No Regrets, Only Memories

The Snowball Effect

A/N: Hello! Sorry for the delay. I stood next to Daniel twice, in two different states, within a week, and all by chance and didn't say a word to him. So I was busy being upset about that.All jokes aside, life was busy I hope y'all enjoy this update! Thank you for reading and let me know what you think with a comment or a vote. Cheers!

Maeve

As if my life wasn't hard enough, I spent the entire day being asked questions about Max's return as if he wouldn't be speaking with them next in media. They would ask the same thing, how I felt about his return and what it meant for me next year. It was mentally and more so physically draining. My body was rigid as I spoke to every interviewer, making sure my body language was nothing but positive despite the negative going through my head. All of the overtime on my muscles left me sore and in need of a nap. Yet, there were still more interviews where they would continue to ask everything unless it had to do with me.

Obviously, I was thrilled to see Max back on the grid. He was one of my closest friends and seeing him hurt was one of the worst experiences of my life. Having Max come back and blow up about Daniel and my rash decision to get married? That made it complicated. It was evident that my answers held an air of questionability to them. Yes I was excited he was back, but it was almost like I wasn't excited to physically see him. The press saw that hesitation through all of the work I put in and were happy to question me about it. I passed it off as exhaustion from a few days of tossing and turning. Max knew though, he always saw weakness. It's part of what made him such a good competitor.

He wasn't exactly turning his nose up at the sight of me. However, he was happy to make a quick exit when we were in a room or near press together. No one else seemed to notice that part of my day, but I knew Max. I joked with him like I did Daniel and none of that had happened since his return. It reminded me of Daniel and I before Baku. Both of us waiting for the other shoe to fall as if there was a catastrophe incoming.

Which left me with one option. To walk up to him as I was doing now at the end of the paddock and ask to speak with him. He was catching up with Lewis of all people outside of the Mercedes' hospitality building. Charles and Pierre were with him as they laughed about something Max had said. I'm sure it was funny, things Max said tended to be funny for reasons none of us could comprehend. My eyes were firmly on Max though, knowing that I had to fix this and soon.

"Ah. Maeve, just who I was looking for." I bit my lip as the tall Austrian stepped into view and blocked my attempt to speak with my friend a mere ten feet from where he was. His voice carried and made a few members from the group look at us.

"Evening Toto. Excited for the race?" He nodded, a brief smile coming to his face.

"Of course. Excited for a win." That made me chuckle, because he was right and because he was proud to be right.

"Not if I have anything to say about it. Daniel might throw his hat in the ring as well." Saying Daniel's name made my chest hurt.

"I'd expect nothing less," his eyes wandered through our surroundings before coming back to me," I did want to apologize for coming on too strongly the other day. Zak and I felt the idea was for the best and I actually have something to add to it." I raised an eyebrow, checking our surroundings as had he had moments before. The boys were close enough that they surely could hear us if we didn't keep our voices down.

"Is Zak aware of your additional request?" He nodded once.

"Yes, very much so." He looked at his watch then. He had his briefcase with him and was clearly readying to leave when he caught me.