Thunderstorms

Realization

Maia's POV:

I woke up for the second time in the night, a loud knock coming from my doorway. My eyes shot up in surprise, and I dizzily woke up from the bed, dragging my feet to the living room. What was it now? I had an important polo match at eight in the morning and I had been wandering around my house for the last hour. I guess it didn't amuse me to see Alex, holding on to my doorframe for dear life, once I opened the door.

"Alex, what are you doing here?" I asked annoyed. To be honest, I actually thought he was trying to fuck around with me when he'd told me he was going to walk all the way to my house. His hair was a spiky mess, his eye bags were big under his eyes, and his clothes stuck to his sweated body.

"I told you I was going to come here, Maia" He pointed at me, stuttering on his own words. "Angora!" He yelled happily when he saw my cat behind me. He picked her up and got inside my apartment, pushing past me and ignoring me completely. "I've missed you, girl" He cooed to my cat, who was now licking his cheeks as he smiled.

"Alex, you need to leave" I closed the door to my apartment and walked towards him.

"But I just came here" He complained.

"I don't care, Alex, I have work to do tomorrow. This is the second time you've woken me up, and really, you're the last person I want to see right now. I don't care how wasted you are, I'm calling Miles" I stated, looking for my phone and searching into my contact's list.

"But I don't want to go to Miles', I want to stay here with you"

"Well, that's too bad, I don't want you here" I took the phone to my ear, but was extremely disappointed when nobody answered. What the fuck was I supposed to do now? And then it occurred to me: surely Collin wouldn't mind coming to pick his completely thrashed rockstar up, right? Whether he liked it or not, Collin was my only option now, so I went inside the kitchen to talk to him. He answered right away, and to say he was angry when he found out what was going on would be an underestimation. "Alright, Alex, Collin's on his way to pick you up" I said, entering the living room again only to find Alex sitting on my couch, Angora peacefully on his lap.

"What? I thought you'd said Miles! Collin's going to kill me!"

"Yeah, you deserve it. Miles wasn't answering his phone, and I want you out of here"

"Mai, you don't get it" I took a seat in front of him. Until Collin arrived, I would have to look after him as if he were a fucking puppy. "I'm doomed"

"Yeah, you probably are. Do you want some water?"

"Yes, please" I stood up and went to the kitchen for water, because Alex definitely looked like he needed it. From all the times I'd seen him drinking, this one had to be his worst. He was stumbling all around the place, and he was having a hard time forming coherent sentences. When I got back, I saw him curved down, with his head on his hands, tugging at his hair. I didn't know what was up with him, but he looked broken down, and it made my heart ache.

"Here you are" I got him out of his trance, and he took the glass from me, gulping it down.

"Fuck" He muttered under his breath, leaving the glass on the coffee table.

"What's going on with you, Alex?" The question came out of me naturally, but it felt heavy in the air between us.

"I'd tell you if I knew, Mai" He leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes. "I tried doing the right thing, I really tried"