Vivianne would kill me."

Aurora nodded in agreement, but a second later her brows creased again. "What is it then? Are you planning on breaking up with him or something like that?" Her friend aimed for a guess again.

Poor thing, Sloane thought. They looked each other dead in the eye and she took a deep breath.

The sudden buzz coming from the intercom made them both jump apart from one another. Sloane pressed the bouquet to her chest and felt like her soul was leaving her body. Aurora looked at her with wide eyes, the intercom sound still echoing in her mind. She cleared her throat and just extended the bouquet for Aurora to take it. Her friend didn't hesitate and followed her with attention as she approached the little device on the wall. They were looking at each other as if the police were about to barge in.