Forbidden

20. Juggling

Olivia woke up the next morning feeling more rested than the day before. She showered and went downstairs to have breakfast with Checo at the hotel's restaurant. Once they were both eating Checo said

"Hey Liv can I ask you something?" he said.

"Yeah, what's up?" said Liv absent-mindedly.

"You did end things with Max didn't you?" he asked.

Olivia was a little taken aback "What? Yeah of course".

"I just thought I'd ask" he shrugged "you two just looked really close yesterday on the plane, and then the internet says you are dating Charles and it's getting really confusing" he said trying to suppress a smile.

Olivia thought for a moment. It really was getting very confusing. She had been on one date with Charles, was going to have another one today, but at the same time she still felt something for Max. Even though those were feelings she was trying really hard to suppress and forget. She wanted to lock those feelings in a box, throw the box in the middle of the ocean and let the sharks eat it. But she couldn't, and she thought maybe by becoming good friends those feelings would pass eventually. They could be good mates.

"We are trying to be friends now" she explained "Max and I, and I'm having another date with Charles today actually".

Checo let out a sigh "Alright Liv" he said unconvincingly.

"Whaaaat?" she said dragging out her words, she knew Checo was holding his tongue.

"Just, don't get burned Liv. Take care of yourself first" he said.

"I'm fine, it's all fine" said Liv.

"What happened with Pato anyway?" he asked. Pato O'ward was Liv's ex boyfriend, he was also from Mexico and they had met as kids. Pato's family had reached out to Checo many years ago, and Checo had adopted Pato into the world of motorsport. He had a tendency of 'adopting' people, the same way he had always been the biggest parental figure in Olivia's life when her actual parents were more busy with Checo himself.

When Olivia was studying high school in the U.S. Pato was there too, and they became very close and eventually started dating, they were together for years and had just broken up a few months prior. Pato was like family, and Checo still talked to him constantly. Liv didn't know what kind of version of the break-up story he had gotten but she was sure it wasn't the real one.

"I haven't talked to him in like 2 months, we are done, done this time" she said.

"Then is this a bad time to say he's coming to the Miami Grand Prix?" he asked with a guilty look on his face. Olivia looked at him unamused. She couldn't be mad at him though, they had met before she had ever met Pato, and Checo was really helping him get into the world of F1. He was currently an IndyCar driver but he wanted to be in F1 at some point.

"Whoa if looks could kill" said Charles coming over to their table and sitting next to Checo "what did Checo do, Liv?" he asked with a chuckle when he noticed Olivia's face.

"Checo is always doing something" said Carlos as he sat at Olivia's right.

"Morning everyone" said Max with a smile pulling up a chair and sitting at Olivia's left.

An engineer form Ferrari called out Charles and Carlos.

"Common Charles we can figure out what Checo did later" said Carlos as he got up.

"Alright, Liv I'll see you at 3pm then?" asked Charles.

"What's going on at 3?" asked Max

"Are you guys having another date?" said Carlos with a mischievous smile as he started to repeatedly poke Charles on the cheek.