Hollow River

55.

I walked in Christian house, ready for his annual barbecue.
There were obviously mostly red bull employees and no Mercedes ones whatsoever, except for me.

"Fancy seeing you here" Lewis put his hand on my back. I guess I wasn't the only Mercedes employee after all.

What was he doing here though? He never came to Christian's barbecues.

"I could say the same for you" I said as I looked at him. "I thought I should check out what the fuzz is about" he laughed.

"Oh it's just Christian being proud of his sausages" I shrugged. It made Lewis laugh and I only realized then how wrong that actually sounded.

"I should just shut up" I laughed. We were both walking to the garden. George actually came as well, I don't think Toto would be too happy to see that but I was.

"Now that would be a shame" Lewis smiled. He was actually very handsome and I felt comfortable around him. I just giggled, a fucking giggle. C'mon River.

"I am gonna say hi to George real quick" Lewis said before walking to George.

I looked around, there were a lot of people already but no Lando and no Max.
I was actually quite relieved that they didn't arrive yet.

It gave me the time to get a little drunk already. I couldn't deal with them without alcohol.

Just when I finished my second glass of wine, they both walked out in the garden.

They walked in together. Really?

Okay I had to get out of here, this was so awkward and I wasn't sure if I was ready to deal with this.

I grabbed another glass of wine before slowly walking passed some Red Bull people.

"Where do you think you're going?" Max grabbed me by the arm and pulled me closer. "You walked in with Lando, really Max?"

"Yeah why not?" Why was he so casual about this?

"Because you were inside of me only a day ago" I whispered. "Yes I was and I will be inside of you tonight as well"

God, this man took my breath away.

"You can't say that" I could feel my cheek starting to get red. Maybe it was because of Max but maybe it was because Lando was walking to us.

Fuck Lando was walking to us.

I quickly took a step back. "Can I have a moment with you?" Lando asked.

He put effort in his outfit. I could see that. He was wearing his black button-up shirt, his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and to top it all off, he was wearing a backwards cap.

Why did he have to be so handsome?

Max wanted to intervene, he was clenching his jaw trying to stay calm. "Sure" I smiled, a fake one.

We walked to a quiet place to have some privacy. I didn't know if I was ready for this but I had to face it one day anyways.

"Please River, come back to me" he went straight to business. "No" I shook my head. He cheated on me. How could he expect me to just come back to him?

"Where are you staying?" He asked but I guess I took too long to answer. "You're staying at Max's place?"

I nodded. There was no point in lying.

"Don't tell me you're actually hooking up with him"

Okay maybe there was a point in lying.

Once again I was taking too long to answer. "For fuck sake River" he raised his voice a little, but he obviously sounded annoyed, angry.

"I can do whatever I want Lando, just like you did while we were dating"

I had to get out of this awkward situation, so I started to look around, looking for someone who might help me.

"River please" his voice went soft again. "Please let's go to dinner together after qualifying"

So he meant tomorrow. He wanted to go to dinner tomorrow. We never went to dinner when we were actually dating and now he did?

"I don't know Lando"

"River" he said my name once again as he grabbed my hands. "Give me one chance to make you fall in love with me again"

He rubbed his thumb against my hand and I already felt my heart beating faster.

"Fine I'll go with you" I agreed. The smile on his face grew bigger. "You won't regret this"

Oh Lando, I certainly hope I won't regret it.

Max walked up to me as soon as Lando left. "You let him manipulate you, right?"

"I did" I said softly.

I certainly did.