Too Much of a Good Thing

They ended up in bed, curled up next to each other and watched a movie with only the popcorn missing in the picture. Jo had stopped any sort of action from happening when James had his hand up her shirt. She just wasn’t in the mood especially after literally just making up with James a couple of hours before that.

Jo had already fallen asleep by the time the movie credits rolled. James, who had been completely awake, stayed by her side and cuddled her closer to him. He was happy to have her so close to him again after the rough couple of days they’ve had. James turned off the tv and took that moment to reflect on the everything that happened within the last two years.

He still couldn’t believe that he was next to the girl he had just met at some musical festival that he wasn’t even supposed to be a part of. Until this day, he still believed that fate had brought them together. But of course, he would never tell anyone that. From Jo’s graduation, her visit to his hometown, to her store’s grand opening. He had been there through all of it.

Then there was the move. The move that he thought would’ve never happened. Jo had been having second thoughts about moving in with him because her whole life was in California. James completely understood that and respected her decision of staying. So when she told him that she was ready to pack up and leave Los Angeles, he was beyond surprised. He was overjoyed and immediately started making plans for her permanent stay.

One thing they hadn’t talked about in awhile though was her family. Her parents and her brother were not his biggest fans. He hasn’t met her older sister yet but Jo assured him that she would like him and that she was nothing like Rich.

Laying next to her, he felt like everything was back to normal.

Until her phone rang.

He reached across the bed to see who was calling Jo. It wasn’t late at night or anything but hardly anyone called Jo unless it was Edith talking about business. But even he knew that Edith wouldn’t call past five o’clock as she herself was clocked out of work and half way through happy hour.

He looked at the screen and saw that it was Paul.

Again?!

He let it go to voicemail and placed her phone back on the nightstand. He didn’t want to ruin their perfectly good night.

After a few minutes of silence, Jo’s phone vibrated against the wood. An annoyed James reached for her phone again and saw that Paul decided to leave a text message.
He shouldn’t have done it but he was still curious. He just wanted a little peace of mind.

He typed in her password which was a combination of his number and her favorite number (which is claimed was 18 as well). The text message lit up on screen and James’ eyes read every word.

Hope everything is alright. Don’t know what happened on the phone earlier. Just let me know if the Pittsburgh store is still a go. Talk to you soon.

“What the-”

Jo woke up and the first thing she saw was James with her phone in his hand, eyebrows furrowed as he read whatever was on her screen.

“What are you doing?” She asked groggily, yawning and slowly sitting up.

Jo fell on her side a little when James got up from the bed, taking her phone with him.

“What Pittsburgh store is Paul talking about?”

Now fully awake, Jo got up and walked around the bed. She tried to snatch her phone back but he wouldn’t let her have it.

“Quit being such a child and give me my phone,” she demanded while attempting to grab it from his hands. “Come on!!!”

“Not until you tell me what he’s talking about.”

“It’s none of your business!” She answered. “You don’t see me snooping around and reading your texts!”

“It is my fucking business, Jo. You’ve been acting so weird since you started talking to Paul,” James pointed out. “You accuse me of cheating when you know I would never do such a thing. But now I feel like you’ve been on my case about it because you’re guilty of doing the exact thing you’re accusing me of.”

James almost didn’t feel it. He liked to think that he had good reflexes but clearly Jo was quick. James didn’t feel the sting on his cheek until a second after it happened. Jo, herself, was shocked at what she had done. It was what she felt was right. She wouldn’t just stand there and let him attack her when he didn’t even know half of the story.

“Why don’t you ever let me explain a thing before throwing allegations at me,” Jo cried out. “Paul and I decided it would be a great idea to open up a store in Pittsburgh. He wanted to partner up with me and thought of the store as his backup plan for his future. It was supposed to be a surprise for you too because I know how much you loved playing for Penguins.”

“Jo…” James started.

“I was only thinking of you when I agreed to it,” Jo sat miserably on the bed with tears refusing to fall out because she felt like she had cried out everything she could. “I wanted to keep it a secret, told Paul not to tell you a thing about it. When he went to LA, it was to meet me so we could talk about the partnership. I wasn’t sleeping with him or anything else you were thinking about.”

“Jo…” he repeated. “I-I don’t know what to say.”

“I think we need a break,” she blurted out. “Things just aren’t getting any better and it’s better if we do this now than for it to get worse later on.”

“We don’t need a break. We need to talk about this.” James demanded, not wanting to give up so easily.

“We’ve talked and nothing is happening,” Jo looked down at her hands on her lap. “Maybe...maybe we just rushed everything.”

“Come on, Jo. Don’t say that. You’re saying all this over a fucking surprise for me.”

Jo glared up at him. “This isn’t even about the stupid surprise anymore or Paul or that girl you were with! This is about us and how we’re just not getting along anymore! We’d be fine for one second then fighting the next.”

“So what do you wanna do now?” James asked.

“I want a break, not a break up,” Jo clarified. “Maybe if we spent some time away from each other, think about what we want, how we’ll fix this, then maybe we’ll be alright again.”

“If that’s what you want.” James said coldly which Jo picked up on.

“It’s not what I want,” she said. “It’s what I think is best for the both of us.”

“It’s what you think is best for us,” James pointed out. “What about what I think is best for us?”

“What do you think is best for us?” Jo asked in sincerity. She didn’t want him to feel that his opinions and feelings don’t matter to her.
James thought about it for a second but was unable to come up with any logical solution to their problem. If there was one thing he was sure of, it was the fact that taking a break is not something he wanted.

Jo tugged on his hand, offering the seat next to her on the bed. He sat down with his hand still holding hers.

“What’s on your mind?” Jo stroked the roughness of his palm and looked at his tired features.

“I feel like if we take this break, we won’t ever find our way back to each other,” he said sadly.

Jo shook her head and gave his hand a squeeze. “I promise you this won’t be the end of us. We just need a little time to think and breathe for a second.”

Defeated, James gave in to what she wanted even though he hated the thought of just being away from her.

“I honestly don’t know where to go, Jo.” James said when he realized that he had no place to go for their break.

“I’m going to LA,” she announced. “I have to take care of some stuff at the store over there and now that we’ve agreed to this, I think it’s the right place for me to stay for a couple of days.”

“Where will you stay? At Edith’s?”

“No, I’ll be staying at my parents’ house.”

James started to worry. He hated the break he had agreed to and hated it even more now that she was going to be thousands of miles away to stay at her with her parents. Jo may feel indifferent towards them, especially Rich, but James felt the complete opposite. He didn’t like the way they treated her. They treated her with such little importance, it made James sick. He couldn’t understand why her parents would favor such an asshole like her brother.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? Won’t Rich be around since he’s on summer vacation?”

“I’ll be fine, alright?” Jo assured him.

I’m not sure if I will be. They both thought.

“I wish we didn’t have to do this,” James said.

“Me too.” Jo replied.