Thunderstorms

Part Two Of Our Story

Maia's POV:

I woke up the next morning feeling weirdly cold, and when I opened my eyes, I noticed I was spread on the couch. Suddenly, all the memories from the night before came flooding to my mind: the bar and Riley, the strange man, Alex... Alex. He had stayed with me last night, so why was I alone now? I got up from the couch and searched all the apartment for him, but he hadn't left a single clue. I couldn't help but feel sad about it, I thought that being with me was what he wanted the most. Then again, I had been nothing but a total bitch to him so far, so thinking it twice, it wouldn't surprise me if he felt like getting the fuck out of my place as soon as possible, being as far away from me as he could. Yet, I couldn't avoid yearning his presence, and deep within me, I knew I had enjoyed last night as if it was the last one of my life.

"Maia" I was taken aback when I saw James busting through the door, walking right up to me.

"Jay?" I asked in surprise, but he got me into a tight embrace, making me wonder what the fuck was going on. 

"Are you alright? What happened?" He demanded, taking my face in his hands.

"What do you mean?" I questioned, furrowing my eyebrows. "Aren't you supposed to be in Manchester?"

"Mai" He called me out in disbelief. "You sent me a text in the middle of the night pleading me to come back home, you said something had happened to you. What was it?"

"I... I did what?"

"Mai, are you kidding me? Is this some kind of joke or something?" He argued, annoyance growing in his voice.

"Jay, I... I don't know what you're talking about" Jay stared at me incredulously, but he only got his phone out and showed me the text I had sent him. When I saw it, there was only one thing I could think of: it had been Alex. My heart compressed into a knot when I recalled him telling me that it was James the one who was supposed to be lying by my side, and not him. All of a sudden, I understood everything, but I couldn't help but feel terrible for Alex. He must have felt so out of place, that when he sent that message, he quickly left before James arrived. Deep down, it was the right thing to do, but I strangely wished he could have stayed instead of doing that. 

"Mai, I had to call my boss and tell him I needed to leave urgently, what happened?"

"Oh, Jay, I'm sorry" I muttered. "I completely forgot about that text. It's just... last night was horrible, and when I finally fell asleep, I erased everything in my mind" I said, playing along to Alex's message, I had to pretend I knew about it, at least.

"Are you ok? You scared the shit out of me"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Maybe it'd be better if we sat down and I explained it to you" I proposed, and James agreed to it. We went to the living room and I started recalling last night's events, and James was attentively listening to all my words. It was hard trying to tell himthat Id' almost been raped, and when I got to Alex's appearance in the story, I lied to him, saying a cop had heard my screams and rushed to help me. By the end of my explanation, James' face was a mixture of fury and horror, and for the first time in my life, I was afraid of what he could do.

"Fuck, Maia" He breathed out. "Fuck... I'm sorry I wasn't there, Mai"

"Jay, it's not your fault" I stroked his cheek. "We could have never known that was going to happen" Jay strongly crashed his lips to mine, then hugged me tightly once he broke the kiss.