the great fall | max verstappen

Chapter 13

Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Callie's POV.

"So, let me get this straight..." Mika, my friend, my roommate and 1/3 of my soulmate triangle, begins to say. The three of us are sat on the floor, our bums on the fluffy rug on our living room as we share an XL Pepperoni pizza after a long day of work. "I've been trying to get you into racing, or any kind of sport for that matter, for years. And you've never listened to me.." she says, almost offended before devouring the last bit of the slice she was holding. "But now that Max Verstappen is inviting you to things, youre suddenly interested in junior karting races?" she asks and I can't describe her expression as anything other than suspicion.

I roll my eyes at her and breathe out a laugh. "It's not like that! You're making it sound a lot worse than it is!" I defend myself, throwing a napkin made into a little ball at her head. "He wasn't even the one who invited me! Jean-Pierre did, Max just suggested I should go. For the kid."

Nina laughs from her position, lying down on her back with her gorgeous wavy hair sprawled onto the carpet. "You don't even believe that yourself. For the kid." she says in a mocking tone, making air quotation marks as she chuckles. "Bullshit!"

I'm quick to poke her side, "Take that back!" I demand chuckling along and tickling her until she's laughing so much that she lets out a pig-like sound that causes all of us to laugh even harder in return.

"Is it that bad if you're attracted to him?" Nina asked once we've all calmed down.

I take a sip from my beer and I nod. "Terrible, actually." I say, maybe being a bit dramatic. "Highly unprofessional."

"He won't be your patient forever" she replies with a shrug.

"But that's how we met, and he's my first high profile client. The drop dead gorgeous bit is a curse, really." I say, a sigh leaving me as I finally concede and admit to at least some level of attraction between Max and I. Well, between I and Max, really, in that order.

"Not to be a pessimist, but I've worked around racing drivers for years and they're huge whores, too" Mika said with a humorous laugh and a slight wink shared with Nina. I can't help but laugh too, it's true, most young, rich and attractive world class athletes are... promiscuous, to say the least.

"Exactly, so, if I go, it's for the kid." I repeat, this time a lot more playful tone, clearly keen on kidding myself into oblivion.

"Whatever you say, Cal." Nina says, shoving me softly and stealing a sip of my beer since hers was already empty.

The rest of the night unfolds, with us sharing more laughs, beers and it ends in a very intense game of drunk Uno —a very specific variant of the traditional Uno game, but ten times as unhinged, full of nonsensical rules that could only be followed within the fog of tipsiness. After such a stressful week, I'm reminded that I'm exactly where I need to be in life. I'm here, in a beautiful city, doing what I love, and more importantly: I'm with them. My chosen sisters.

Who knows where life will take me from now on? It's impossible to guess for sure. But I know who I am. I've been through a lot and if I left everything behind and moved to a different country it's because I know I deserve a fresh start, a new beginning. I'm determined to make it count, to enjoy the last years of my twenties to the fullest, to build the career I've always wanted to have, and to finally answer the most basic of questions that I've never been able to answer for myself: Where is my home?

I've never had that. Not in a house, not in a city or a country, not even in a person. I think my friends are the closest thing I've ever had to it, but still, I'm acutely aware of the fact that all three of us have separate inner turmoils that we wanted to solve coming here. We're together, yet embarked on our own individual paths. I've never truly had anything that belongs to me wholeheartedly, and I don't mean that in a possessive sense of the phrase. I've never had anything that's ever felt ingrained into my soul. Never something to truly fight for besides my own survival and ensuring my mother's sanity from time to time.