SO AMERICAN | max verstappen

five.

I winced at the sound of incessant knocking at the door of my hotel room.

That's an annoying wake-up call. With furrowed brows, I rolled out of bed, going to investigate the sound.

"Wakker worden slaapkop!" (Wake up, sleepyhead!) A small voice shouted as I opened the door.

That didn't sound like English.

Filled with confusion, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes with the palms of my hands, wincing at the contact to my injured eye. Right, my eye is bruised.

My vision cleared and I saw the small female version of Max Verstappen standing in the doorway. Lili Verstappen. I'm in Bahrain.

Right.

Somehow, I had managed to forget my whereabouts after I fell asleep last night.

Wait, I'm in Bahrain. We're in a hotel.

"Lili, how did you know where my room was?"

She pointed up at the part of the wall that showed the room number. "You didn't say goodnight to me and Daddy told me you went to your room. I asked him where and he said 3-3-1."

"Lili, you can't just leave your hotel room like that. Does your Daddy know where you are?" I sighed, squatting down and picking her up before retreating into my room, the door closing behind us.

She giggled as she shook her head, "Daddy was still asleep when I left. He told me we had to let you sleep today." Such 5-year-old actions.

I couldn't help but laugh with her, "It's fun to irritate your Daddy."

Lili nodded as I sat us down on my bed, both of us climbing under the covers, the girl tucking herself into my side. I let myself relax into the bed again as I reached for my phone. 6:23am. Fuck, I understand why Max told her not to wake me up and why I still felt like sleep had such a hold on me.

"Lili, it's sooo early." I playfully whined. "Do you always wake up at this time?"

She shrugged, "I usually get in bed with Daddy if I get up before my clock says I can."

I poked her cheek, "But you woke me up anyway?" Lili nodded quickly, her braided hair a mess around her petite face.

"You're really pretty and fun, so I just couldn't wait to see you."

I felt my cheeks heat up from her compliment. She was so sweet, the opposite of her father.

"That's sweet of you." I smiled at her, pulling the covers further up my chest. "Can we go back to sleep?"

She yawned, nuzzling herself down into the bed after nodding in response to my question. It didn't take her long, maybe 3 minutes, before she fell asleep again. I found myself doing the same, sleep too heavy for my eyelids.

~~~~~~

Another round of incessant knocking at the door of my hotel room. I groaned, why can't people let me sleep?

"Riley!" A panicked voice called out from the door.

That voice sounded familiar.

More knocking.

I rolled over in bed, my body collided with a small figure. My eyes widened almost immediately. I hadn't dreamed that Lili had woken me up this morning.

It was probably Max at my door.

Without waking up the small girl, I climbed out of bed, walking rather fast to the door – as fast as I could seeing I'd been rudely awoken again – hoping to stop her Dad's panic.