What A Time // Max Verstappen

4

Friday was free practice day with Formula One's free practices at 4:30 and then again at 8 whole Formula Two was also being ran this weekend and they had both a practice and qualifying today.

Anna was sat in the Red Bull garage for the last 20 minutes as Max spoke with his race and performance engineers discussing strategies they were going to test during the session.

As Max got into the car, Anna was joined by his father, Jos, who stood next to the girl why she sat on a stool.

"Hello Anna." Jos greeted his son's best friend.

"Hi Jos." Anna smiled in reply. "How is he?"

"Yeh he's good. No sign of nerves yet but you know Max, we'd never know if he was." Anna explained as she crossed one leg over the other.

Max was the type of person who never showed you if and when he was nervous. It was mainly due to how confident he acted which was his way of hiding if he did feel nervous or scared.

The pair sat in silence for the rest of the free practice session as they watched Max finish the session in P2 just 0.05 seconds behind Lewis and 0.2 ahead of Valtteri.

The two Red Bulls returned to the pit lane and the cars were out into the garages by the mechanics. Max got out of his car and removed his helmet and balaclava before being handed a towel which he used to wipe the sweat from his face.

He handed the towel back as he spoke to his race and performance engineers while he zipped down his race suit and tied it around his waist in order to cool down.

After talking with his two engineers for a few minutes, he was free to go until FP2 which wasn't until 8pm.

He walked towards his dad and best friend who were a few feet away at the back of the garage. The Red Bull driver draped his arm around Anna's shoulder as he spoke to his father and best friend about the session and weekend ahead.

"Do you mind?" Anna asked as she shrugged her shoulders that had Max's arm laying across them. She could feel the sweat of his body against her own.

"What?" Max replied innocently as if he hadn't done it on purpose.

"I feel like I was in that cockpit. You're all sweaty." Anna said as she used her hand to remove his sweaty arm from her shoulders.

"Me? Sweaty? Never." Max said as he was offended as he placed a hand on his heart.

"Ya think?" Anna asked as she used her finger to wipe sweat that had reformed on his forehead after he wiped it off after getting out of his car. She wiped her finger on his race suit to get rid of the sweat she had taken from his forehead.

"Hey!" Max exclaimed as he looked at where she had wiped the sweat.

"It's your sweat." Anna replied as she stood up from her seat. "Now come on because-."

"I'm hungry." Max spoke in a mocking tone of voice as he tried to mimic Anna's voice.

"Shut up. I do not sound like that." Anna said as she shoved her best friend slightly.

"Shut up." Max repeated, once again doing his best to copy Anna's tone of voice.

"I will hit you." Anna warned as she pointed a finger towards him.

"Nothing new there." Max shrugged his shoulders in reply causing Anna to gasp.

"Get out." Anna said as she used her hands to push him towards the exit. Obviously Anna would never be able to physically push the Red Bull driver so he simply walked along as Anna guided him along.

Jos Verstappen stood back and watched as his son and a girl he knew as a daughter because she had been in his life since he was four years old. The older man could never understand how the pair had never ended up together. Nobody could.

Anyone who knew either Max or Anna or the two together would have always said they would end up together at some stage but then Max was with Dilara and then when they broke up Anna had a boyfriend and after the broke up Max was with Kelly. Timing just never seemed to work out in their favour.

Many would say they were platonic soulmates but there was some like their parents, family and close friends that knew at some stage or another, something more was bound to happen between them. It was simply inevitable.

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Late that night Anna stood in the balcony of her and Max's hotel room staring at the Red Sea as the waves crashed against the shore.

She couldn't sleep. She wasn't sure if it was the heat even though the room was well air conditioned. She wasn't aware of it, but thoughts ran through her mind.

She rested her hands against the balcony railing and leant back stretching her whole body as she listened to her back crack.

As Anna stood outside thinking, Max woke up inside and turned around to face the right side of the bed only to find it empty.

The Red Bull driver shot up in the bed and looked at the time. It was only 4am meaning there was no reason for Anna not to be here.

He got up and walked towards the bathroom to find the the door wide open and the small room empty.

His mind started to race as he walked back towards the bed and grabbed his phone ready to ring Anna until he saw her phone on charge on the other side of the bed.

He sighed, panic starting to set in as he wondered where she could be. He stood up and nearly started pacing until her noticed the curtain of the room blow slightly telling him the balcony door on the other side was open.

Max rushed toward the door and ripped the curtain back to see Anna standing with her back to him as she looked out over the balcony.

With saying anything, he walked out and wrapped his arms around her small body catching the brown haired girl off guard.

"Max? What's wrong?" Anna asked as she turned around in his arms to look at him.

"I didn't know where you were. I woke up and you were gone." He explained as he held the top of her arms in his hand. "Don't ever scare me like that."

"I'm sorry. I couldn't sleep, that's all. I'm fine." Anna assured him with a smile.

"Good. Now come on." Max said as he took her arm and guided her back into the room as he closed the door behind them.

They both got back into bed and Anna feel asleep first. For Max it took a few minutes and when he did eventually feel himself falling back asleep, he reached out and made sure Anna was still laying next to him.

Once his hand met her arm, he left himself fall back into the deep sleep that was fighting against him.

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