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26. Welcome to Melbourne

That same weekend Charles had invited Liv to fly with him and Carlos to Australia. Even though they had ended things, they really did stay friends and their DM group with Carlos was still alive and thriving. So on Monday they flew to Singapore, where they stayed the night at a hotel so they could fly to Australia the next day. It was a very long flight to get to Melbourne so during the flight hours they tried to keep themselves entertained with games, pranks and some drinks. They slept during their night in Singapore and then they were back to fighting to stay awake so they could sleep once they got to Australia and their schedules wouldn't be completely screwed.

When Liv got to the Melbourne hotel on Wednesday she was exhausted, yet she still grabbed a quick bite with Checo, where he told her all about his family who where in Madrid and invited her to come with them for the next two week break.

"I'd love that! I'm dying to go karting with Chequito Jr." said Liv with a smile.

"Oh don't get so excited, he will win" said Checo proudly with a smile.

"I'm counting on it, I wouldn't expect anything less" chuckled Liv.

After that Olivia went straight to bed, next day was media day and she wanted to be well rested and ready.

She didn't know how she was going to talk to Max yet. They still hadn't talked or texted since Saudi, but she was sure of her decision. She was also really excited to see him, she had to force herself to not text him that night.

She thought about maybe going up to the roof in the morning, but she may not have access so that could be a problem. As she fell asleep she decided she would let it run its natural course, it had to be organic for her. When the time was right she would feel it and that's when she would tell him how she felt.

When she woke up on Thursday she was really excited. She showered, did her hair in long bouncy layers, her makeup the regular natural makeup she always wore. Then she put on some jeans, her Red Bull shirt and a pair of white sneakers. She made sure she didn't forget her perfume that day.

She had an early breakfast with Alice before heading out by herself to the paddock. She wanted to be there early in case she could get some shots of the engineers at work. A couple of hours later the rest of the teams were already walking all over the paddock. Liv said hi to a lot of the drivers who she hand't seen in almost two weeks. Then she went back to the Red Bull motor home to get some coffee before the interviews started, that's when she saw Max come in.

Olivia's face instantly lit up, when he entered the room and looked in her direction Olivia grew the biggest and brightest smile. Max looked straight at her, and just when a smile was starting to form from his lips, Ashley came in the room after him. Olivia's face fell, and she looked from Max to Ashley and back to Max. Max just looked straight at her, trying to say everything he needed to say with his eyes, but failing. Olivia didn't understand what was going on. She wasn't sure if seeing Ashley there was the answer to the question she hadn't had a chance to ask.

Her mouth was slightly open in shock when Ashley saw her

"OH MY GOD OLIVIA!" said Ashley loudly. Max cringed when he heard Ashley say Olivia's name, it sounded so wrong coming from her.

"It's Liv" said both Max and Olivia at the same time, they quickly glanced at each other but then Olivia turned back to Ashley.

"You came to see the race?" said Liv curiously.

"Of course, you know we always have to support our men and their cars" said Ashley with a smile and a small laugh that seemed very trained and fabricated. "Oh which reminds me, Liv we need to double date since we are here in Melbourne! Max and me, you and Charles!" she said excitedly, like her and Liv had been friends for forever.