Deals with Daisy // LN4

45 ~ Jigsaw

Daisy's POV

"Hey, are you okay?" I ask Max softly as I join him on Lando's balcony where he has been standing alone for the last thirty minutes while everyone else parties inside. We're very much in season for Lando so it's not a very big party and on top of that, it's still early May so not totally warm here in Monaco outside and definitely not on this early evening. Meaning that before I ventured out here a couple of moments ago, Max had been out here alone for almost an hour and a half now.

This particular celebration is following the Imola GP where Lando stood the top step of one of his favourite tracks to give him his second race win of the season. This meant there were two to Max, two to Lando, one to Lewis and one to Charles. He was sat third at the moment because of a DNF due to Carlos accidentally running into him in Melbourne but he wasn't far adrift. To say it was looking like a tight season was an understatement. However, every team was about to bring their first set of serious upgrades for the season and so we all knew that the next race was where the real information was to be gained. Who had won the innovation games? Because they would likely take the season.

Right now though, instead of partying with everyone else (although I'd done a good job so far) I found myself seeking out the uncharacteristically quiet British boy who had kept to himself all weekend, not just tonight.

"No," Max confesses easily, eyes scanning the horizon before he downs the beer left in his bottle. Once empty it's placed to the side to sit amongst the many others he had consumed before he leans away to get another full one from the cooler by his feet. I was beginning to regret placing it out here earlier  today for those who wanted to be outside... so far it had just been Max. The dark clothed boy with a frown was hardly enticing people out here.

I let the silence grow though, letting out my own heavy sigh as I lean against the cool metal and look out at sea alongside him. I was arguably not wearing enough clothes to be out here but oh well... it did make for a pretty sight. The seas were more grey than blue today, matching the slightly moody clouds that kept on trying to hide the sun from us, although none of them had succeeded in producing rain just yet. I stay there, watching the boats in the marina move a little from the wind and the waves, hoping that Max knows that I'm here for him, not pushing him to talk to me.

In the time that the silence grows I find my own thoughts beginning to torment me as I force myself to not look behind me at the Belgian boy who is standing right next to the door to the balcony and who I know watched me walk out here. Laurent had been busy the last couple of weeks with work, filming at insane times and so we had barely spoken. I was finding that my previous tendencies to let my eyes linger on Lando had come back as a result of the lack of contact with Laurent and had to actively convince myself that I hadn't caught him staring at  me a number of times.

"I broke up with P," he confesses after ten more minutes have passed and I try and find it in myself to be shocked - only to settle on the sad and frustrating fact that I'm not.

"I'm so sorry Max," I say gently, turning my head so that I could meet his now slightly hazy eyes. Even after a prolonged moment of staring, I can't tell if it's tears or the alcohol having an affect on him. "It'll be okay."

"I know it will... I just. I didn't want to keep hurting her and going around in circles. She's amazing and she didn't deserve for me to keep on stringing her along when I knew it wasn't going any further. It just sucks because I know we were so good together..." he responds and I can feel him getting worked up as he talks besides me - his words clear even if his mind isn't quite caught up to him yet.

His emotions still haven't, that's for sure... he's pushing it down and showing them in subtle ways - case in point the all black get up he'd been wearing this weekend. Standing on the balcony with his hood up might be seen as a defence against the cold but because I knew him... I knew he was defending from whatever war was raging inside. I felt underdressed for the weather next to him in my dress but I wasn't cold, maybe it was the amount of alcohol that was coursing through my system.