barely legal | max verstappen ✓

alone, together

a/n: one thing about me...i'll write a random extra for my stories after finishing them👋

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«You don't have to be sorry for leaving and growing up.»

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As soon as the car came to a halt, her phone announced a new message with a ping. She looked down at it and read Irina's name in the notifications.

Irina: You guys are sickly sweet

It came with a link to a video attached in a second text bubble. Her brows furrowed a little before clicking on the link to see what the deal was. It was a video of Max, or more specifically, Max on the podium. There was nothing strange about it except for the sound of booing coming from the background people because he'd won yet another race. She didn't understand how that included her in any way, until the shot panned on the people around parc ferme, staring at the drivers on the podium. First, the video showed part of his team looking up, and then it showed her.

She was smiling, her eyes gleaming like she was seeing the best thing in the world. She was also visibly holding a camera in her hands, and pointing with it at the podium. People kept booing but she seemed proud of him. The funny thing was...they hadn't been actually together during that race. They'd been pretending to be a couple back then and it was one of the weekends when they decided to be more public, that was why she was there and not in the motorhome.

But the way she was staring at him in that video, god she looked in love. Seriously. The caption on the post read 'rewatching the season and this was very cute @ sloane please post the pics lol'. She would definitely search for them once she was back home, for sure.

"Everything okay?" Max snapped her out of her little reverie, placing a gentle hand above her knee.

Sloane turned to him and smiled. "Yes, it's just—Irina sent me this. I forgot about it."

He took her phone with one hand when she offered it, watching the video from the beginning. Max raised his eyebrows first, then smiled. Despite the booing, there were a lot of smiles in that simple frame of time.

"We weren't together together back then, right?" He asked, handing the phone back. She shook her head no. "Well, you looked a bit smitten with me there." As always, he would take any opportunity to remind or convince her she'd had a crush on him for a while.

Narrowing her eyes, she pinched his arm. Max chuckled. "I was looking at Lewis, actually."

"You're my favourite comedian." He leaned and kissed her. She felt herself relaxing when he placed a hand on the back of her head. When he pulled away she complained with a little groan. Max smiled, letting go of her. "As much as I'd love to keep this going, I don't think this is the right place to start what we can't finish."

Sloane huffed but agreed with a silent nod. She turned to look out the window, and when he noticed the hesitation coming from her, his hand reached to hold hers. It was quick, she glanced at their hands and then at him, taking a deep breath.

"Alright, let's get this over with." He did take the opportunity to kiss her one more time before they got out of the car.

The house looked so empty and desolated, nearly irrecognisable. Her most recent memories of the place weren't pleasant, but she'd grown up there and her mother, despite being the woman she was, always made sure the house looked like a home. A proper place to live. Now it was another set of rooms with furniture wrapped in plastic and barely any memories. Depressing.