Forbidden

11. The Rooftop

Olivia got out of bed at 6 but had been waking up a lot in the middle of the night. She couldn't stop thinking about Max. There was a connection there, that was undeniable, but he was in a relationship. She wouldn't mess with anything like that, she knew what it was like to be cheated on. Was it true that he didn't have a girlfriend the night they met? Or was it just one more lie? 

When she got out of bed, she had a quick shower and put on a white t-shirt with jeans and sneakers. She forgot to ask for her Red Bull team shirt yesterday. At 6:55am there was a silent knock on her room's door, when she slightly opened the door and peaked outside she saw Max standing there, wearing his Red Bull shirt and jeans. 

"I thought we would meet at the lobby" said Olivia opening the door more. 

"Oh we are not going downstairs. You'll see" he said with a slight smile and he motioned with his head for her to follow him.

Olivia grabbed her key card and phone and followed him through the corridor and to the elevator. On the elevator Max selected the top floor. Once the doors opened he guided her to the floor's stairwell  and they went up one more floor through the staircase. Max passed his key card through a sensor and opened the last door on the staircase and let Olivia through. They were at the hotel's rooftop, she walked to the ledge of the building. It didn't seem like anybody was allowed to be there. The views were amazing though, you could see everything from here. The cars on the street looked like toy cars, and the very few people on the street looked like ants. The views of Bahrain at this early time in the morning were incredible, the sky still looked slightly orange as the sun rose on the skyline. 

Olivia leaned against the roof's ledge and watched the city. Max came to a stop behind her and just took everything in for a moment. Olivia's hair moved in the wind and he could smell that same flowery scent as the night he fell asleep holding her. He saw the orange and blue sky, Bahrain's skyline and Olivia admiring it all. He thought, I could wake up to this every day and be a happy man. Finally he stood next to her, also leaning on the ledge and looking at the city.

"What a view. Are we even allowed up here?" she broke the silence.

"I make this same special request on every hotel I stay at. Sometimes I just need a moment to myself and there's something about forbidden rooftops that I simply love" he said with a chuckle. "So I always get the hotel's permission in advance to get rooftop access" 

Olivia stood there entranced by the view while listening to his voice. "Forbidden and beautiful, I can see the appeal" she said in a low voice. 

Max turned to look at her "yeah, exactly" he looked at her for a moment "it's simply lovely" he added. 

Olivia took a deep breath. "So, Max Emilian" she said turning to look at him "spill your guts".

"Alright" he said. He kept looking at the skyline while he talked. Olivia just stood next to him looking at him and listening intently without saying a word. "I have been with Ashley for 3 years, we met at one of the races, she had paddock passes, she came to talk to me and we hit it off. She was the one who asked me on a date first. She's from the U.S. but was studying in France. At the beginning things were great you know? But after about a year and half things just changed, we started fighting a lot. She didn't like it when I was away for the season but she didn't want to fly to the races either and that's just the job you know? She wanted to make the relationship more formal."

He took a deep breath and continued "Since then it's been really off and on. We tend to break up and get back together. We fight over everything. So she decided we should move in so we could spend more time together. I didn't feel like I was ready to do that but I still did it. That was about 6 months ago. About a week and a half before I met you in Monaco we broke up for good, I moved out of the apartment, got one for myself. That's why I was still moving in when you came over." 

"The night we met I just saw this beautiful girl dancing and I had to go and talk to you. I asked my friend to be my wingman and talk to your friend. I just thought I would talk for a while with a gorgeous girl, I didn't think you would make me feel all of these things" he said getting a little frustrated. 

Her brow furrowed. "From the moment we started talking I was just hooked, I know you also felt it" he added looking at her and then turning back to the skyline "I could see it in your eyes. So when we went back to my apartment, that wasn't just a hookup for me. But when I went to the pharmacy my phone started going off like crazy. Ashley was calling me from all these different phone numbers because someone had sent her pictures of me and a girl at the club and she was furious. 

Her friends had woken her up to let her know I had been with someone that night and that we left together. I spent most of that hour getting yelled at and trying to stop her from coming over since she somehow got my new address, I'm not quite sure how. I ended up convincing her that it was not my real address and that I was by myself so she would calm down. When I got back to the apartment you were asleep. I thought it was easier to just say I couldn't find a pharmacy rather than explain I was fighting with my ex for an hour." 

Olivia was surprised he actually told her the truth about that. "I was wondering when you would admit to that, I found a 24hr pharmacy a couple of blocks from your apartment the other day" she said.

"You went back to my apartment?" he turned to look at her.

"Not the point. Continue, what happened after that?" she said brushing it off.

  "The next day I tried texting you after you left, you didn't respond, I thought you gave me a fake number or that you were ghosting me. I couldn't believe that you hadn't felt the same things I did. Olivia it truly crushed me. I thought I would never see you again, all I had as a mean to contact you was that phone number. So that night Ashley called and said she really needed to see me so I went to see her" he took a deep breath and looked at the now blue sky "Olivia, she's pregnant and it's mine".

Olivia felt like she just had the wind knocked out of her. She was expecting anything but that, there was a sinking feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. 

"That doesn't mean we are back together though. We are figuring this out" he said turning to Olivia with a pleading look "Olivia I truly don't know what to do, I wan't to be there for my child and have a proper family unlike I did, but you make me feel so much, how can I ignore that?" he said with a trembling voice. 

Olivia was speechless, when she finally opened her mouth to talk she said very quietly while looking at the floor "how can you ignore a relationship with the mother of your child?".

"Yes, there's that too" he said placing his head in his hands.

Olivia slid to the dirty floor of the rooftop and sat there in silence and shock, after a few minutes Max joined her on the floor and grabbed Olivia's hand that was on the floor. She just let him hold her hand and thought about what could've been. She knew she would never get in between a child having a functional family. She hadn't really had that growing up, she basically grew up away from her family, and she knew exactly what she was missing. 

------------------------------------------------------

I REALLY need to know, is this TOO much?

What are your thoughts on Ashley and Max? What is Olivia going to do?