The Lion and The Bull - Max Verstappen

Chapter 17 - Believe Me

"Good morning my dear," Max said and stroked Cecilia's face as she woke up. Cecilia smiled and stretched as she took in the morning's sun through the large windows. "Good morning," she responded. "I didn't want to wake you up but I wanted to let you know that I am heading out for training. I'll be back in about 3 hours," Max said and got up from the bed. He was already dressed which means he had been up for a while, during which Cecilia was still sound asleep. Cecilia sat up in the bed and said, "Aw okay well I guess I will see you around lunch then?" Max leaned over the bed and gave her a kiss and responded, "Yes. I will be home for sure by one o'clock." She waved him goodbye and then decided that she should finally get ready for the day. The bathroom was still warm from Max's shower and the floor was covered in a light coat of water. She went to the bathroom and then brushed her teeth in the sink. His drawers were full of her clothes that she brought and so her efforts of searching for an outfit took longer than usual. She picked out some jeans and a t-shirt to wear as she was going to be spending most of her day at the house. His house felt empty but homey without him there with her. She walked into the kitchen and was greeted by his meowing cats. There was a note left on the fridge that read: Do not give in to their pleads. They have already been fed. Love you. With a poorly drawn picture of the two cats on the bottom. Cecilia laughed and petted the cats before grabbing something to eat. She sat at the kitchen table as she ate her porridge and scrolled through instagram and twitter. After the last race, she posted on Instagram about their win. She was still getting tweets of screenshots and speculations about her relations with Max. Some people knew that they were dating and others were trying to push it off. Max wasn't even in the photo and people were still saying things about them. Some of them weren't wrong. She continued scrolling and got to a comment that read, I bet Max is just using her as a bounce back. Poor girl. For some reason this comment irked something in Cecilia and so she read the replies to this comment to see if other people also saw it this way. A reply said, I miss Kelly. Cecilia decided that she had enough with twitter and so she swiped out of that page. But the last thing she saw on the app was a picture of Kelly with Max at the party in Mexico. It was horrible. In the photo Kelly was standing there with her hand on Max's arm with a smirk on her face. The camera was angled just enough that you could tell that it was Max but not enough to see his facial expression. The headline was Max Verstappen back with Ex after Rumored Girlfriend. Cecilia trusted Max to not fulfill what the headline said but if what everyone else thought was true, then maybe it wasn't so wild to think that maybe Max did lie. Cecilia went back into the bedroom and crawled into bed. She couldn't deal with this. Max wouldn't be home for another few hours and so she threw her phone across the bed and laid there thinking about how it may be true. She wasn't there to see what happened so who knows. She closed her eyes and tried to convince herself to believe it was untrue.

"Cecilia?" Max called through the house. He opened the door to the bedroom and saw the state that Cecilia was in. She was curled up on the bed and he could tell she had been crying. She picked her head up and looked at him but set it back down on the pillow after a glance. "C, what's wrong?" Max said concerned and hurried over to her. He placed his hand on her forehead to check for her temperature. "I'm fine," Cecilia said and scooted away from him. "Did something happen?" Max asked and sat on the bed confused. "I don't know. DID something happen?" Cecilia huffed. Max gave her a confused look and said, "Cecilia I really don't know what you're talking about. Please tell me." Cecilia sat up and asked bluntly, "Did you and Kelly get back together?" Max looked at her for a second then responded, "No. We didn't. I have told you this." "I don't know Max. People seem to think that you would have a great reason for being with Kelly over me," Cecilia said, starting to tear up. She had believed Max when he told her Kelly was crazy and he wanted nothing to do with her but now her mind was spinning. "Cecilia I don't know what I can tell you for you to believe me," Max said. "There are photos of you with her and everyone is saying that it should be true," Cecilia continued. "Cecilia, those are just people online. I have told you that I don't care about Kelly anymore," Max said and almost couldn't believe that she still didn't trust him. Cecilia didn't say anything and just got up from the bed. "Where are you going?" Max asked. "I need to leave," Cecilia said and started throwing her things into a bag. She couldn't tell if he was telling the truth and so she wanted time to think about this before she made any harsh actions. "Cecilia please don't leave," Max pleaded and stood in the doorway of his closet as she stuffed one of her bags full of clothes. "Max. I just need time to think," Cecilia said and pushed past Max. "Do you need me to take you somewhere?" Max asked worriedly. He didn't know why this came up all of a sudden. "No. I have an Uber coming," Cecilia said and tried to wipe the tears streaming from her eyes as she walked. "Cecilia, please talk to me. What is this about?" Max asked and grabbed her arm as she went to the door. She quickly turned around and said, "Someone posted a picture of you and Kelly flirting at the party in Mexico. And I almost believe a lot of what they are saying. You are always gone and happen to be in the same city that she is in. I don't know what to think Max. Goodbye." She opened the door and slammed it behind her. Max watched as she got into the car and left his house. He was left there shocked and confused about what just happened. Max knew he certainly did not get back with Kelly and he thought Cecilia knew that too. He had to find whatever picture she saw. He pulled his phone out and went onto twitter. After a few scrolls he found what must have been the post that she saw. How would a photo like that have been taken so perfectly and gotten out? Only drivers and close friends were allowed at the party. He immediately sent a screenshot of the post to his manager and demanded for it to get taken down. His manager responded right away and said he would get on it. Max was furious. He knew this wasn't just some low-life paparazzi, it had to have been Kelly.