Forbidden

105. The Sense of an Ending

The flight to Abu Dhabi was a long one, first they flew all the way to Madrid and stoped there to refuel. Then they flew directly to Abu Dhabi. They arrived there Tuesday and Olivia was exhausted. She had been feeling so down the entire time that it must have been the worst flight of her life. 

When Olivia got to Abu Dhabi she entered her now solo room. She hadn't stayed by herself in months. It felt hollow and she hated it. She missed Max, which only made her feel worse. The fact that Lewis invited her over to watch a movie helped lift her spirits slightly. He had noticed she wasn't her usual talkative self on the plane. She had slept most of the journey, which was a lengthy one,  so it was an unusual amount of hours of sleep. 

"Are you okay Liv? You don't seem quite like yourself" he wondered out loud as the man who brought over their room service left. 

She shrugged "Just problems with Max" she said as she sat on the couch.

"Ah" he nodded his head "Is this related to the baptism scandal or the Brazil one?"

Olivia thought for a moment "Mainly the grand prix, the baptism was an accident" she said.

Lewis shrugged "Well Checo was pretty pissed about it" he said "And then what happened in Brazil certainly didn't help".

Olivia let out a frustrated sigh as she laid down completely on the couch "Yeah, it was awful wasn't it? God I can't wait for this fucking season to be over, who would've thought Formula 1 was filled with so much drama? It's exhausting" she said frustrated.

"There's a reason they call it the Piranha club Liv" he said as he sat down next to where her head laid "I can't wait for this to be over too though, I'm leaving on Sunday right after the race. This is a season to forget" he shook his head as he took a sip of water.

"You are leaving after the race? To Monaco?" she asked.

"No, no, I'm going on the Africa trip remember? I leave Sunday night so I can get there by the morning" he suddenly had a bright smile on his face. It brought Olivia some comfort to see that smile.

"That's so cool!" she said "bring me back a keychain or something. A magnet for my fridge" unlike Lewis, Olivia was supposed to be at the FIA awards ceremony since she was Max's plus one. Although she supposed that depended on wether she and Max were on good terms by then. Or together at all.

Lewis chuckled "Alright, a keychain then".

They had dinner while Liv watched Psycho and Lewis worked on his laptop next to her. Like always he eventually gave up and watched the rest of the movie with her. 

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Max arrived to Abu Dhabi very early on Wednesday morning. Checo was training and Olivia was having breakfast by herself at the restaurant before going to work. That's when Max came into the restaurant and spotted her. She saw him right away, and it killed Max that there wasn't even a hint of a smile as she looked at him.

He sat in front of her "Hey" he said a bit nervous. They hadn't talked at all since Olivia had left Brazil. 

"Hi" she said as she took a bite of her eggs, there was so much tension in the air.

"Listen, I got you a key to my room" said Max as he pulled from his jeans pocket a key card and placed in on the table in front of her.

Olivia immediately pushed it back towards him "Max they're gonna think I'm a hooker or something" she said looking around to see if anyone was watching them.

"Fine, then it's my key. I just left it here by accident" he said as he placed the key on his side of the table and then placed a napkin on top. "Olivia let's just talk okay? I hate the way we left things, it feels wrong. Can you come up to the room tonight? I should be there by 8pm" there was a sad look on his eyes. It made the pain in Olivia's chest feel heavier.