Sitting In Traffic | Formula 1

Chapter 63- His first win

Riley was sitting in the Red Bull garage now with Holden, Nathan, and Levi. Max gave them passes after Riley told him Nate wanted to see the inside of the paddocks. She didn't expect him to give everyone passes, but with who Max was and how he treated Riley she shouldn't have been surprised.

The formation lap was being completed. Riley wasn't paying attention for the first time in forever. She started to enjoy the time she was spending with Nathan and Levi. Her dad's plan worked for the most part if you took Holden out of the equation. Riley was fully immersed into a conversation with Nathan and Levi, about to prepare herself to turn and watch the race.

"Lights out" Holden notified them, offering this as a kind gesture for Riley.

Riley nodded, keeping up with what Levi was saying. He was talking about the struggles him and his girlfriend were having after moving in together. He said it was the worst decision of his life.

"At least you guys dated longer than a month before moving in together" Riley told him, glancing over at the screen briefly just to see a yellow flag out. "Been there done that"

"Oh yeah, you're actually a dumbass" Levi told her, he already heard about her and Arthur from Daniel. Questionable. That's how Riley's choices were considered. "One month is wild"

"It seemed like a fun idea at the time" Riley sighed, "Never again will that happen"

"You don't think you'll move in with Max anytime soon?"

"I just moved into a new place with Dan again," Riley said, she didn't think that her and Max would wait longer than a year to make the move, but she didn't see it being two weeks from now. "When I'm at his apartment I have a small space for things bu-"

Riley was cut off by the sudden yells inside of the Red Bull garage. On both Max, and Checo's side. Riley's head turned everywhere but the screen trying to find out what happened to cause such commotion.

"I think Max crashed" Holden said, which caused Riley to push down all of her panic.

The screens didn't show the replay right away. Riley was left concerned waiting for a replay or commentary clarifying if it was Max or Checo that crashed. She didn't want to interfere with any of the crew rushing around, preparing for at least one car to come in when the red flag was pulled.

"I think it was Checo" Nathan said waiting for the same information as Riley.

"It was" Someone on the crew said as they walked past.

"Oh thank god" Riley said, putting her head in her hands as she leaned against a short wall the divided her from the rest of the garage. She let out a small sigh of relief, feeling able to breathe through the guilt of being glad it wasn't Max who crashed but his teammate.

"Fuck that's bad" Holden mumbled when the crash reappeared on the screen. Riley glanced up, only looking for a moment before she couldn't anymore.

Riley didn't want a broken down Red Bull engraved in her mind. She had only seen Max crash once, and that was before he knew she existed. Silverstone 2021, she remembered watching that race. She wasn't there for it in person, she watched it in her room when she was hiding away from her family. That was during the planning phase of making JC's.

Riley kept her head in her hands, telling herself everything was fine because Max was okay. What Holden said got to her head faster than anything ever had before. For that one minute of not knowing what happened Riley was terrified.

Riley stood around when everyone started pulling into the pits. She began chatting with Nathan again quietly, waiting for Max to come back into the garage for an unknown amount of time. Riley knew Max would have things to do, but she was hoping to steal him for a few minutes.