The Lion and The Bull - Max Verstappen

Chapter 12 - Dear

Hey, come down to the gym when you wake up. Cecilia read her text message from Max. She groaned and peered out the sunny window that looked out into the city of Monza. Her bed had been so comfortable the night before and Max had ruined it by getting up so early to workout. She got up from the bed and walked into the bathroom to brush her teeth and get ready for the day. Her outfit for the day consisted of flowy yoga pants and a RedBull crew neck. She grabbed her phone and made her way down to the gym. There could be anyone in the gym for all she knew and so she wanted to just find Max as fast as possible. She walked in and immediately saw various drivers with their personal trainers. Max was in the far corner by the windows with his trainer doing curls. She made her way over there and was impressed with the other drivers' athleticism. "Wow Maxi, I'm impressed," Cecilia said as Max finished a rep. "Oh hey. I wanted you to come admire me in all my glory but mainly as a motivator to do cardio," Max said, wiping sweat off of his brow. She couldn't help but admire him as he panted with sweat dripping down his face and the veins in his neck pulsating. "Alright Max, you can just do a few more reps of curls and squats then you can do about a mile on the treadmill then you will be set for the day. It seems all the motivation you need has arrived," His trainer said and smiled at Cecilia then waved them both goodbye. "So is this how you become such a pro athlete?" Cecilia asked. "Well yes, but it also comes with my fantastic mental set," Max joked. "Oh so you think that your mental set is what got me to go out with you?" Cecilia joked back. "Well I mean I know I got some good looks going for me too," Max said and threw up both of his arms and flexed. Just as he did that, Pierre walked over and said a quiet hello before he began to use the weights next to Max. Max did not acknowledge Pierre and instead began to dramatically begin his next rep, making obnoxious faces while glancing from his bicep to Cecilia's face. Cecilia rolled her eyes at his antics and when he finally finished his rep she said, "Don't you need to do cardio now?" Max put his weight back on the rack and huffed as the two walked over to the treadmills. George Russel was already on one of them and so Max hopped on the one on his right to give him a bit of a fright. "How are you doing George?" Max asked as he started up the treadmill. "Pretty good. Although cardio is always the worst," George answered through a heavy breath. Cecilia hopped on the treadmill next to Max and decided she would have a walk while Max ran, for a bit of moral support. "How are you feeling for the next race Maxi?" Cecilia asked, knowing that he hated that name. He gave her a look and answered, "I mean I feel great, I think this is the best I have ever felt and the best the car has ever felt." "Would you want to go to a party with Checo and Carola when we go to Mexico?" Cecilia asked. "Sure, I don't see why not." Max answered with an increasingly heavier breath. "Carola said that they were going to hire five mariachi bands, a taco truck, and invite a bunch of Spanish celebrities," Cecilia said. "That sounds like a whole lot of fun. Though, I may have to keep Checo in check as seeing what happened last time he hosted a party," Max said a little quieter. "Yeah I mean Carola would hopefully keep him in line and I would hope he would not do anything like that since she's pregnant," Cecilia said. "I really don't know how they recovered from that whole debacle," Max said, raising his eyebrows. "If you ever pulled something like that shit I would have dumped your ass and moved on," Cecilia said a little fired up. "Well I can promise you, as much as you will believe me, that there is no one else I would even want to spend a party or the night with," Max said sincerely even though he was very out of breath. "I know I can trust you because you know you will never get anyone as good as me again," Cecilia joked. Max laughed and said, "I know." Max finished his run and then the two walked out to the hotel cafe to get breakfast. "What would you like dear?" Cecilia asked Max who was still wiping sweat off of his face. Max smiled at her word choice and answered, "I will have a yogurt parfait and a coffee." Cecilia smiled back and said, "Okay I'll order it if you want to go grab a table." He nodded and went off to find a nice table by the window. "You pulled a nice one Max," a voice said as Max was walking. He only realized it was Fernando Alonso when he turned around. "Oh hey Nando. How are you doing?" Max said, trying to avoid his comment. "I'm doing pretty good but I could use a girl like the one you've got," Nando said, eyeing Cecilia who was ordering their breakfast. Max was a little annoyed and said, "Careful Nando, that's Christian Horner's daughter that you are talking about. You might lose your last shot at a World Championship." Nando scoffed and said, "Oh shit, she is? I had no clue man. Sorry," and then waved Max goodbye and walked out to the balcony. Max rolled his eyes at how he spoke about Cecilia but decided to let it go. He found a nice table by the window and waited for Cecilia. A few minutes later, Cecilia came over with her hands full of the coffee and breakfast items. "Here is your coffee," Cecilia said and handed Max his drink. "Thank you darling," Max said with a big smile. "And here is your yogurt," Cecilia said and sat down as she handed him his yogurt. "Were you talking to Fernando?" Cecilia asked as she sipped her iced coffee. "Yeah he was kinda being a dick wad tho," Max said and tried not to get upset. Cecilia could tell he was a little upset over something and so she asked, "What's wrong?" Max sighed and said, "I just don't know how so many of the drivers can be total assholes and have no respect whatsoever. Fernando was asking me about where I got you from. Like you were nothing but an item. It was only when I told him that you were Christian Horner's daughter that he seemed to care a little bit." Cecilia put her hand on his and said, "Max I love that you have such a big heart. And I promise you that there are so many others that have been really nice to me. He was probably just hungover and horny." "Yeah probably," Max said and took an irritated sip of coffee and looked out the window. "Max," Cecilia said. He looked over to her and she helped him to take a deep breath. "I really do love how passionate you are but my love, you need to take a breath," Cecilia said and squeezed his hand with a smile. He squeezed back and took a deep breath to try to calm down. He tended to get angry over things that did not really matter, but when it came to Cecilia, he felt that it mattered. "Thank you," Max said and smiled.

p.s - I absolutely do not have anything against the other drivers. They have to be douche bags for the plot :)

Thank you!!