The music blasted through Anna's headphones. It was the night before her boyfriend Max's home grand prix, his very first. Anna was also Dutch. Their parents were friends and through that they also became friends. Over the years, they got close to one another and naturally, started dating. With Max living in Monaco and Anna living in the Netherlands for college, it was of course difficulty but they visited eachother and called eachother enough to keep the relationship going. She always supported him during his races, whether she was there or not so this race in particular was very much exciting. Finally a race where Max could come visit her instead of the other way around. Anna sat doing her usual qualifying day ritual; shoe painting. She was quite good at it and she loved how the shoes looked afterwards. Her shoes were always linked to F1, always. Max loved them. Anna even convinced him to let her paint a pair of his own that he wore quite a lot.
Max pushed through the door tired. He was excited for his home race but god it made him tired. All he wanted to do now was to sit down and cuddle up with his girlfriend, even though he wasn't the cuddling type, Anna always wrapped her arms around him and silently pursuaded him into cuddling. "Anna? I'm home!" Max called through his girlfriends apartment but she didn't seem to be responding. He furrowed his eyebrows as he ventured in, thinking that she must have gone to the shops or something. Once he took a few steps, the smell of Ain't hit his nostrils. She was here and if he knew her well, he knew she was painting shoes again. He chuckled to himself and walked towards the living room, sure enough, seeing her sitting on the floor, surrounded by newspaper, snacks and paints. He watched as she bopped her head along to whatever it was she was listening to and painted ever so carefully, ziggo sport still on the TV. Max crept up quietly before pouncing on her, making her nearly drop paint.
"Ah you son of a bitch!" Anna swore at him as he lay down beside her laughing. "I didn't think you'd be painting when I got home." Max said, picking at the bag of candy Anna had opened. "I thought you were on a diet." She asked, taking her headphones off. "Don't tell Brad and we won't have a problem." Anna smiled and kissed Max's cheek. "Did you miss me?" he asked. "No, not really." Max frowned at her answer, earning a laugh from his girlfriend. "Thats just rude lieverd." He said chucking another piece of candy into his mouth. "You know I don't like you calling me that."
"What ?"
"Lieverd."
"How about schat?"
"No."
"Okay then Anna."
"That's better."
"And you're coming tomorrow, yeah?" Max asked. "Of course. I wouldn't miss it." Anna replied. "And you've got your clothes sorted? What you're going to wear?" Anna's softened expression turned into a grin. "Oh, I know that face."
"Max-"
"Anna-"
"Oh come on! I just want to show you a little bit of my outfit." Max groaned. He didn't like being asked for opinions. "But Anna-" Anna cut him off and dragged him up off the floor and onto the sofa. "Max Verstappen, you are going to sit through my mini fashion show!" She warned. "Are you going to ask me for opinions?" Anna furrowed her eyebrows. "Yes?" she replied, as if it was obvious but of course, it wasn't for Max. "You know I'll be biased to get it done with quicker." He said, looking up to her. "And you know that I know when you're lying, so it doesn't matter." Anna smirked, bending down to him and pulling him in by his Red Bull collar for a kiss. "Okay then. Just hurry please." Anna quickly ran into her room to grab the clothes she had on her bed ready to go for the race the next day.
Max sat watching his fellow drivers do their interviews, seeing what each had to say to pass the time before he heard the bedroom door opening. "Anna? Is that you?" he asked. "No, it's Lando. Of course it's me!" She called back sarcastically. "Lando mate, I was watching your interview just there and-" Max looked over towards the living room door and saw Anna, standing in a navy dress and purse. His jaw dropped. "Oh wow." Max muttered. "So what do you think?" Anna asked, excitedly. "I don't know. I actually- wow." Anna felt self conscious. Did he not like it? What was the problem? Maybe she shouldn't have worn the dress, go for something else. "Is it bad?" she asked. "No, of course not! Why would it be bad?" Max asked. "Because you haven't actually said anything." Anna explained. "Well maybe that's a good thing. I can't speak, I'd say that's good." Anna gave a soft smile. She could help but feel he was lying to her. "Anna, I'm not joking. I can't find any words for you."
Anna sat down on the sofa beside him. "I was thinking of wearing the shoes with it too." Anna smiled, pointing at the freshly painted shoes by the window sill. Max pulled her in closer to his chest and pressed a kiss into her hair. "Mmh and how about one of my jackets?" he suggested. "The Red Bull ones?" Max nodded. "One of them, yeah. I think it would go well with the dress." Max said, picking up the remote and flicking on a movie. "I'm too tired to cook. Should we order something?" he asked. "Yeah, sounds good. You order." Max looked down at her. "What? Why me?"
"I don't like ordering my own food. Plus, I have to get out of this."
"I couLd get you out of that quicker."
"Behave yourself." Anna said, slapping his chest playfully. "Until tomorrow at least." She added with a mischievous wink. "Alright, alright. I'll try to but I won't promise anything else." Anna scoffed and walked off to her room to change into her pyjamas, bringing her mini fashion show to an end and preparing for her catwalk down the paddock the next morning.
