You Broke Me First [Max Verstappen]

10. Something Borrowed

"Where are you going?" Sofia looked out the window perplexed they were on a highway. 

"Showing you what I've done with the apartment in Faenza." 

"Max, it's nearly midnight!" 

"So? Do you have anywhere important to be?" 

Sofia had helped Max renovate his 1 bedroom apartment in Faença that he got in his early days at Toro Rosso. The idea was to sell it but it seemed like he had never gone through with it. They had spent a fair share amount of time there during summer break and it held a lot of memories. It was there that Max said he loved her for the very first time. 

Max used to do everything on impulse, not really thinking about the consequences of his actions. A man, in a committed relationship, driving his ex-girlfriend to his old apartment in the middle of the night. Sofia wasn't entirely comfortable with that idea but she couldn't just open the door and throw herself onto the highway.

"I didn't know you still had that apartment." 

"Yeah, I like it too much even though it's small and besides Kylie doesn't want me in Monaco in the next few days, so I'm happy I have a place to stay."

"How do you think she would feel knowing that you are now taking me to your house?" 

Max turned on his right indicator signal, exiting the highway and onto a smaller road. One that she had been on many times before. Sofia still enjoyed watching Max drive. He was confident and there was something insanely alluring to her when he only controlled the steering wheel with one hand only. 

"She would kill me with her bare hands." 

"I wouldn't blame her..." 

"Don't tell me the two of you will now gang up against me... It's bad enough to have you and your little redhead friend doing that already." 

Sofia smiled when he mentioned her redhead friend. Amelia was a little hurricane and had no qualms in attacking Max whenever she felt that Sofia needed support. 

"You kind of deserve that..." Sofia was trying to keep it brief. 

She wasn't afraid that Max would try to have his way with her or that he would do anything to hurt her again. She was afraid of her own feelings around him. She dreaded that her heart skipped a beat whenever he was around. It was hard for Sofia not to imagine what could have been if he hadn't been a coward. They were good together and the chemistry was unreal. 

She could still feel some of that chemistry coming back when they chatted. Even when they were angry at each other, she could feel the sparks and the tension and she was sure that Max wasn't letting go of her because he felt the same way. 

"I'm not going to hit on you. Relax! I'm just going to show you the apartment and take you back to the hotel afterwards." 

"But why did you need to show it to me in the first place?" 

"I don't know. I just thought you'd like it."

"Yes, I would love to relive all the good moments we had before you broke up with me over a text message." 

Max inhaled deeply and then slowly exhaled as if doing some weird car yoga breathing technique. He didn't reply, simply drove into the garage and stopped the car. Sofia followed him into the lift and instinctively pressed the 8th-floor button before Max could do it, surprising both of them.

He opened the front door and let Sofia walk in front of him. She located the light switch and turn them on. The apartment looked as exactly as the last day she had been there. She glanced over at Max, confused.