Brute

39. Max

Kalki wasn't all that bad. At least not after the hours they spent together on the flight, when she wasn't hostile he realised they were a lot like each other. They had a lot of similar interests and views about the world.

What was supposed to be a long rant about how she shouldn't see anyone on track soon turned into him just asking her about her first impression of the people on the grid and laughing at how wrong she had got them. She seemed to be getting increasingly annoyed, but Max was having a great time.

"So far you've only got Seb right. Completely wrong impressions about everyone else." He shook his head.

"What do you mean! I was right about Lewis too!"

"No you're not!"

"You're biased." She frowned. "And you're just bullying me now, I'll have Raymond write you up for this, more media duties for you." She grinned.

"Back to your stubborn ways."

"You're the one who started this!"

"Okay I'm sorry, I might have gotten carried away poking fun at you." He laughed.

"Things got really hectic since Austria, I haven't been able to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"How are you? Like how are you doing really?"

"I'm good I guess." He said thoughtfully, "I don't think too much about negative emotions, that's a spiral I don't want to go down."

"Understandable. I'd still like for you to know you don't have to hide things from me, if some days you don't feel up to it, you can always tell me. We can always pull another bad jet lag day and just relax." She looked at him, hoping to reassure him.

"Woah! Are you being nice to me? This is sending shivers down my spine." Max teased her.

"Shut up." She rolled her eyes.

"Also thanks for standing up to my dad, my mom is going to be coming to the last few races now that he won't be here." He beamed. Of course, he was sad his father didn't want to be here just because he didn't like Max's new manager. But that seemed like a fair trade off to spend more time with his mother, he really liked seeing how proud she would smile watching him win.

"Anytime! I'm going to sleep now. Try not to wake me up until we're in the US." She said pulling on the blanket more snuggly.

"You'll be even more jet lagged then, don't sleep-"

"I make my own rules!" Kalki said, shutting her eyes.

"Suit yourself."

***

Austin was beautiful, the people were kind, the weather wasn't too bad, but the cherry on top for Max was that he would finally be getting to spend some time with Daniel. No matter what narratives the media wanted to push, he was good friends with Daniel. He knew that, so did Daniel. That's all that mattered.

"We're going for go to bars and steakhouses. We're eating and drinking until you're sick!" Daniel cheered.

"You're trying to make me gain weight so I slow down aren't you?" Max laughed.

"You caught on very quickly."

"Let's go already!" Max said, "I'm starving."

The friends had a great lunch, they were catching up about what the other had been up to lately. Daniel spoke about all of his new ventures, taking pride in the ones that survived and laughing at the ones that failed. For the first time in a while Max felt at ease, he felt a strange comforting familiarity. Something he had experienced for a while on the flight before Kalki fell asleep.

"So any family here to watch to you race?" Daniel asked him.

"Yes. Mum's going to be here in a few days." He beamed. "What about you?"

"My sister and her kids, let me tell you my niece is really looking forward to seeing you. She's got so many questions for Max she needs answers to." Daniel laughed.

"Like what?" Max asked.

"Oh you'll know once my little chatterbox is here."

"Everybody needs a chatterbox in their life." Max laughed, he was glad he had one in his life. Sometimes she ran her mouth and got herself in the worst of situations, but it was her ability to talk so confidently that even got her out of these situations.

"You're getting title number two this weekend, what are the celebration plans?"

"Honestly I don't know. I haven't won the title yet. Until I've crossed the chequered flag on Sunday the title is not mine." Max said, diverting his attention to his plate, just thinking about it made him nervous.

"I don't mean to make you anxious, just getting into the zone for partying! Besides you're Max fucking Verstappen. There's absolutely nothing that you can't accomplish." Daniel beamed.

"You're too kind Daniel fucking Ricciardo."

They enjoyed their meal, which was accompanied by a local band performing covers of other songs and playing some of their own. Daniel seemed to be really digging their songs, he even dragged Max to the stage to go meet all the musicians. The band was in shock seeing the talk of the town waiting to meet them, they exchanged words of praise for each other, took some pictures together and wished each other good luck for their stints.

In no time it was Saturday, the crowd at the track was getting louder, the pre session presentations were getting flashier than ever. Max wasn't someone who really enjoyed all of it so much, it made him feel like this was becoming more and more nerve wracking. He kept telling himself that he needed to isolate himself before quali. All of this was getting too overwhelming.

After the last of his interviews, he headed straight to the his suite by the track when he felt a gentle tug on the back of his polo. He turned around to be greeted by Kalki, he didn't think he'd actually ever feel relief seeing her face.

"What's the matter?" He asked her.

"Deep breaths. Take deep breaths." She said.

"You're strange." He frowned at her.

"You're jittery. You've been like this the whole time, I can see that. I'm just reminding you to pause." She said walking away.

He felt vulnerable, had he become bad at being impossible to read? Surprising himself again, he didn't feel too bad about it. Max felt relaxed now, he felt at ease knowing he wouldn't have to explain his mental state to her.

The room was comforting, it was quiet, cosy and he couldn't hear any of the chaos going on outside. What was supposed to be just a little bit of meditation turned into a nap. Max woke up feeling a little sore, his trainer was already here and ready to help. After getting some stretching done it was time to head to the garage.

He greeted the crew and the guests in his side of the garage. Throwing in a big beam for his mother, who looked exhausted from her flight but got here just in time. Seeing him smile so big made her feel less tired, she didn't want to complain about flight delays and the mess at the airport. She was glad she got here to see her son do what he loved most.

Max didn't let his nerves completely get to his head, he managed to stay calm, not lose his cool or focus. And he was rewarded for it, rewarded with starting from Pole for the next day. His work had only began now, what he needed most was some sleep so that his brain would shut off.