Champion

5. The beginning of the end

Dear miss Marie Marko

This letter is concerning your seat for next year.

Hey Marie! It's Christian Horner from Red Bull Racing. I wanted to personally invite you to a meeting to discuss your seat in Formula One for next year. We value your talent and would love to have you on board, especially after yesterday's race. Let's chat and plan for an exciting season ahead!

Regards
Redbull Racing

"Okay what the actual heck", I stared blankly at the screen of my phone, Lando took the phone from me. "Shit, alright...", he was just as stunned as I was, but his mood quickly changed. "Babe you're gonna have a seat! Message him tell him you'll meet him asap, you could have a seat at the best team..." he picked me up and spun me around, like he forgot the conversation we just had.

"What do you say we go celebrate, for your first podium and for your future seat?" I loved the idea and I was planning on using this as an opportunity to make it up to him. Even if it wasn't my fault I felt bad.

We went out to a really nice dinner and I brought up the topic we discussed earlier, "So love, uhm what you said about our relationship earlier." "Yeah I'm sorry, I don't wanna fight about it anymore-" "Wait, let me finish. You said you wanted our relationship to be more public, and I think that's a good thing, I also want that, I want the world to see us together."

He looked happy, like really happy and I was so excited for this moment because this is what I wanted too. After the dinner we went to a club and got way too drunk, we went back to our hotel and fooled around.

Lando fell asleep holding me close, I stared at the ceiling, thinking about the videos of Max trying to pull me out of the car on his own, when he must've been exhausted... and I still cant figure out why he lied, why did he say no when I asked him if he was the one standing next to my car?

In my drunken mind I thought it was a fantastic idea to message Max directly, so I did...

"Why dif u liw Maxie ?"- Marie

After sending the message, I fell asleep, dreaming of that video, of Max yelling my name.

The next morning I woke up, got dressed and was ready to fly to Texas where the next race was, as well as my meeting with Christian. Lando fell asleep almost instantly on the flight and I was left to my own devices, I went on my phone to check if my dad had answered my message when I saw another one, "what the-"

"I'm assuming you are very drunk since I took like 5 minutes to figure out what you where trying to say" - Max

"Shit...", I was in shock. What the hell was that and why the hell did I call him 'Maxie'. I can't even say something or take it back at the moment because my phone is on airplane mode.

The stress was eating me from the inside. Maybe I should try to get my mind off of the topic, I put a movie on but about 10 minutes in I stop it when one of the character's' dogs are called max. I then decide to eat and try to sleep, which was slightly more successful until there was turbulence, I woke up with a headache but luckily when I checked how long the flight was, there was only about 20 minutes left.

We landed and at the first opportunity I got; I tried to message Max, just to see that he had messaged me first.

"Hear you are joining the team, hope I'm being called Maxie more often"- Max

"Oh fuck off, Max, that won't be happening, and yes I was drunk, so just forget about the Maxie part" -Marie

"Never"- Max

"Well shit", I sighed. "What's up love?", Lando asked. Do I tell him about my drunk text and upset him? I guess not ... "Oh nothing I'm just nervous about the meeting at Redbull."

We got and Uber to the Hotel where we were staying and when we got there I threw myself on the bed, "I'm gonna catch a nap, my dad said he wants to have some lunch before my meeting so I'll be needing the energy". Just before though, I posted a photo of Lando taking over the DJ booth at the club from the previous night and as he saw it I saw a little smile creeping up on his face.

At 3:42 p.m I met my dad at a steakhouse, he was asking his usual questions about racing and the flight and I was giving him all the answers he wanted to hear, but then he asked one I wasn't expecting. "So I've seen a lot of people tagging you in #marstappen videos ons social media." I just nodded not knowing what to say. He continued, "and I see you posted a picture of Lando for the first time in a while..."

"Dad what are you getting at?", I asked, I was annoyed.

"No nothing dove, I guess- it's just- well-"

"Just say it dad, what's wrong?"

"Well dovey don't you think it's gonna hurt Lando if you and Max are teammates after that video and all of the fans 'shipping' you together?"

"Dad, I need a seat for next year and now you are telling me I should decline one at the best team possible because it might hurt my boyfriend? I don't know if you can remember this, but I never wanted to do this sport, I wanted to build cars not be in them... and now I'm racing but I have to back down for my boyfriends pride?"

"This isn't just about you Marie."

"No dad it isn't because at the end of the day it's always been about you. I am making this decision for myself because I have always made everything happen for you. Just for the record Lando was proud of me when he heard I could have a seat."

I stand up wanting to storm out when my dad catches my arm, "Who do you think called me begging to get you off of this deal"

I went blank, I just walked out of the restaurant got in to an uber and headed to the meeting.

"What the fuck"