Thunderstorms

Coincidence

Maia's POV:

"Come in" I ordered to James before he could even greet me. I'd finally managed to text him, telling him he could come home to pick his stuff up, and here he was, standing on my doorway. It had taken me a whole fucking month, but I didn't feel like seeing or talking to anyone during it, so I'd delayed the task as much as I could. "Everything's in that box" I pointed towards the couch, where a box with James' belongings lay next to it. "Grab it and leave" Alex's words swirled in my mind: you're harsh, you're an actual mean woman.

"Mai, why are you being like this to me?" James asked, his voice low and soft, as if he was sad about this.

"What did you expect, James? Did you think I was going to receive you with hugs and kisses?"

"I'm not saying that, Maia. It's just... we've been together for three years, you look as if it would have never mattered to you. I just want us to be in good terms"

"Do you really think this never mattered to me? Excuse me, but you were the one who decided to call it quits here, James" I accused him.

"Well, you looked like you were over it pretty easily, considering how quickly you found someone else" He shot back.

"Don't even bring Alex into this, James. There's absolutely nothing going on between us" I warned. If he only knew Alex and I hadn't even talked to each other for over a month now....

"Are you going to tell me I'm wrong? Because what was he exactly doing in your flat that day I came for my stuff?"

"And why do you care?! It's my fucking flat, James! My fucking life! I can get anyone I want inside this apartment, you're not my boyfriend anymore, and even if you still were, you're not my owner, James!"

"Alright, Maia, I've got it! Fuck, it's always the same with you" He complained. "Can we just stop fighting for once? Maia, I still care about you" He muttered, stepping closer to me.

"It's too late now" I said, folding my arms on my chest, looking somewhere else to avoid his tender gaze on me.

"Mai, I just don't want anybody taking advantage of you"

"I know how to take care of myself, James, thank you" He stopped right in front of me, placing his hands on his waist as he looked up, inhaling deeply.

"You're so stubborn, Maia" I didn't answer. What was I supposed to say to that? He was right, I was the queen of stubbornness, and it had got me far in life, so I wasn't planning on changing it. "Mai" James called out when he saw he was getting no reactions from me. He took my chin with his hands and made me face him. "This is one of the toughest things I've had to face so far"

"What?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Breaking up with you, Mai. I didn't want to do it, I just saw things were getting ugly and I didn't want to harm you, so I ended it before it could get really bad. I didn't want that for us, not after these great years we've spent together, I just thought I had to do it" He confessed, taking a hand to the back of his neck. "I should have thought about it twice, Mai"

"Yeah... maybe you should have" I whispered. We locked eyes for a moment, and I felt my heart compressing into a knot. They had been three amazing years together, and it was so heartbreaking to see them dying down on us so fast, as if they had never actually been there, and all there ever was had been the constant fights. Then again, Alex was running around inside my mind: It gets messy and then, when you look back at it, the only things you remember are the fights. There is no love, no spending time together, no sex... it's just fights, Mai. I felt my eyes getting watery, but I refused to cry. Focus, Maia, never give a man the chance to think they can outsmart you, because they'll end up tearing you down. Yet, I didn't want my love life to be like the one Alex had described. I didn't want to be alone, I didn't want not to ever be loved, and I didn't want incessant fights.