Thunderstorms

Crumbling Apart

Maia's POV:

I lightly knocked on the doors to Val's old bedroom, waiting for an answer from his part, but everything was silent. I had given him a moment to cool down, and given that Marco and Alex were still out, I decided I could try my luck with Val again. Right when I was about to surrender, I heard footsteps on the other side, and all of a sudden, Val was opening the door for me.

"Hey" I muttered. "Can I come in?" Val looked away and simply walked into his bedroom again, leaving the door open for me to step inside. I followed him into his room and closed the door behind me, watching as he sat down defeated on the edge of his bed, licking his lips while he stared at the floor. "Val... if you need any help, you can just tell me" He slowly nodded, making me sigh out of tiredness. He was a tough one to deal with. "I'll try and talk to Marco for you, try to make him change his mind about what he's doing"

"It's useless" He determined. "I've been trying to talk to him for ages now, he never listens"

"Maybe it's just because you and him have always clashed so much, maybe he doesn't want to listen it from you. You know, if I tried-"

"Do whatever you want, Maia" He coldly spat.

"Right" I remained silent for a while, looking at my hesitant brother, until I heard the front door of the house being opened downstairs. "You know, I think Marco and Alex are back already" I mentioned. "I bet they took the horses out to the paddocks"

"Right about fucking time" He hissed.

"Val, listen" I called him out, sounding as tender as I could to avoid getting him angrier. "I can't stand watching my brothers like this. Why don't we just go downstairs and have lunch all together?" I suggested, sitting down on the bed next to him. "I'll introduce you to Alex, he's really nice... you'll have someone new to talk to" I faintly smiled. Val heaved in an exhausted sigh, taking a moment before answering.

"Let's go" He mumbled.

"But first!" I jumped up from the bed, making him stop before he could leave the room. "Just remember to be nice, Val, ok?" I demanded, shooting him a warning look. "Please"

"I'll try my best" He simply stated, walking out with me following behind. When we reached the lower floor, we were met with Alex, Romeo, and Marco sitting at the table, and they all fell silent when they saw us.

"Hey, boys" I cooed. "Where are you going?" I exclaimed when Marco stood up from his chair.

"Uhh, outside" He barely replied.

"No, you're not" I attacked. "We're going to have lunch all together"

"And why is that?" Marco retorted.

"Because Maia wants to" Val spat. "She's finally here after six years, and if she wants us all to have lunch together, then we will" Marco glared at him, but then sat down on the same spot he was at. It felt weird to hear Val saying what I've asked him to, and not what he wanted, but I wasn't going to complain.

"Just for Maia" Marco said, just when I felt Alex walking up to my side.

"Oh, uhm, Val" I stuttered, feeling my heart rushing. "This is Alex" I felt everybody's eyes on us, and I was praying for things to go as smoothly as possible, although it seemed very unlikely. "Al, this is my eldest brother, Val" Val's eyes landed on Alex, which made me feel so fucking sick, wondering what he was about to do, but surprisingly, he barely nodded and extended his hand out, shocking us all in the room.