ʀᴇᴅ sᴛʀɪɴɢ ᴏғ ғᴀᴛᴇ; ᴍᴀx ᴠᴇʀsᴛᴀᴘᴘᴇɴ

15

I've been depressed due to a certain thing called McLaren and Ferrari.
Ays I'm
Back now so😋
——

"What - what do you mean?"  Max's voice fell of at the end as he pulled his hands away from Grace's.
He takes a step back, resting his palms on a nearby rail.
"I need to go back. I can't just leave my parents when I don't know how much time i have left." Grace's bottom lip wobbles.
She takes a step towards the the taller , halting as he signals her to.
"Has something happened? Did I do something?"
His eyes snap towards her , taking in her face.
Grace shakes her head, running a hand through her hair.
"I- just this." She points towards the watch, taking it out slowly from her handbag.
"It's getting worse, I know it."
Max walks forward, clutching on to Grace's shoulder.
"And we can deal with it together. I don't want to lose you , Grace. You can go meet your parents -"
Grace bites her bottom lip, shrugging away Max's hands from off of her.
"I can't. I need to be with them and you- you,need to focus on your career rather than a critically Ill girl that's tagging along with you."  Her hands fall soulessly to her side as she stares at a gaping Max.
"You're so much more than that."

Grace didn't feel that way though. Her staying with Max would be unfair- unfair to him , to her.

"And what about me? You're the best thing that has happened to me outside of my career- and now you're just leaving?"
Max scoffs , placing his hands in his pockets. His eyes roaming, noticing the people eyeing them.
"Im not willingly leaving you, Max. I need to."
She catches his eyes hoping for a bit of sympathy.
"No, Grace. You're choosing to run away. There's a difference."
She looks down at the floor before shrugging and looking back up.
"Well I'm leaving tomorrow. Can't we just have this day to ourselves-" she tries to reach out and grab his hand but he pulls away.
"Have a safe flight, Grace."
Max shoves past her, into the looming crowd. Grace watches as he slowly disappears out of her sight, possibly for ever.

Max's eyes snap open. His heart beating loudly as he looks around the hotel room.
His disheveled hair block his view but he manages to stumble across the room, his jeans falling loosely off of his waist.
She's not here - he realises. He brings up his shirt that's falling off from his collarbones and thuds open the cupboard. All gone - every trace of her.
Frantically he paces towards the bed, reaching for his phone but something else catches his eye. A pink sticky note poking out from underneath the lamp.

Go easy on the alcohol when you win that championship! I'll always be cheering for you.

A smile pokes his lips but the realisation of her absence hits soon after. He's sliding down on the side of the bed , his head in his hands. Empty beer cans and expensive champagne bottles poke out from underneath his bed - god he drank a lot.

However now was no time to dwell on his alcoholic tendencies or the addition in the list of girls that broke his heart. He had a race to win, a championship to prove.

Grace tries to smile as her parents envelope her in a hug.

The airport hustles loudly, echoing millions of stories. Maybe there was someone out there who understood Grace's.

She still felt the weight of Max's hold on her wrist as she had tucked him in his bed after he stumbled into the hotel room; drunk out of his mind.

Thankfully he was too knocked to notice her as she packed away all through out the night- stealing small glances towards him.
She didn't deserve to - she reminds herself.

She decided to leave him. He deserved better and hopefully soon enough he will win his second championship and Grace would just be an afterthought for him.

"Hey! Look your boyfriend won!" Grace's dad  hollers loudly from the lounge , catching her attention.

She rushes out the room, watching as the fireworks display on the television.

The Dutch celebrates equalling the Brit in points by standing over his car and jumping excitedly.

"He's not my boyfriend, dad." She presses.
Grace had given them a short recap of her trip, excluding the part where her and Max had confessed to eachother or why she was with him in the first place.

"I'm sure he's a lovely guy." Her dad peers around her.
Grace doesn't say anything insteaf her eyes stay fixed as the Dutch sprays champagne around , celebrating his win.
She realises how much she misses being in that crowd of Red bull crew , having Max smile down at her.

"James. Stop it. Leave the poor girl alone." Her mom touches her shoulder, snapping her out of her trance.
She's thankful but wished that her mom had let her enjoy her fantasies a second longer.

Because that's all she had to remember him by.

A week later, Grace's heart monitor beeps on her wrist. Her feet tap against the tiled floors of the hospital. She smiles, reassuring her parents that this was indeed the new normal.
"Ms Anderson?" Her eyes snap towards the receptionist.
"Mr Smiths ready for you now."

"Look at you! All tanned and beautiful as ever!" Mr smiths loud energetic voice greets her as she enters the room.
"Thankyou." She tries to smile but fails as her eyes glisten at the mention of her vacation days.
Mr smith must've noticed how tired she was because his own smile decreases by a million decibels.
"So how's everything?" He probes , grabbing her file from her hand.
"It's getting worse. Fatigue, nausea, cold sweats - I mean everything is just wrong!" She exclaims catching her doctor by surprise.
He closes the file, clasping his hands together over the table.
"I know it's hard Grace but you can't allow this to take over your life-"
"What life? The one that can end any second?!" She closes her eyes , taking in a deep breath.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell." She recovers , focusing her gaze back on him.
"That's fine but you're letting this get to you. I thought you were better than that."
Grace tilts her head in confusion as Mr Smith leans back on his seat.
"Your life- however short or long or messed up- is yours. Yes , you're very sick but your actions still have impacts- you're still a living person. Why live like someone whose already dead?" 
She feels the tears brew in her eyes.
"I'm sorry. I'm just your doctor- what do I know?" He speaks , reopening the file.
"No- Thankyou , Mr Smith."

She thinks back to Max. All that they had. She had barely felt like she was dead instead she had lived like she had never before. All the parties she attended with him, "dates" they went on and all the times he held her hand at the temples - it certainly didn't feel like she was a dead person. It had felt magical.

She watches nervously as Mr smith competes his check up on her.
"Am I dying already?" She asks as he settles down his seat and gives her a long hard stare.
"It's strange." He speaks finally making Graces face churn up.

She places a hand on her heart, checking it's rhythm. Wow , this was too soon. Should she run out and give her parents a hug , call Max maybe? He probably didn't want to talk to her though so - Omg Justice? She needed to say goodbye to Justice-

"Youre okay. More than okay."
Her eyes snap towards him, eyebrows raising.
"Your hearts still fragile but it's no longer a huge threat." He speaks ,expecting Grace to understand but she's lost as ever.
"You're not dying , Grace. Youre-"
"WHAT?!" She jumps up from her seat, her eyes wide.
"Your heart is doing a lot better than before. You're not going anywhere- not anytime soon."

Should she smile? Laugh? Cry?

She's unsure even when her parents are rushing to her , hugging her tightly with wide smiles.

"What changed Grace? This is pretty miraculous- I mean how is this even possible?"Mr smith leans forward on his desk, confusion displayed all over his face.

Grace looks down at her hands. What had changed?  How was this possible?.

There was only one answer.

"The universe."
—-
Next chapter will be the last so 🙃
Also before you all wonder how tf her heart got magically fixed - how medically innacurate it is and stuff PLS REMEMBER THAT THIS IS A FANFIC and it's not meant to be accurate
This is just me trying to justify my lack of ideas 😙