𝐍𝐔𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝟏𝟔 || C.L.

- ,, 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐱.

DELILAH RUNS a hand through her long hair. Her eyes shift to Max, who seems to have sunken into deep thought. "Two years of radio silence, I appear on tv and boom," Delilah rambles, "that is too much of a coincident." "That seems a fair reason," Max mutters, "however, how can you assume his doings are mischief?" Delilah opens her mouth and closes it. She allows herself to fall on the chair before she covers her face with her hands. By her doings, the chair twirls in circles. "I don't know!" she exclaims, "I don't know what to do." Max rises to his feet and walks up to Delilah. He extends his hand, having the intention to pull her on her feet. Delilah moves her middle finger aside to look at Max through her hands. She groans and clasps her hand in his. "We will think of something," he says, "in the meanwhile, text with him and find out whether he is worthy or not." "You are a wise man, Oppa," Delilah sighs.
     "Verstappen!" A female voice calls their surname, causing both Max and Delilah to turn around. "Exactly the reaction I needed to see," Artemis laughs as she approaches them. "A few of us are having dinner and we were wondering if you'd like to come around," Artemis explains. "Who are we?" Max questions. Artemis smiles and counts on her fingers, "Alex, George, Lando, Charles, Daniel and me." Max feels his heart accelerate by hearing Daniel's name but he hopes to play it cool. He shifts his gaze to Delilah, "the choice is yours." "I would enjoy spending some more time with you," Delilah smiles. Artemis and Max laugh, "be careful or otherwise, you will be stuck with us-" "Forever," Artemis finishes Max's sentence and they laugh it off. "Are we going like this and be a mix of teams or are we changing?" Delilah questions. "I think we stay like this," Max answers unbothered. "It gives the press something to talk about," Artemis winks.
"But Max and I came by bike," Delilah then realises. "We can surely carpool," Max reassures, "wait near the entrance?" "Will do!"

"Can I hop along since I rode my bike," Delilah questions. Charles casually raises his arm, "you can hop along with me. I have a seat." "Great," Delilah smiles and walks up to Charles. She stands next to him and clasps her hands behind her back. "I assume you need a ride too Max?" Daniel questions. Max slowly nods and glances at the rest, "you are all covered?" He points at Lando and Alex, who point at George. ''Shall we get going then?'' George suggests, to which they agree.
Delilah follows Charles to his car. ''What did you tell me when I wasn't listening?'' Charles questions once they are alone. ''Hmm?'' Delilah hums, tilting her head. Her mind is figuring out what Charles means. ''Before Max and Valtteri joined us,'' Charles adds, hoping she would remember. ''Ohh,'' Delilah realises and thinks of her words. ''I think I said something about how impressive it was for you to race so soon after the accident,'' Delilah explains. Charles chuckles as he nervously scratches the back of his head. Charles opens the door to the passenger's seat, allowing Delilah to step in. ''What a gentleman,'' Delilah chuckles. A smile forms on Charles' face as he walks to the driver's seat.

"A table of eight," Daniel speaks. The waitress visibly panics once she sees the drivers. "O-of course," she stammers as she feels her cheeks getting hot. She leads them to their table and tries to pull herself together as they sit down. Charles sits at the end of the table. Delilah pulls back the chair next to him and sits down. George and Artemis sit across from them with Lando and Alex next to them while Max and Daniel take the remaining seats.
As soon as the waitress had taken their orders, Delilah sinks into her phone. She intends to write a short message, however, she doesn't expect him to answer right away.