Max drove me home after I gave him a few directions. He dropped me off and told me to keep the shirt for now since I was basically wearing nothing underneath and it was way to hard to put my dress back on. I thanked him for the night and rushed through the apartment lobby barefoot with a white shirt barely covering anything. I quickly tapped my floor on the elevator and rushed inside of the apartment. Anna was drinking a glass of water and I was straddled by her voice.

"Looks like Charles and you had a fun night" She mentioned. I stopped breathing for a second, I don't think I can even say everything out loud just yet.

"Yeah, it was nice" I lied before hiding in my room before she asked any more questions.

Shortly after I went into my room and fell asleep.

-  |  -

It was a few days after the party and I felt slowly that my guilt was eating me alive. Charles had started to notice I was lost in thought most times I was around him and began wondering what was wrong. I tried to keep as normal as I could but I felt horrible knowing what I know with Max and Charles being oblivious. It was time to go to Belgium and that made me even more nervous.

Charles decided we could both leave together on the private plane on Thursday morning since it was only a one hour flight and he could be there on time for the press rounds. We left the airport and we actually were staying in the same hotel room for once. It seemed like we could try it out, he is my boyfriend after all and we could see if we could co exist in the same hotel room for a few days together without ripping each others head off.

He went to do track walks and press conference and I actually met up with Liza for a day out with her around Stavelot since we had the morning off due to special guests doing some coverage for the day.We had brunch first and Liza had actually convinced me to go skiing the night before so we headed to the ski track. I was quite surprised that we had managed to go one of the coldest days of the end of summer and there was still some snow that you could ski down, mainly just muddy snow but you would still go down. After some awful falls from Liza to which I did laugh enormously and me trying to teach her not to fall as my family had always had a cabin in Switzerland that we visited during the year, we went to a restaurant nearby.

"So, have you and Lando talked?" She asked.

"Um, no? Should I have talked to him?" I answered confused.

"I just wanted to know if he maybe mentioned me" She bushed.

I giggled. "Of course you do! I can talk to him to see what he thinks but I'm pretty sure I already know the answer babe"

"And that would be?" She motioned me to continue.

"Of course, he likes you. He goes all nervous when he is around you, Charles and I think that is the cutest thing" I reassured her.

"Good because I do kind of like him too" She smiles pleased with herself.

I told you I was a wonderful Cupid, I saw that match since the day they met. Well, since I forced them to meet. I smiled at her, happy that she was happy and that had taken interest in someone as sweet as Lando.

"How are things between you and Charles?" She asked sipping her drink. My smile kind of worn off and I looked at my food intently. "I'm guessing that is a touchy subject"

"Yeah, let's just talk about something else" I shook my head.

"Well, how about you and max?" My face fell again and this time I stared at her.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. I'm interested to know where this love triangle is going" She raised her hands in defense.

"This isn't a love triangle" I rolled my eyes. "Well I mean it is but don't put it like that. It makes it sound so bad"

"It's bad isn't it?" I bit my lip and nodded.

"I just need to stay away from Max. You" I pointed at her. "Need to keep me away from Max"

"Avoiding Max isn't going to solve anything Olivia. It's not fair to anyone"

"Well it's not fair for anyone either way. Maybe I'm just a shitty person and I should be alone" I sighed.

"You're not a shitty person, it's part of being human that makes you feel so much"

"Do you think that you can love two people at the same time?" I asked her the same question I asked Val.

Her face kind of scrunched. "Well shit. It's that serious then. I guess so but at the same time even though you will never consciously maybe admit it to yourself, you'll always love one person more than the other. Now the issue is for you to figure out which one"

"Maybe I can just ru-" I began speaking.

"No running away Olivia" She interrupted me like she could read my mind.

I sighed again and we finished our meal. We walked around for a couple of hours more, going into small shops before we went back to the hotel where I found Charles.

"Hey, you're back" I hugged him.

"Yeah, I just got in. We finished filming and the track is just outside so I came up quite quickly" He wrapped his arms around my waist.

We began kissing and he eventually threw me onto the bed and after a few hours we decided upon ordering room service.

-  |  -

It was free practice day and we got up quite early to have breakfast at the restaurant inside the hotel and then move to the track.

oliviaastor

story posted

We kissed goodbye and I looked for Liza. Spa was usually a very liked track by the fans and by the teams, everyone seemed to be in good spirits to race on Sunday. I knew Spa held a very special place in Charles heart as this was the first Grand Prix he won in F1 but also where he lost Antoine the same weekend. I came with him to place flowers since he couldn't do it yesterday and he chatted a little about him before I left him to have some alone time with him.

We had a few big interviews with some teams, one with Haas, in which I truly enjoyed talking to Mick. He seemed like a lovely person while Mazepin was late, kind of rude and actually did stare at my ass a few times. Maybe he was having an extra bad day, after all I did see him hanging around the boys a little during race weekend but I know Charles isn't extremely fond of him. The next one was with Aston Martin where I always love talking to Seb and the final one for the day was for Alpha Tauri. Charles and I had gone out with Pierre a few times, they were good friends and I quite liked him so we chatted after the interview for a few minutes.

The day was busier than others so I hadn't seen Charles all day and even better, I hadn't ran into Max. I promised Liza that I would deal with that and not avoid it but that could wait for another day. We watched the two practices and when they were finished, Charles came looking for me.

"Hi babe" I said.

"Hello beautiful" He smiled and kissed me.

"You two disgust me" Liza said walking away. He grabbed my hand and we walked down the pit lane once everyone was in their garages. Charles stopped to sign a few autographs like always and I patiently waited. I looked at my phone until I heard I laugh I knew I could recognize anywhere. I looked up and Max was a few meters from me. We both looked at each other for a few seconds before I felt Charles come back to me.

"You okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine" I simply replied. He frowned and leaned in slowly to kiss me but I moved my head slightly to the side as he planted instead a soft kiss on my cheek. It was not a big deal but I knew Charles had noticed. Max was still staring at us and I watched concerned as he spotted Max. He didn't say anything, instead he cleared his throat and grabbed my hand again so we could go back to the hotel.

There was a eerie silence between us until he spoke.

"I have dinner reservations if you still want to go" He asked, trying to give me space but at the same time to test the water between us to see how much things have changed.

"Yes, of course" I reassured him and he nodded and went into the bathroom to shower before we left. I sat on the bed while he was there, my knees brought up to my chest and my fingers running through my hair. My eyes began to water and a few tears fell into my knees when I heard the door rattle. I quickly wiped away my face and put on a smile.

I hopped off the bed and ran through the hotel closet to look for a dress for dinner.

oliviaastor

story posted

We took a car to the restaurant and it had beautiful night view of some hills. He pulled out my chair and we sat down. He told me about a few of the issues he had with the car and some of the typical drama that goes on backstage.

"I guess you'll see it differently when you come to races next year" He said, a frown appearing on his face after mentioning the future.

"Yeah, I'll be your biggest fan" I reassured him. "I am your biggest fan"

He took my hand and squeezed it like he always does and it made me feel better for a few moments.

"I love you" He said almost in a nostalgic way.

"I love you too" I smiled. "Forever"

It felt like for the rest of the night we had a great time but there was that same feeling of nostalgia in the air. It felt like we were both avoiding an elephant in the room and choosing to enjoy the moment like nothing else matter or nothing else was changing.

We got into the car again and I leaned against his shoulder. I felt my phone vibrate and I unlocked it, the brightness lighting up the car slightly. I read the contact name and I knew Charles had also seen it.

Max.

He sat up straighter and stiffer, making me move to the side and nothing was said until we got to the hotel room.

"Olivia" He said. My heart stopped after hearing his tone. "Is there something going on between you and Max?"

I sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at the floor.

"Answer me" He raised his voice, startling me.

"Charles, I love you" I barely let out.

"That's not what I fucking asked" He repeated.

Tears began rolling down my face as I looked up to him. He stared at me, his jaw locked and clenched and once he saw the mess of a person I was right there, he knew. I didn't have to say it, I didn't have to explain it or justify it. He just knew. He took a deep breath and I watched his eyes begin to water. He took a seat on the chair in front and wrapped both his hands into a ball and placed them on his chin, resting his head on them.

"I'm sorry" I began to sob. "I've avoided it as much as I could Charles. I didn't want to do that to you, it's not that I don't love you"

He stood from the chair and crouched between my legs.

"You can go to him if you want to Liv. I won't stop you" He choked. I immediately began shaking my head.

"No, no. I want to be with you Charles. I love you" My voice cracked.

"I know" He wiped tears from my face. "But I have to set you free"

"What? No" I shook my head. "No, I don't want to go"

"You need to figure it you, Liv. Alone" A tear rolled down his face.

"Don't do this Charles. I promise you, I won't talk to Max. I can get over this, please just don't leave me. I'm sorry" I sobbed. I crouched down on the floor also and we were both holding each other.

"I'll stay if you can look me in the eyes and tell me you don't love him"

I began to weep harder, almost running out of air. I felt my throat go into knots and I even tried to speak but nothing would come out.

"Exactly" His voice broke. "If you want to be with him, it will kill me but it's something I'm going to have to live with. I don't want you to ever wonder what it would've been if you were with him"

"No" I whispered out of breath.

"I love you, but I need to let you go Liv" He said. "If you come back to me in the end then maybe we are meant to be together"

He raised my face by my chin and kissed me slowly but firmly.

"Figure it out" He stood up and I was left on the floor alone. I could hear him scramble across the room, finally hearing him zip his bag and rolling it out. I finally heard the door close and I let out more sobs. I felt for a few second like time stopped and my heart was being stepped on. I knew that this was my fault, I had caused all of this. I had fucked up the one thing that was good in my life, that truly made me happy.

I reached for my phone and dialed Val. There was a one hour time difference between us and even though it was kind of late here, it was still an hour earlier there.

She picked up and her voice sounded like she had been asleep. Great, I woke her up.

"Liv?" She said in a raspy tired voice. I began sobbing more when I heard her voice. Liza was my rock during these months but Valerie had been with me through everything. I couldn't really let out anything, just continuous sobs and sniffles.

"Liv? Are you okay?" She said, sounding concerned and more awake.

"No. I fucked it up" I breathed out. This time it was different than all of our other fights, I knew it would be hard to come back from this one.

"Where are you?" She asked. I could hear her muffling around the room on the phone.

"My hotel room in Spa" I managed to explain.

I could hear her through my cries, running around on her hardwood floor.

"Okay, okay breathe babe" She said. "Nick" She whispered. "I have to go see Liv, I'll get text you"

"Isn't Liv in Belgium right now?" I heard him also waking up.

"Yeah" She said and my heart warmed. "Breath Liv. I'll be on the next flight out okay? Go look for Liza, stay with her while I get there"

"Okay" I sniffled.

"I love you" She said. "Hang on"

"I love you" I hanged up the phone and dialed Liza.

There was music playing the background.

"Hey, I was just going to text you" She answered the phone cheerful. I didn't reply and I could also hear her getting away from the music. "Liv?"

"We broke up" I managed to say. I hadn't said it out loud until now and hearing myself say it made it real. I broke down into tears again.

"Shit!" She cursed. "I'll be right there, okay?

She hung up quickly and I rested my head against the side of the bed. I looked around the room for the first time and his suitcase was not there anymore, leaving an empty space next to mine. I closed my eyes and took big breaths.

- - -
author's note
Hii:) this is a mid week update to say thank you for 20k❤️ I hope you all have a great rest of your week and cheers to a good race week❤️ I'll see you on Saturday!

Also, tell me who do you think Olivia is going to choose, Max or Charles and what team are you?