Shadows Between Us - Max Verstappen

four - the family lunch

On Wednesday, Amelia woke up and immediately started to panic. She looked at her phone to check the time.

"Shit, no," She cursed quickly getting up. She was at least 40 minutes late for her parents lunch and she already had 10 missed calls from her father and a text from her driver.

She cursed her way to the bathroom, where she washed her face and did the fastest makeup she could possible fit in to the time she didn't have. Luckily, she had left a dress hanging in her closet and she put it on and left her apartment.

"I'm so sorry Louis, I didn't hear my alarm," She said as soon as she saw her driver.

"It's not me who you have to worry about, miss," Louis said, opening the door for Amelia.

They made their way to her family's home, where they were hosting the lunch with very important people, as fast as they could. When she got there, she ran until she got to room where the lunch was happening. Before someone opened the door for her, she took a few breaths trying to calm her heart and nodded to the boy.

"I'm so sorry for the delay," She said when everyone stopped their conversation to look at who had walked in. She made her way to her father, whose eyes would kill her if they could, made a small curtsy and took the empty seat. Her father introduced her to their guests and they proceeded the lunch.

For now she was safe, but she knew that as soon as everyone left, she would hear from him. The conversation continued around the table, sometimes she would be included, but most of the times she just focused on her food.

Around 5 p.m, the guests started to leave. She said goodbye to her twin siblings, who ran upstairs, and waited for her yelling.

"What happened today Amelia?" Her father asked, not even trying to stay calm.

"I'm sorry, I know you told me to be here on time, but I was tired and didn't hear my alarm," She explained, as her father crossed his arms and her mother sat back down at the table.

"I'm starting to get tired of your excuses, Amelia, it's unacceptable. You know you have a role in this family, whether you like it or not, and there's things you must do," Her father said, his voice raised a little.

"I said I was sorry, Dad," Amelia said, feeling so tired of arguing about the same things every time. "Give me a break, I always show up when you tell me to and I'm always nice to people. It was just this time, so it's not really fair for you to be screaming at me."

She senses that she said something wrong because that's when her father snaps.

"Give you a break? Do you know how many times I see your face on a newspaper? I wish it was for a good reason, but no! You are drunk again or in the arms of a random man. I am sick of your behavior, Amelia. You embarrass this family." Her father screams and she feels her eyes sting.

"Yeah, father. That's a great thing to say to a daughter," She says, spitting the word daughter. She turns to her mother who's sitting quiet looking at them, "You're not going to say anything?"

Her mother sighed and looked at her hands. Amelia clicked her tongue, "Of course you're not."

She left. She was sick of always being treated like shit by them. She wasn't even trying to stop her tears when she got into the car. She said goodnight to her driver when he parked in front of her building and quickly made her way to her apartment. As soon as she closed the door, she broke into a sob.

She leaned into the door and covered her mouth, letting it all out. She couldn't take it anymore. She wished she could just change her name and run away to another country.

When she was a little calmer, she walked to the couch and grabbed her phone, trying to call Kika, though the tears never stopped running, but her friend didn't pick up. She desperately called someone else.

"Missing me already princess?" Max picked up after the second beep. In another occasion she would bicker him, but right now she just needed to talk to someone.

"Max, I-I'm sorry to be bothering you. You're probably training for your next race, but I needed to talk to someone and Kika didn't pick up and I'm just so tired," She said, starting to sob again.

"Amelia, what happened? Did someone hurt you?"

"I-I..." She tried, but she couldn't breathe right.

"You have to breathe, ok? Try to calm down," Max said and she did it, taking a deep breath in and then out. She did that for a few minutes until she was calmer again.

"Please tell me what happened Amelia," Max said when he could hear her breathe more calmly.

"I had that thing I had to do with my family, remember? It was an important lunch with important people, so it was important I made it," She paused to take a few breaths and wipe her tears. "Except I got late yesterday from the London and I set an alarm, I made sure I did. But I was so tired and didn't hear it this morning, so I was really late to the lunch and my father just said horrible things to me. And I'm tired of him always saying horrible things because it's not fair, it really isn't. I always show up when he tells me to and I always do what he tells me, even though I didn't choose this life and I would do anything to just be normal and have normal parents."

Amelia says everything on her chest and Max just listens, his leg shaking up and down. He knows exactly how she feels because he has been through the same.

"I'm sorry this is happening Amelia. You're right, it's not fair for them to treat you like that," Max says and Amelia hears him breathe deeply on the other side. They stay silent, which is enough for the tears to stop rolling down Amelia's face.

"I'm sorry Max, you must think I'm ridiculous calling you like this and dumping my problems on you," She says, forcing a laugh. She felt really embarrassed now.

"You really need to stop saying things like that. We're friends now, whether you like it or not," He says and she smiles.

"Yeah, I guess we are," She says.

They talked for a good half an hour, before Max says he has to go, but he lets her know that if she needs anything she can text him. She thanks him, and this simple action makes her forget about everything her father said today.