Three Dumb Ideas | Formula 1 fanfiction

90: The couch

Tuesday

Maeve's point of view

'Hello my wonderchildren', Horner says as Max & I walk to the table.

'Hi Christian!', I give him a hug.

'What about your old wonderchild?', My dad asks, taking a seat.

'I missed you, Seb. How've you been?', Horner hugs him.

'Phenomenal, watching these two race is everything I need to die happy', he smiles.

'Drama queen', I add.

'Too bad your father couldn't make it, Max', Horner tries to hide his smile.

'Oh as if we all wanted him to come', Max says honestly.

The table goes silent.

'Well I didn't', I break the awkwardness.

'Alright, you all ready to order? Food is on me', Christian changes the topic.

'Well, in that case... I think I'm going for the 45lb lobster', My dad uses one of his dad jokes.

'What are you ordering?', Max asks. His hands glide onto my thigh, secretly.

I am a little startled at the hand placement, especially since my dad and team boss are here.

'I'm ordering a steak, I love steak', I decide.

'They have red velvet here', Max smiles.

'They do? Best day of my life', I laugh.

'What's that?', my father asks confused.

'They serve red velvet, papa'.

'Oh! Your favorite! We should order that!', my dad replies.

'Whatever you want, Maeve', Christian smiles at me and then drops his glasses. 'Oh fuck'.

He bends down under the table and Max quickly removes his hand.

'Las Vegas', my dad starts. 'It's incredible here, isn't it? The old racing days enter my head again, but it has changed so much!'

'Yeah, it really has. I don't remember us having so much free time', Christian says to my father.

'I did, you didn't', he laughs. 'So, kids. You ready for Sunday?'

'Excited and nervous, Max here is keeping me on my toes', I sigh sarcastically. 'There are high stakes and the track isn't easy'.

'I agree, Maeve. I need to win this Sunday, it feels so weird saying that while we are friends but I just have to', he says honestly.

'We cannot all win, whoever wins isn't better than the other or the other way around', my dad says. 'Just stay focused and trust your instincts. You both have shown remarkable progress this season'.

Typically, my dad would never say 'You can win this Sunday', no he'd just say, if you don't win now, you'll win once. He raised me to be thankful for this and not ungrateful, I can't thank him enough for that, even tho sometimes my mind thinks otherwise.

'Yeah, I have to give you credits, Maeve. This is your rookie year and already three wins, it's incredible!', Max says.

'Thanks, Max. You do make it tough sometimes'

'Nah, I'm just better than you', he jokes.

'It's so good to see a good connection between teammates', Christian smiles. 'You two weren't like that before'.

'Nope, not at all', I laugh.

'It reminds me of Mark Webber and I... although I hope you two stay better friends than Mark and I', he remembers.

'God, those were intense times. I died a lot those seasons', Christian says.

The waiter brings out our food, my steak is placed in front of me, but it's with Béarnaise Saucesauce and I ordered it with peppercorn sauce...

I really don't want to make a fuss about it, but I really don't like Béarnaise and so I get angry like a little kid.

'You okay?', Max whispers.

'Yeah it's nothing, I'm just not that hungry', I say as I try to remove a lot of the sauce, but the cook literally drenched it in the sauce.

I take a bit of the few pieces not covered in sauce.

A waiter walks along us and I debate whether or not I should say something.

'Excuse me?', Max asks.

'Yes?', the waiter grins

'She ordered it with peppercorn sauce', he says.

Max noticed? My dad's head jolts up and he looks at me.

'She can just scrape it off, can she not?', the waiter asks politely.

'Yeah it's fi-', I try to say

'Excuse me, isn't it your job to make sure people get the correct food? You better prepare another steak really fast, with the correct sauce or we'll head out of here', Max hisses.

I am a little confused about his sudden protectiveness, which I find really cute.

The waiter nods and walks away with my plate.

Horner is left with an open mouth and my father nods at Max. 'Thank you, Max', he says.

'Yes, thank you', I smile at Max and he returns it.

'No problem, it's the bare minimum', he smirks. 'F-for a teammate, uhm, of course'.

'How's the lobster, sir?', Max asks my father.

'Max, we've known each other long enough, call me Seb', he smiles. 'Yes, it's really good, although it's not the 42lb one'.

Christian laughs. 'It better not be no'.

'How are you handling the pressure, Max?', my father asks sincerely.

'One race at a time. It's a tough season and every point counts, not only for me but also for the team. If I had to choose between fighting Maeve for P1 while possibly DNFing I'd settle down for second, in the end, it's also Redbull's championship'.

'Great mindset, although, if you think you think you can do it without DNFing you should at least try', my dad says.

'Well G, thanks', I joke.

'You've matured as a driver, Max. It's so impressive to see. Your father has always been wrong about you, that's for sure'.

'Thanks, Seb. That means a lot coming from you', Max says sweet.

'You both did remarkable this season, It's going to be a thrilling race Sunday and Abu Dhabi will be even more amazing, I'm sure!', Horner holds up his glass. 'To Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi'.

'To not crashing', I add

'To Maeve and Max. To Redbull', my dad smiles at me.

Our glasses touch each other as we go for a cheers.

'Yess!!!', I scream as I get handed my red velvet cake. 'I love you', I whisper to it.

'This girl is mad for red velvet', my dad tells Horner. 'Remember when I got cake in Singapore from you? The one where we had the crazy strategy call?'

'How could I forget, it was a big risk and it paid off. That result defined the season, I bought you the cake as a gift'.

'I remember you bringing it home', I say to Dad. 'Mom and I ate the whole thing, I was... six?'

'It was 2009, so you were indeed six yeah'.

'Well, I'm glad you enjoyed the cake, Maeve', Horner smiles.

'I love hearing these stories, do you have more?', Max asks

'Well... there was this time I told that one interviewer she looked good in that dress', my dad jokes.

'God, your PR team hated you that day', Horner laughs.

'I remember Mom hating you too that day', I smile.

'Yeah, I slept on the couch'.