Max kept pacing in front of the door from one side to the other. Olivia had been inside Checo's house for a while now, they had lost track of time. It felt like 10 hours had gone by, although it was less than two.
Checo came out from the backyard's sliding glass doors. He was carrying two bags of frozen vegetables. As soon as Max saw him come out he stood expectantly, he stoped pacing and turned to look at Checo. Nobody would tell them anything about Olivia, but they very explicitly told him he could not go in. Thankfully one of Carola's uncles was a doctor, he was at the party when this happened and he was attending to her inside the house.
Checo didn't even had a hint of a smile as he handed Max a bag of frozen broccoli "for your hand" he said coldly.
"I'm fine" Max brushed it off "How's Olivia?".
"Max you are putting this on your fucking hand" said Checo sternly.
"I'm fine! I don't.."
"Jesus Max just put the fucking broccoli on your hand! There's a race next week, just shut up and get the broccoli!" said Charles loudly, loosing his patience. Max was stunned, usually Charles was the most calm of them all.
Max stood there quietly and took the frozen broccoli bag from Checo, he placed it on his hand and immediately felt a wave of relief as the cold compress cooled down his swollen and warm hand. He let out a deep breath and his shoulders relaxed.
He turned to look at Checo, who was giving a bag of frozen peas to Pato. Pato immediately took it and placed it on his face "Thanks Checo" he said quietly. Pato's nose had stopped bleeding, and now only the swollen nose and the drops of blood on his shirt remained.
Then without another word, Checo turned back around and entered the house. Max called out "Wait, how's Olivia?!" but there was no answer as they watched him walk away through the open glass door. Max thought about it and he realized he had never seen Checo quite this mad.
Checo came into the living room, where Carola's uncle had spent the last hour and a half removing all little pieces of glass from Olivia's wounds, cleaning, and stitching them up.
When Olivia fell she used her forearm to cushion the fall and fell on her side. Therefore, the biggest cuts were a few large cuts on her left forearm and a couple on her left leg. Then there were some on her knees, hands and feet from the moment she tried to stand up by herself.
Not all of them required stitches, some of them were just being cleared of the glass, cleaned and then closed with laceration tape. The biggest ones were being stitched up nicely. Olivia was grateful the doctor hadn't drank alcohol that night or she might have come out looking a little funky. However it was nothing that couldn't be healed there. Checo's house, being filled with kids, had plenty of first aid kits stocked for every kind of emergency.
As Checo sat on one of the couches, he had a clear view of Olivia's foot covered in cuts as the doctor removed tiny pieces of glass with tweezers. It was the last part of her that needed healing, everything else had been covered. That's when little Carlota appeared on the door frame of the room.
"Auntie Liv? What happened?" she said in a small and trembling voice, Checo was about to stand up to go over to his daughter, he could easily tell she was about to cry.
"Oh it's nothing sweetie don't you worry about me" said Olivia as she gave her niece a bright smile and she extended her healthy arm towards her. Carlota took some wavering footsteps towards her and climbed up to the sofa, cuddling up to Liv as she looked at the bandages on her arm and the gauzes on her legs fearfully.
"You know what happened sweetie? It's so silly. I was dancing, okay? Having the best time! And even though I'm a pretty fantastic dancer, I tripped!" said Olivia passionately, like she was telling a bed time story. "And I fell! So I have some little scraps but it's absolutely nothing, I'm gonna get some band aids and then I'm gonna be out there dancing again" said Olivia with a bright smile as she raised her arms pretending she was dancing. Checo could see how for a second her smile turned into a grimace, but then it was back to a smile.
That was definitely what he admired about his sister the most, how even though she kept being dealt with so much shit, because she was, she always kept smiling. Always kept trying to stay positive. She would never let anyone see what laid behind her armor. It was pretty impenetrable. Still, Checo didn't know how she did it. How to keep smiling when everything seemed like it was falling apart; and yet, a small smile grew on his face as well as he saw his little sister comfort his daughter until she made her laugh.
Then Carola came into the room "Common my love, let's get you back to bed" she said sweetly to Carlota.
Carlota looked at Liv, as if she was asking if Liv was okay with that. Olivia winked at her "Go to bed sweetie, I'm gonna go dance now" she gave her a kiss on top of her head and Carlota obliged, she grabbed Carola's hand and was guided back into her room.
As soon as they both left the room Olivia sank slightly further into the couch and let out a deep breath. She was clearly in pain.
"I'm gonna kill those two" said Checo shaking his head in disbelief.
"No you're not" said Olivia like he was full of shit "It's not their fault" she added.
"I'm sorry?!" said Checo incredulously.
"I mean.. it was, but also it wasn't" she shrugged.
"From where I was standing it looked like they were both behaving like idiots" said Checo.
"They were" said Olivia, she sighed "I'm not sure you want to hear the details of my sex life Chequito" he made a disgusted face right away "but I slept with Pato over the summer break and I thought Max knew, but apparently he just found out tonight"
Checo's mouth was slightly agape as he heard the reason for the fight. Then it sinked in "Wait, what? When?".
Liv looked at him with a pained and guilty face "In Vallarta" she said.
"At the beach house?!" said Checo in shock.
"Yeah" shrugged Olivia still with a guilty face
Checo sank back into the back of his couch "Damn, Carola is always right" he said in realization, remembering his wife telling him there was something going on between Liv and Pato.
"She usually is" Olivia winced as the doctor took out a small but sharp shard of glass from her foot.
"So that's why Max punched Pato?" asked Checo as he nodded lightly, understanding what was going on.
Olivia thought for a moment and then shook her head "That, among other things, but I think it was mainly that".
His eyebrows rose as all of the information and what had happened in front of his own eyes sinked in "Well shit".
"Yeah" said Olivia as she let out a whimper, another shard of glass was out "Shit".
Checo sat quietly for a few moments as the doctor continued his process "We are almost done Liv don't worry" said Carola's uncle.
"Take your time, I'm having a blast" she joked as she winced in pain.
"I'm gonna get you both some water" said Checo as he stood up and walked over to the kitchen. He passed the backyard's glass doors and saw everyone still sitting there, looking defeated. Max kept pacing from one side to the other. He walked back into the living room with two glasses of water and placed one on Olivia's hands and the other one on the table next to the doctor. "You know Max has been pacing outside the door for almost an hour" said Checo, his anger diminishing now that he had some more context about the situation.
Olivia shook her head "I should talk to him" she said looking back in the direction of the garden even though she could not see it from the living room "Although I really think I should talk to Pato first".
"Really?" asked Checo surprised.
Olivia nodded "I need to clear some things out".
So that is what she did, when the doctor had finished cleaning all of her wounds and bandaged her up, Checo walked over to the backyard.
"Mate can you stop pacing please? You're making me dizzy" said Carlos to Max.
Max didn't even pretend to listen, he continued his pacing until he heard the door slide open. He stoped in his tracks and turned to look as Checo came out.
"Hey Pato, come here for a second" he said as he nudged his head in the direction of the living room.
"Me?" asked Pato confused.
"Yeah, just come" said Checo. He seemed more calm now, not as mad as he seemed 30 minutes ago when he handed them the frozen veggies.
Max froze on his spot and tensed up as Pato stood up and walked inside the house. Once the door was close and he was no longer visible he turned to the two Ferrari boys "Why does he get to go in?!" he said indignantly.
"I don't know, maybe you should punch him in the face for it" said Charles sarcastically, clearly unamused.
"What is up with you? Who's side are you on?" asked Max confused, Charles seemed way too mad when this problem wasn't even his.
"At this moment, I'm on Liv's side mate" he shrugged, he seemed exhausted "she was having such a great time and you knew this was important to her, and you ruined it".
Carlos shook his head as he turned back to the garden, where the rest of the party had kept going after they had cleared out "The party doesn't look very ruined to be fair".
"Tell that to Liv" said Charles.
Carlos nodded "Yeah, he's right you ruined it".
Max stood there feeling absolutely no support from his friends. He didn't answer back because they were right. If he hadn't fought Pato then Olivia and him would probably be dancing right now. But he had fought Pato, and Pato had pushed him, and Liv was being treated by a doctor inside Checo's house where we wasn't even allowed in. The image of her starting to bleed on the ground was stuck in his head, it kept repeating over and over again.
Still, why the hell did Pato get to go inside before he did?
--------------------
Pato came into the living room following Checo, he took one look at Liv and felt even more terrible than he had a minute ago. He didn't know it was even possible to feel like that.
Liv was seating on the couch, a small bowl of chips next to her. She was eating chips as the doctor checked a bump on her forehead and placed a cold compress over it. This was a proper cold compress, not frozen veggies. Checo had lots of them. As Pato came in Olivia saw the bag of frozen peas in his hand and she was pretty sure Checo gave them veggies just to make them smell like old vegetables. It was his way of being passive aggressive. She loved it, a chuckle escaped her as she saw the bag of peas.
"Why are you laughing?" said Pato in shock "Liv I'm so sorry, look at you!" he said in shock as he saw the bandages on her left arm, her feet, and the gauzes on her legs.
"Sit down Pato they need to check your nose" she said signaling him to sit down on the couch and paying no mind to what he had just said. Her voice was not angry at all, it made Pato feel quite uneasy.
He sat down slowly and Olivia looked at his nose attentively "I could've sworn I heard a crack doctor" she said looking at his nose with her brow furrowed.
"Let's check it out then" said the doctor as he sat on top of the table in front of the couch.
As the doctor checked him out, Pato pressed his lips together and Olivia knew he was trying not to complain from the pain as the doctor touched his nose.
"It doesn't seem broken, we should get some x-rays just in case though" said the doctor "meanwhile keep ice on that and you should get this medication I will prescribe to you, I'll text you the name, to help the swelling go down".
Pato nodded "Thank you, for all of this" he said embarrassed as he signaled to his nose and then to Olivia.
After Pato had the name of the medication Olivia signaled to Checo to leave them alone.
"Come here David, you really deserve some good tequila" he said as he patted the doctor's back and guided him out of the room.
"Liv I'm so so sorry I didn't think about you being there, I didn't think it would lead to this" he said pleadingly. Liv could see right away the regret and the guilt on his face, she knew he would never try to actively hurt her. It was an accident. Olivia seemed very prone to those.
"Patito stop, I know you obviously didn't mean for me to fly off into a table full of glass" she shook her head.
"No I didn't, I'm so so sorry, how can I make it up to you Liv?" he said still with a face full of guilt.
Olivia tilted her head to the side, her expression became apologetic, or even pitiful "Pato you said some things out there..." she started.
Pato straightened up, by looking at her expression he already knew where this was going "Liv forget I said anything, alright? Just forget about it" he said.
"I can't" she shook her head, she looked truly sorry, this was hurting her as well "You know I can't. You said certain things and I can't act like I didn't hear them" she said "Hell, half the party heard them" she thought out loud.
"Liv" he said quietly, he was trying to avoid what was coming next "I should've told you that's how I felt I'm sorry. You really are my friend, shit you're my family, you have been a part of my family for years"
"I know, you're my family too Patito" said Liv as she reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze.
"After Vallarta I just thought maybe we still had a shot" she shrugged, he looked completely defeated as he looked straight into her eyes.
"Pato in Vallarta I said something I shouldn't have" said Olivia in a small voice as she turned to look at the carpet. She didn't want to hurt him but she was about to. It was inevitable "I shouldn't have said the 'I love you' back, I didn't mean it. I was drunk and I do love you, I do, but as a friend, as my family, not as a boyfriend" when she looked back up at him her eyes were shinning from the tears in them.
"You have said that before, you know? Before we were ever together" he said still with a dash of hope.
Olivia shook her head "I was a kid then, I didn't know what I wanted" she said slowly "but I know what I want now".
Pato tensed up and squeezed her hand harder as he looked away and rubbed his eyes with his free hand, he stoped and winced in pain as he accidentally touched his nose.
"Are you okay?" said Liv seeing that.
"No, but it's not because of the nose" he said as his voice turned somber and it broke slightly. He cleared his throat trying to remain in control of himself.
"Pato we cannot keep being friends right now" said Olivia quietly, her head tilted down as she tried to search for his eyes, but he wouldn't look at her. "You're one of my best friends and you're my family" she sighed "but we cannot be friends right now".
He finally turned to look at her "Liv I can forget about all of it, I can move on and we can really be friends" he said with a pleading note in his voice. He rather not have a romantic relationship with her, than have no kind of relationship at all.
"Sure" she paused "when you do that we can be friends again" nodded Olivia, still looking apologetic "But right now I just can't be friends with the guy who just confessed he's in love with me" she said slowly "Fuck I mean, it's driving Max insane!" she said passionately as she signaled to the direction of the garden.
Pato chuckled at that last part and Olivia showed him a small smile. Then she continued "I really want this relationship to work Pato. I know what you said out there but for me this is real, this is important. I don't want to screw this up" she said honestly, her brow slightly furrowed. Pato knew she was serious and it was breaking him on the inside. "You understand don't you?" she asked.
"Yeah" he nodded, not looking at her again "It just sucks".
"It truly does" said Liv as her voice broke for a moment. Pato turned to look at her as he heard the breaking of her voice and immediately inched closer to give her a hug. They hugged each other for a while. They had fought in the past and had broken up their relationship multiple times, but never like this. It had never felt so definite as it felt now.
He had been her best friend since they were 16, she couldn't believe it was ending. Sure, she said they would become friends again once he was over her, but would that ever actually happen? Or was this the ending of a huge chapter in her life?
In her mind she quickly flipped through the pages of their chapter together: meeting him at Texas, Elba and Liv playing pranks on him, swimming in the lake, prom, both of them going crazy when Liv got accepted to NYU, both of them going crazy when Pato signed with McLaren, his visits to New York.. He had been there for almost every significant moment in her life for almost 9 years, the good and the bad ones. Yet she knew this chapter had to end if she wanted Max's to truly begin, and she had to give it a fair shot because as much as she had loved Pato, she had never felt for anyone what she now felt for Max. She had found her 'one.'
After they had finally let go there was a tear falling down on Olivia's cheek, Pato gave her a sweet smile and brushed it way. His eyes were also watery and his face was flushed "I should probably go now" he said quietly "Get some x-rays or something".
Olivia chuckled "Alright".
He stood up, kissed the top of her head before he started walking away, he turned back to say "I hope you feel better Liv. Again, I'm so sorry" the guilt was all over his face once more.
"Me too" said Olivia. She tried to force a small smile on her face. Pato gave her a tight lipped smile one more time, lacking his usual sparkle, and he exited the living room.
She could overhear from the hall how Pato talked to Carola and Checo, apologizing for the mess he had made. They suddenly were very understanding and compassionate towards him, they did love him after all.
Olivia took a deep breath and it only took Carola and Checo a few seconds to come in.
"Liv are you okay?" said Carola, looking concerned.
"Yeah that sounded tough" nodded Checo as they both walked towards her and sat on each side of her on the couch. Their arms around her immediately.
Olivia let out an unconvincing small laugh as a second tear fell and she immediately brushed it away "How much of that did you overhear?" she said turning to both of them.
"Nothing" Checo shook his head seriously.
"All of it" nodded Carola with a sympathetic smile.
Olivia laughed again, her laugh was more honest this time, and her brother and Carola both hugged her. She hugged them back and felt the comfort of their arms enveloping her.
---------------------------
Pato exited through the glass doors. Max was standing expectantly looking at him as he came out, his arms were crossed over his chest, his jaw was tight and he had a menacing frown on his face. Then he realized Pato's face was flushed and we wouldn't look any of them in the eye, he just looked at the ground.
"I'm gonna go get checked out at the hospital guys, I'll see you in Brazil" he said with a sad node. This made Max's shoulders relax slightly.
"See you in Brazil mate" said Carlos amicably.
"I hope it's not broken Pato" added Charles with a concerned face.
"Thanks, I'll see you around" he tried to smile at them as he started to leave. As he was about to step out of the backyard's terrace he stopped walking, he stood hesitant for a moment with his back turned to them. Then he said "And Max" he turned around to look at him. Max's brow furrowed deeper, ready for another altercation "Don't fuck this up" he said calmly as he met Max's eyes.
Max looked confused for a moment as Pato turned back around and kept walking. He called out as he walked away "Or you'll regret it! Believe me". He didn't turn back to them as he crossed over the lawn and exited the party.
"What the fuck is going on?" Max wondered to himself in a low voice as his body relaxed seeing Pato leave. He uncrossed his arms and for the first time in more than an hour he sat down.
After a few minutes Checo came back out "Max" he said as he signaled for Max to follow him. Max stood up immediately and walked behind him "Don't do too much noise okay? My kids are asleep" Checo warned him. He wasn't too sure what their conversation would be like, but Max tended to get heated up.
"How's Olivia? Is she okay?" he asked right away as he followed Checo to the living room.
"She'll survive" said Olivia from the couch as she heard him coming in. Olivia was nervous about seeing Max. Not because of the fight with Pato, but because of the hurt look he had given her when he found out she had slept with Pato over break. She couldn't get his face out of her mind. She felt this weight over her, it was way more painful than the cuts all over her body.
"Oh my god Olivia" said Max in shock as he came closer. He didn't sit on the couch or touched her, he was afraid of hurting her even more than he already had.
"I'll leave you to it" Checo gave Olivia a reassuring smile and walked out of the living room.
"Are you okay? Checo hasn't told us anything at all" he said slightly upset as he settled for sitting down on the low table in front of her. That way he was still close but could not disturb her.
"Some cuts, some stitches, I'll be fine" said Olivia simply while showing him her bandaged arm.
Max slowly held the hand from her bandaged arm "I'm so sorry love, I shouldn't have fought with Pato. You wouldn't be here if I hadn't" he shook his head.
"About that" Olivia breathed deeply, it was time for the uncomfortable conversation "I didn't.. I didn't know you didn't know Max, I'm sorry" said Olivia feeling truly regretful. Max was glad she didn't say the actual words out loud, it would hurt even more to hear them.
And yet there was a circus of emotions running through him. His guilt and pain had mixed with his anger. He felt his jaw tense up at the thought of Olivia sleeping with Pato. Earlier that night, when he was talking about Pato meddling all the time he knew very well his anger was directed solely at him, but at this moment that wasn't true anymore. His anger was also directed towards Olivia.
How could she have slept with him?! He thought, that was after we spent that night in Vegas, after she told me she loved me, how could she still have turned around and slept with him?! As soon as this thought crept into his mind he felt his anger rise even more.
He was furious at her. But I have no right to be, he thought. Do I? No, no, I truly don't. He tried to remind himself what he had done was worse, way worse. It really wasn't the time to explode towards Olivia. It never would be.
He didn't realize he had been staring down at her bandaged feet for awhile, not saying a word.
"Max? Are you okay?" asked Olivia in a small voice, she was obviously nervous for his reaction and was trying to meet his lost gaze.
He snapped out of it, unclenched his jaw and his fists. He looked straight into the dark eyes that usually brought him so much comfort and calm, but there was this fire inside of him that wasn't dying down. Still, he tried to understand "Olivia I know I said I didn't want to know what had happened between you and Pato" he started sayin with an edge on his voice "but I never thought you could've slept with him!" he couldn't help it, his tone got louder and his brow was furrowed, he looked deeply hurt.
Olivia on the other hand, looked deeply guilty. The situation was quite ironic considering she was the one covered in cuts while Max had been partly the reason why.
"I'm sorry Max" she said with a voice that was barely audible as she shook her head "I swear it didn't mean anything to me" she cleared her voice and spoke again "I talked to Pato. We're not friends anymore" she shrugged as she looked down at the carpet.
"You what?" he asked confused, his tone mellowing down.
"I couldn't be his friend now, knowing everything he said to you tonight, knowing that's how he felt. I love you Max, and I don't want you going crazy because Pato is there. So you don't have to worry about Pato anymore" she still wouldn't look at him and there was a note of sadness in her voice. "Please forgive me Max". Max didn't know if he should comfort her or be even angrier that this was hurting her so much. He shook it off, he was going crazy, and Pato wasn't even there to blame.
He realized that in that particular moment in time his relationship with Olivia was standing on a fine thread. It all felt so delicate. He had taken quite a few wrong steps already, if he took one more they might just fall off.
He took a very long and deep breath, closing his eyes. He reminded himself that him and Olivia were not a couple that summer break, that she had stayed away considerably from Pato since then, that Max himself had deleted her text messages and started a fight with her ex in her nephew's baptism, which ended in her bleeding again, and now she had dumped Pato's friendship. For him. He exhaled, he was gonna get past this.
He opened his eyes back up and stood up, he very slowly sat next to Olivia on the couch, on her right side which seemed like the unharmed side of her. He held her right hand and stroked it with his thumb "I forgive you love, you and I were not together then" he said trying to also convince himself "Please forgive me too, I can't believe you are all hurt again and it's because of me" he said with a truly apologetic face.
Olivia tried to smile as she looked up at him, her eyes were shinning as she looked into his blue eyes. Which seemed like cold waters in that moment. "I'm gonna be fine Max" she reassured him "just promise me you will still love me even if one day I'm completely covered in scars" she tried to joke.
It got a chuckle out of Max, his gaze warmth up slightly and he carefully placed his arm around her and kissed the side of her forehead "I can't imagine the day that I won't" he said sweetly then he added "If you are gonna be covered in scars, can I be fat and bald? Because once I leave Formula 1 I'm finally gonna be eating anything I want" he joked as a genuine smile appeared on his face.
Olivia laughed "deal".
Max thought about that delicate thread on which his relationship stood. He knew he had just taken the right step; and yet, he was still haunted by the fall.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some of you are really gonna be happy with this chapter
I really like Pato though ahaha, he's a flawed character but not a bad guy you know?
He's not an Ashley
Anyway, we are approaching the end and these chapters are getting longer.