Shadows Between Us - Max Verstappen

five - the party at Max's

A few weeks pass. In those weeks, Amelia kept close communication with Max. They often texted, and sometimes called each other. He had invited her for a little party he was hosting at his house with some of the drivers and some of his friends, to commemorate the beginning of their summer break. That's where she was heading now.

When she got to Max's building, she took the elevator and then searched for his door, which wasn't very hard to find because she could hear people talking and laughing.

"Hi, Amelia right?" Lando said when he opened the door.

"Yes, hi!" She said and he let her inside with a big smile.

"Max is somewhere in here," He said and she thanked him. She spotted Charles first and went to him.

"Hello!"

"Amelia!" Charles said and hugged her. "I'm glad you made it."

"Yeah," She said and noticed he was talking to someone she didn't know yet. "Hi, I'm Amelia."

"Nice too meet you, I'm Alex," He said a little hesitant. "I'm sorry, am I supposed to curtsy of something? I don't know how this works."

Amelia laughed, "Oh no, don't worry about that," She said and she could see he was more relieved. They talked a little more and then she went to look for Max. She found him in the living room talking with the Lewis Hamilton. She definitely knew him and was fangirling a little.

"Hey Max," She said, smiling.

"Hi! When did you get here?" He asked and gave her a little hug that surprised her a little, but she hugged him back.

"Just now," She said and looked between Max and Lewis.

"Oh, Lewis this is Amelia, princess of Monaco. Amelia this is Lewis, Sir of something," Max said and Lewis laughed a little.

"Nice too meet you, Your Serene Highness," Lewis said, doing a little curtsy with his head. Amelia cringed a little at the use of her title.

"Please, just call me Amelia," She said and he smiled.

"Do you want to drink something?" Max asked, drawing her attention back to him.

"Yeah, I would love a drink," Amelia said and followed him back to the kitchen.

There, they walked in to someone saying a joke and everyone was laughing. She knew Charles, Lando, and now Alex, but she didn't know who was making jokes.

"Do you like vodka martinis?" Max asked.

"Yes," Amelia answered and she observed mesmerized as Max started to make her drink. "What can't you do, champion?" She said and Max laughed.

"And who's this pretty lady and what is she doing with you, dickhead?" The guy whose jokes made everyone laugh asked, putting his arm around Max's shoulders.

"This is Amelia, Amelia this is Daniel," Max said, focused on the drink. She recognized him now, by the name.

"Shit, you're like a princess right?" Daniel asked and he seemed like he didn't know how to greet her. When he decided on how, he fully curtsy her like he was meeting the queen of England. "Nice too meet you, Your Majesty."

Amelia felt her face heat up, but she laughed.

"Daniel, you stupid fuck, you don't have to talk to her like that," Max said, his eyebrows frowned in disbelief. By the way they talked with each other, Amelia could tell they must be really good friends.

"Nice too meet you too, and just call me Amelia, specially because that's not even the right title," She said and Daniel laughed, apologizing and rejoining his friends.

Max gave her the martini and she took a sip, noticing him waiting for her approval.

"It's really nice," She said, taking another sip. "You should quit racing and become a bartender."

Max laughed. What a beautiful sound, Amelia thought. Her eyes lingered a little too long on his face and she quickly shook it off and looked around.

"Follow me, please," Max said and Amelia did. They went back through the living room and Max guided her to a balcony connected to it. Amelia took in the beautiful view and sat down next to where Max was already sitting, on an outdoor couch.

"You know," Amelia started, putting her drink on the table in front of them. "It's strange seeing you like this."

"What do you mean?" He asked, tilting his head a little to the side.

"I've read some things about you, before we met. Everyone saying how mean and rude you are to everyone, and honestly I sort of thought that too when we first met at that party, but now I don't really understand why people say that."

"Well," He says scratching his neck. "I had a bad fase a few years ago. I was frustrated because we weren't getting the results we wanted and yeah, what you read isn't entirely wrong."

He pauses, looking around.

"I'm not like that now, but journalists and people who just hate me don't seem to be interested in knowing me better. They just think I'm a monster," He says and shrugs his shoulders.

Amelia wanted to say that he wasn't a monster. That he was a nice guy who picked up the phone and listened to her while she had a panic attack, despite not knowing her for that long. That he was nice to his friends and cared about people. But she didn't find the courage to say all that. Instead, she looked at the sun setting in the horizon.

"Can I ask you something?" Max asked after a while. She nodded. "Why do you not get along with your family?"

She feared he might ask that question. She didn't like to talk about it, but for some reason she felt like she could talk about it with Max. She sat back on the couch.

"When I was 19, I was supposed to marry someone," She started, pausing when she remembered everything.

"It wasn't a surprise to me, they prepared me for it my entire life. I just never knew who it was. When we finally met, he was such a nice guy. He was from an important family, so, according to my father, it would be advantageous for everybody. The more we got to know each other, the more I thought I could actually fall in love with this guy."

Amelia stopped, looking at the ocean.

"A week before our wedding, I found out he was actually a terrible person. I was starting to fall for him and he was with someone else and was using me for the money and the title. When I confronted him, he said horrible things. And when I told my father we had to call off the wedding, he blamed it all on me." She took a big breath in and out and kept looking at the ocean. "By the next month, I moved out of their house and became their biggest disappointment."

Amelia felt Max's hand on her hand, which was resting on her lap, and she looked at him. He didn't need to say anything for her to understand he was sorry that happened. She couldn't stop looking at his kind eyes, the colors of the sunset making him look even more beautiful. Her phone started ringing and she let go of Max's hand to take it off her bag.

"Hello, father," She said when she picked up the phone.

"Amelia, this Friday we are hosting a charity event. I need you to be there, on time this time," Her father said over the phone.

"I will, send me the details," She said and he hung up. She looked back at Max with a smile.

"It's like he knew I was talking about him," She said and he laughed a little. "Would you..." She said when an idea came to her, but hesitated.

"He just said I have to go to this charity event this Friday, would you like to come with me?" She asked, but quickly added, "It's a really fancy thing and it's boring, but we can dance and drink. If you don't want to I understand."

"I would love to go," He quickly said, grabbing her hand again.

She smiled, squeezing his hand, a hint of something a little too close to love growing inside of her.