Thunderstorms

The Most Important Lesson

Maia's POV:

"Morning" Alex growled over my shoulder, his grip on my waist tightening. We had fallen asleep spooning each other, and somehow, it had felt absolutely amazing.

"Morning" I whispered back.

"You actually stayed the night" He joked.

"Well, it is my flat" I remarked.

"Oh, shut up" He chuckled. "Angora wouldn't stop licking my face over the night" I laughed.

"Looks like you've grown on her"

"I like her, she's cool" I smiled at him, turning to face him only to be met by his lips quickly pressing on mine. I gave in to him, and he slowly placed himself on top of me.

"It's too early for sex, man" I gently pushed Alex off me as he complained.

"Thought you might be one for morning sex"

"I mean, it's cool. It's supposed to be healthy and everything"

"Sounds like something we should put on our to do list"

"Sure" I laughed as I reached for my phone. Strangely, I hadn't heard it ringing in the whole night, and I had around five messages that belonged to the same person... James. My heart got caught in my throat, but not because of James himself, but because of the content of his messages: he was going to come and pick his stuff up at around noon. I checked the time on my phone and it was already half-past twelve. I hadn't even noticed the messages were there, thus I never answered any of them. How was I supposed to let James into the apartment with Alex in my fucking bed?!

"Anything wrong, Mai?" Alex asked, seeming to notice the flustered look on my face.

"This is bad" I said, more to myself than to Alex.

"Do I want to know?" He inquired, but just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, my doorbell rang. My head shot up in surprise, and so did Alex's.

"Trust me, you really don't want to know. Stay here" I ordered, making my way towards the door.

"Wait, what's going on?" Alex was already getting out of the bed, but I stopped him before he could.

"Don't you even dare to get out of here, you hear me, Alex? Just let me solve this thing quickly and I'll be right back" And with that, I left him hanging there like I'd done millions of other times. I put my hand on the doorknob, ready to face whatever would be waiting for me on the other side, but paused for a minute. I drew in a deep breath, and finally gathered up the courage to open the door. James was standing there, dressed all in black, and I don't think I remembered how he'd always been so... pretty. "Hey" I muttered.

"Hey, Mai. You look surprised"

"Yeah, well, I... uhm, I wasn't expecting you"

"I sent you like five messages, Maia" He complained with annoyance, gesturing to the phone in my hand, which I wasn't even aware I was still holding.

"Uhh... yeah, I know. It's just... I've just woken up and I haven't had time to read them yet. Listen, I'm kind of in a hurry, do you think you can come back another day?"

"In a hurry? On a Saturday?"

"Yeah, I... I need to go to the barn. Georgie wants to give me an extra lesson with Trinidad to be ready for the competition"