As if | Max Verstappen

54

"what do you mean you won't continue driving?"

"I don't know if I can handle all the hate I get, you know I love to drive but if this continues I will choose my well being and health before driving"

we had arrived at Max's hotel room after the race. the race itself went well for Red Bull, Max won as usual and I had finished fourth. Olivia had told me that the podcast episode with me would be released two hours before the race started so that people would have time to watch the episode before the race.

I had been nervous about seeing everyone's reactions to my and Max's relationship and I was nervous about how Max would react to hearing those last questions. as I had expected, he had not taken it well. when he'd said he'd watch the episode, I'd said I'd take a shower, just to avoid seeing his initial reaction.

"how bad is the hate?" Max asked.

"it got worse after I came back from the crash. but now I don't dare to check my mobile after I accidentally revealed our relationship. sorry about that Max by the way I could have asked her to cut it off but I was so nervous"

"don't apologize for it. it would come out sooner or later. the most important thing is that you're fine. show me your social media so i can see how bad it is"

I reached for my cell phone and gave it to him. he knew my password so he opened it and went straight to my DMs and his eyes widened after he started reading what people wrote to me. after he had read for a minute or so he returned my mobile and didn't know what to say.

"I'll probably delete social media for a while"

"if it makes you feel better... liefje i don't think you should stop driving just because of the hate. you have a lot of talent and if you stop the haters will win"

"you're right" I said and stood up.

it had been radio silent from both my brother and Lando's side and neither of them had looked my way all weekend. i had tried to talk to lando because i thought he would soften before george but i was wrong.

neither of us had any plans to stay in Texas any longer than necessary so we would be taking a plane back to Monaco tomorrow. Max had been nagging me that he was going to take me to a restaurant to cheer me up and I wasn't sure if I could take it after a hard weekend but Max was never going to give up because according to him my argument didn't hold so I gave up .

i put on a pair of gray jeans and a white sweater that wasn't too warm but i wouldn't freeze either. I couldn't do any make-up or anything so we finished much earlier than we had planned but Max didn't complain about it.

after a drive later we were in a restaurant that Max had selected. the place wasn't as fancy as I knew Max would have preferred but this place was cozy and homey. a waitress came up to us after we were seated and asked what we would like.