Ready or Not?

14.

I wasn't holding my breath waiting for Max to show because knowing him he would've forgot and something 'more important' would have came up. He eventually passed through my office at 4:58pm, no surprise he forgot to bring the pages back, I had spare copies because I knew this would happen.
"I'm fine with it being printed or posted or whatever it is that you do here" Max didn't even look me in the eyes when he spoke
"What about the stuff about dad, don't you want it taken out?"
"I'm not a snowflake like you I can handle it, it's not exactly lies either so let it be seen and heard"
I was furious, not only did he not care about his reputation but he wasn't even concerned for mine. I walked out the office and headed straight for my car, in passing I caught Rachel who was connected on a call in Austria and juggling numerous objects in her hands. This was enough, enough reason for me to leave the RB team but also enough reason to stay away from Max for a little while.

I got in and got on with my packing, I needed to take some time away from home. I just needed to be somewhere I could fully relax and process all my thoughts because this house was not feeling like much of a home right now. Max came in and glanced over at my bags but decided to walk past them and head into the kitchen, without saying a single word I already knew he'd be angrier, I could just sense his energy in the air at this point.

"Where you off to? Moving in with Lando? I hear you're close these days?" His eyes fixed on my phone that I was gripping onto for dear life
"Why are you being like this?" "I have sacrificed so much to be here with you and your being so mean" I was genuinely confused by this behaviour from him
"If you're going to leave just do it quietly, I need to jump on the sim tonight" "and lock the door on your way out" Just like that he was off, he headed to his setup and put his headset on which for me was the green light to get out of here.

(The next day)
Montreal Airport
I found myself on the next flight out and next thing I knew I ended up in Canada. I wasn't expecting to be here so early but it felt right, I could meet up with some friends and just enjoy myself without being attached by the hip to Max and his team. They're mostly great people but that atmosphere is just not for me, I didn't sign up for all that. One of my f1 friends from here was Lance, him and Daniel were two of the nicest people I had ever met on the grid when my brother joined. Lance and I met when Max was still karting, we would often go on dates as friends and force each other to watch movies we knew the other would hate but we were kids back then so to us that was hilarious. I knew seeing him would cheer me up so I headed towards his place and hoped he would take me in for the next week.

Of course Lance lives in a lavish place here in Montreal, he really is the most eligible bachelor on this side of the hemisphere. I knocked twice before realising he had a bell as well. I was surprised to see Lance in the flesh opening his own doors but here we were.
He smiled "how long you staying for then?"
"I'm sorry Lance, just till the Grand Prix is over if that's okay?" I drop my bags in the foyer and follow him into his kitchen.
"You must be hungry, what shall we have?" "I've got some leftover pizza from yesterday, I couldn't eat a lot since my trainer doesn't let me"
"Pizza will be fine, thank you"
After heating it up for me, he joined me on the sofa and held the plate till it cooled down enough.
"So should I even ask why you're at my place this week?" He pulled over some of his blanket over my legs whilst holding my one leg as though he was going to interrogate it.
"Max...he is overbearing and controlling. I need to quit working for him and his team" " I came here because I felt safe and because I thought you might be able to help since we both have family issues all the time" Lance glanced up at that last comment, his eyes were glued to mine filled with no emotion.
"You're always welcome here, even if there's no family issues. But with your situation at the moment, I'd say Max will only appreciate you when he loses something he didn't know he even had"  he hesitate, "Why don't you work for my team, we can have you looked after and you didn't deal with any bs from the people up top"
"Lance that's an amazing offer, but can I be real with you. I've had the exact same offer from McLaren too" "I haven't really decided on what I'll be doing yet but I will keep you in mind okay?"
"Yeah no of course, Lia you are in control here just don't forget that"

We chatted for hours, we seemed to have a lot to catch up on, from secret tattoos to why we were single, Lance and I had a great chat. He showed me one of his many spare rooms and left me to change and settle into the space. Tomorrow I would need to think with a clearer mind how I want to go about the situation I was in, tonight I just needed to let loose and relax. I headed back down in my sweats and saw Lance spread across his couch glancing over his phone to see me returning.

"Okay, so I kinda have a party to go to tonight...care to join me?" Lance was being serious, like really serious, and to be honest I am glad he was.

"Uhhh yeah I guess I could, are you sure your friends won't mind?" 

"Please don't ask me silly questions, you have already met most of my friends, you know I have a small circle, so come on, get dressed we'll leave in like an hour"

I headed straight back upstairs and started digging through my suitcase. I remember packing a few nice fits, but I was saving most of them for the race weekend and the after party. I got into a little black dress and put my hair in a slicked back bun, and I managed to squeeze into one of my favourite wrap around heels I own, they get over worn a lot but I always hope people don't realise. Downstairs, I found Lance in an all black fit, head-to-toe, guess we matched unintentionally and I don't mind it. 

"Can I say you look hot?"

"I would rather you didn't" "But I appreciate it, you're looking hot as well"

"Well from one hot person to another, I think we're gonna get pretty wasted tonight so we should probably go now"

We headed to the party and I knew I would get fucked up tonight, but didn't think about the consequences of my appearance tonight...