RACE 2 - Max Verstappen

102

"Come with me to Maranello tonight," Carlos said, which was more of a question, to Daniella in a soft tired tone as he gently ran his fingers through her long strands of hair, both facing each other and laying on the bed. He was already over the moon after winning his first race, fulfilling his childhood dream to become a Grand Prix winner, but his day got even better when Daniella came to his hotel room to celebrate his win about a little over an hour ago.

"You know I can't," Daniella replied in a gentle voice, giving him a small smile.

"Why not?" he asked. "We can celebrate properly there, there is also a huge team dinner tomorrow...I am sure everyone will love to have you there."

"Carlos..." Daniella let out a slight huff. "All it will do is create more rumors and drama," she tried to make him understand. "And my team is celebrating tonight as well, my responsibility to my team is more important."

Carlos pulled his hand away from Daniella, disappointment and a hit of anger on his face. He was already jealous the entire day from the moment Max hugged Daniella in front of everyone after the crash, and now once again she is putting him last on her priority list.

"You didn't care when Max hugged you earlier today," Carlos pointed out, expressing his jealousy. "And now suddenly you care about rumors and drama?"

"You do realize that everyone already thinks I am dating Max, right? What do you think will happen when photos of me with you in Maranello hit the internet?" Daniella argued.

Carlos clenched his jaw at the mention of the Red Bull driver as he looked away, not replying to Daniella.

"There is a limit to things that I can handle, Carlos, and right now I am almost on the verge of breaking," Daniella confessed, almost sounding vulnerable.

She was feeling overwhelmed since the red flag, and once the race was over she was bombarded with questions about her relationship with Max after he hugged her in front of everyone. And one of the reasons she is with Carlos and in his bed is because even for a little while she wanted to forget about Max and the feelings that managed to resurface today despite trying her best to keep them buried.

"Then tell everyone you are not dating Max," Carlos suggested as he looked back at her, his eyes boring into hers. "Make it all stop."

"It's not that easy," Daniella mumbled. "No matter what I do to make it stop, it will only manage to make things tough for me. Trust me, we have gone through every scenario, and as long as Max is not on board it's not going to work."

"Then tell everyone the truth," Carlos suggested. "Tell everyone what he did."

"It will ruin his reputation," Daniella pointed out. "I don't want that to happen. He already gets a lot of backlashes no matter what he does..."

Carlos scoffed as he sat up, Daniella soon followed him, getting a bit annoyed.

"Despite everything he has done, you still care so much about him, but you can't come to Maranello with me to celebrate my first win."

"Now you are just being unreasonable," Daniella sounded annoyed and a bit angry. "Let's just not talk about Max, just think what will happen when and people will think when they see a Mercedes driver in Maranello, celebrating with Ferrari. In case you have forgotten, I am a driver to, Carlos. I have a team who is going to be very confused once they see me there celebrating with one of the rival teams."

Only then does Carlos realize what Daniella said was completely true and reasonable, but it doesn't mean that his feelings were not hurt.

"I think coming here was a bad idea," she said before getting out of bed and picking up her clothes.