The anatomy of a champion • I •

13.

Almost the whole evening we talked about this job. Me throwing only the negatives and them trying to prove me wrong.
It was getting late so Diana prepared the dinner for all of us "i remember when i was about 6 or 7 years old " i started to speak while we were eating "on every sunday the whole family gatherd at my grandparents house for lunch. My grandpa always turned the Tv on for the formula 1 race. He was a Ferrari fan, he even went on a race once at Monza. " i smiled remembering my grandfather. If he was still alive he'll probably be so happy and proud if i accepted this job " My only memory of formula 1 includes drivers like Michael Schumacher, Mikka Hakkinen, David Coulthard, but they are probably old and retirees" Alex nodded "you have no ideea how much the formula 1 changed over the years, the cars are completely different, you should see the pit stops now, they change the tyres in less than 3 seconds"
Indeed i had no idea what is new in the sport. Although i knew Alex from many years, he never spoke, at least in my presence about his job or news from the formula 1.

"There is a driver on the grid now, that has as many championships as Michael Schumacher, many people say that he is the best driver ever" Alex continued on the subject and proposed that we all watch a race from the previous season so he could explain more of what is new in the sport. I shrugged, it was not like I had too many options for that evening.

I helped Diana with the dishes whilst Alex went to the living room to stream a race. "look how happy he is " diana said reffering to Alex "he'll be able to talk about formula 1 with someone close to us. He tried to drag me into this world but was unsuccseful, all i could see was some little boys going in circles far too many times"
Well she was right in that matter

I grabbed a bowl of snacks and went into the living room. Shortly Diana joined as well and started to sigh dramatically loud "now i should be upset, my husband and bestfriend will leave me soon, and i'll be all alone," I threw a chips at her "i didn't accept the job, i have the entire night to think about it, and with you saying stuff like that only makes it easier for me "
Hei, look, i just found another reason to my long list of why i shouldn t accept this madness.
Diana pretended to close her mouth with an imaginary key and told Alex to press play on the race.

The intro of formula 1 started on the tv with the grid of the drivers from 2021. Alex paused a couple of times to explain some things "this is the son of Michael Schumacher, not as gifted like his dad, but he is a good driver" he said the names of the teams whilst the drivers kept appearing on the screen, although I could read their names, but seeing how Alex was so excited about it i just smiled. Some of them were actually kinda hot but i kept that thought to myself.
Alex paused towards the end of the intro

"This is Max Verstappen, he won the drivers championship last year"

Fuck.me.now

I couldn't believe what I was seeing in front of my eyes and put my hand over the mouth in shock. After so many years, years in which i almost forgot about the boy from the festival, there he was, on a screen at the intro of the 20 Formula 1 drivers. Even more, the world champion from the previous year. I felt sick, my head felt heavy and suddenly I got up from the sofa without giving any explanation, rushing to get a cigarette to smoke.

"Sweety, are you alright?" Diana came after me and asked with an warm tone of voice.
"I need to smoke a cigarette urgently" my voice was trembling. " ok, sure i'll find you one, let's go out on the terrace to take a breath of fresh air and we'll smoke"
"what did i do wrong?"Alex murmured to Diana from the other side of the room.

I went out onto the terrace and sat on a chair, waiting for Diana to bring me a cigarette and something to drink. I don't even understand myself why i had this reaction seeing him after so many years
"Here sweaty" putting a glass of lemonade in front of me. I remained silent unable to say anything, just rolling my ideas in my head while shaking my legs like i had some kind of spasm. "Irina can you tell what happend, one minute you were fine and after Alex paused on that driver you went bananas"

One minute i had my life figured it out, or so i believed. I had a dream job, the one i wanted since i was a kid, a nice house, healthy familly and good friends. And now facing new prospects about a job away from my safe space and if that wasn t enough, i just found out who is Max from my one nightstand.
Could this day get more interesting...!?