Chapter 3 – Rehearsal

The group all walked into rehearsal at a nearby studio. Kevin and Avi were there first and were looking over some of the arrangements they had planned for a new song they were working on. Kirstie walked in and smiled at Esther and Grace who were sitting against the far wall of the studio. She walked over as rehearsal hadn't started yet and said, "Hey girls."

"Hiya Kirst, how are you doing?" Esther asked with a wide smile.

"I'm doing okay, I guess," Kirstie answered. She was still thinking of the situation with Aaron and the situation with Scott earlier. She didn't want this to be awkward, but thought that there was no way to avoid it. Kirstie sat down in a nearby chair and started pulling out her notebook and looking through it at songs.

Esther leaned over to Kirstie and said, "How's Aaron?"

Kirstie looked at Esther and sighed and her face said it all, "It's going; just don't know for how long."

"Is he coming to rehearsal today?" Esther asked.

"No, he's helping his brother move today, it's okay, I could use a little break from him at the moment," Kirstie said.

Esther nodded as if she understood and said, "Okay, well, if you ever want to talk, I'm here."

"Thanks Esther, that's really sweet of you," Kirstie said.

Grace leaned over and said, "I'm here for you too, Kirst." Kirstie smiled and thought that Grace was always so sweet and kind, she was happy that Avi found someone so wonderful.

Kirstie stood up and carried her notebook over to one of the chairs by Kevin and Avi. "Hey guys," Kirstie said, "Where's Mitch and Scott?"

"Running late," Avi said smiling. "How are you doing today, Kirstie?"

"I'm okay, you?" Kirstie said hoping that Avi wouldn't ask about Aaron, she was getting tired of the conversation.

"Good, doing really well," Avi said, "Is Aaron coming by today?"

Kirstie sighed in her head and said, "No, he's busy today, maybe next time."

Kevin leaned over and said, "Kirstie, look at this arrangement for Titanium, I know it's an old song, but I think that we could really put a nice change to it."

Kirstie leaned over and glanced over the sheet music and sang softly as Avi and Kevin chimed in on their parts. They were singing softly when Scott and Mitch came in and saw them all singing. Mitch said, "Should we be worried? Are y'all going to go out on your own in a trio?"

Kevin, Avi, and Kirstie all laughed. Kevin said, "I was just showing Kirstie this new arrangement I've been working on.

Scott leaned over Kirstie's shoulder and looked at the sheet music and Kirstie could feel his presence, let the awkwardness begin, she thought to herself. She tried to act normal and calm and not act like she had just asked her best friend to leave her apartment earlier today. She looked over at Mitch was looking at her and she smiled softly and he returned a small smile. Scott looked over at Kevin and said, "That is really good, I like that, Kevin." He placed his hand on Kirstie's shoulder and squeezed it and walked over to another chair. Kirstie bravely looked at Scott who was smiling and she smiled back. She looked down at the sheet music and tried to avoid eye contact with him, she really wanted to figure out this situation with Aaron, besides Scott couldn't really be into her, not after all this time, could he?

The band sang all of their hits, old ones, new ones, and then sang the new arrangement of Titanium and they were really good. The rehearsal lasted for about two hours and they decided to wrap it up. Scott pulled Kirstie to the side and said, "Can we talk really quick?"

"Sure, what's up?" Kirstie said.

"I'm sorry if I was out of line earlier today," Scott said reaching for her arm.

She looked down at her arm where his fingers lightly touched her and she could feel his touch in her bones, even after all of these years. She looked at him and said, "It's okay, don't worry about it, we just got carried away for a second. Besides, nothing happened."

"Yea, I guess you are right," Scott said dropping his hand and then putting both of his hands into his pockets. She could sense that he felt uneasy and she reached towards his arm and said, "Really, no worries, okay."

He nodded and then he looked up for some reason and saw that he was getting daggers from Esther, which was really odd, because he and Esther were just friends and they ended things years ago. Kirstie looked at Scott's eyes and saw confusion and she turned around with her hand still on Scott's arm and saw Esther standing there, arms crossing in front of her, staring them both down. Kirstie turned back around towards Scott and asked, "Okay, what did I miss?"

"I have no idea, guess I'll need to talk to her," Scott said.

He walked over to Esther who turned and headed outside and he caught up to her outside and said, "Esther, what's up?"
"Don't what's up me, Scott; I see what's going on here. You love her, don't you?" Esther asked.

"What are you talking about?" Scott asked.

"Kirstie, you love her. I saw the way you touched her shoulder when you came in and leaning over her shoulder. You also couldn't keep your eyes off of her the entire rehearsal and the way you just looked at her, just now in the corner of the room; I thought that you said that you only saw her as a friend?" Esther explained as calmly as she could. She was really trying not to turn into a jealous friend, but she had feelings for Scott still. She only ended things with him in hopes of starting something back up when he wanted too. She had longed for him all these years and just hoped that she would have another chance. But, now, she felt that all of her chances were gone, after seeing Scott today.

"Esther, I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you are talking about, but we just friends now. We haven't dated in years, where is this all coming from?" Scott said softly not wanting to upset her.

"Yes, we are just friends now and we haven't dated for years, but I guess I thought that we would get back together, eventually," Esther said.

"Esther," Scott said walking towards her, he felt bad that she felt this way, and he hoped that he hadn't lead her on in any way.

"Don't, I'm okay, I'm just being a stupid girl right now," Esther said.

"You are not a stupid girl, don't say that," Scott said quickly.

Esther shrugged and said a small good bye and walked away and then Grace came outside to see what was going on. Grace looked at Scott and then at Esther who was walking over to the car. She smiled and Scott and headed over towards Esther and they got in their car. Scott stood there with his hands in his pockets wondering what to do. He really did like Kirstie, but, would it ruin everything, he didn't want to hurt Esther; he didn't want to hurt anyone. Kirstie was still in a relationship and he didn't want to put Kirstie in that position again, he would just try and keep his distance for now.

Grace and Esther sat in the car and Grace looked over at Esther and said, "What is wrong with you? You look like Scott just cheated on you?"

"I know, I guess I was fooling myself into thinking that Scott and I would be something again, I thought that I could just play it cool, and be his best friend, and one day, he would look over at me and realize, hey, there's the girl I've been waiting for, sitting there all right in front of me," Esther said wiping away a tear.

"Well, what happened to make you think that he doesn't see you like that? Did I miss something in rehearsal today?" Grace said.

"The way Scott looked at Kirstie today, touched her shoulder, touched her arm, everything, he looked at her like I have wanted him to look at me since day one," Esther said.

Grace tried to recall these things, but her eyes were on Avi mostly, so she missed a lot of the other members of the band. Grace said sincerely, "Maybe you just thought that you were seeing something there that is not there at all, they are best friends and have been for a really long time."

"Trust me, Grace, it's something more this time," Esther said. "I'm ready to go home, are you coming with me or going with Avi?"

"I was going to go out to eat with Avi; do you want to come with us?" Grace asked with a smile.

"It's fine, go out with Avi, I'll see you later," Esther said.

"Do you want me to bring you back something; we are going to Sam's?" Grace asked.

"No, thank you though, you are really sweet," Esther said with a small smile.

"Okay, well, let me know, just text me, okay. See you soon." Grace said as she got out of the car and headed back to the studio. Scott was still standing there and she smiled and said, "She'll be okay, Scott."

"Really, because it didn't seem so," Scott said.

Grace headed back inside and Scott followed her in and she went over to Avi and hugged him. "Great job today, babe, you were amazing as always!"

"Thanks Gracie," Avi said hugging her back and kissing her.

Grace smiled and asked, "You ready to go?"

"Yea, let's go; see y'all tomorrow, same time." Avi said as he looked back at the band and headed out the door with Grace.

Mitch and Scott got ready to go and headed out as Kevin and Kirstie followed closely behind. Kevin waved bye as Mitch, Scott, and Kirstie stood by their cars and they waved bye. Mitch turned to Scott and Kirstie and said, "What's up you two?"

Kirstie nervously laughed and said, "Nothing, what are you talking about?"

Scott said, "Nothing, Mitch, just had an awkward situation earlier today, but it's all good, nothing is going on."

"Scott?" Kirstie said.

"Okay, we both knew that I was going to tell Mitch anyway, I tell him everything," Scott said.

"Hold up, what exactly happened with you two earlier today and I need details," Mitch says folding his arms across his chest with a smirk.

Kirstie shook her head and said, "I'm going home, bye Scott. Bye Mitch, Scott can fill you in on the details, I guess."

She waved by and laughed and got in her car and headed down the street.

Mitch turned to Scott and said, "Spill it."

Scott told Mitch what happened and then what happened with Esther and Mitch said, "Wow, I missed a lot, is it true?"

"Is what true?" Scott asked.

"What Ester said, do you love Kirstie?" Mitch asked.

"To be completely honest with you, Mitch, I don't know. I just know that I have these feelings for her and I have had feelings for her before, but just never said anything. I don't want to hurt anyone, I'm just at a loss as to what to do."

Meanwhile… at Grace and Avi's dinner…

"You won't believe what Esther told me earlier," Grace said.

"Should you tell me? I don't want to know something that I shouldn't know," Avi said.

"Well, I trust you, you won't say anything to anyone," she said sweetly.

"Okay, what's going on with Esther, I saw that she looked upset when she left," he said concerned.

Grace looked around the room out of habit and leaned forward and whispered, "She thinks that Scott is in love with Kirstie."

Avi dropped his fork on his plate and he said, "Oh, sorry about that, what did you say?"

"She thinks that Scott is in love with Kirstie," Grace said.

Avi blinked and looked at his plate of food. He looked up at Grace and said, "I don't think that is true."

Grace thought that Avi was being a bit weird about this and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing, just trying to process that," Avi said. He was surprised at his gut reaction to this news. It didn't bother him that Kirstie was with Aaron and that they were in love, but it for some reason, bothered him that Scott might be in love with her. This was one of his best friends. Avi liked Kristie at one time, really liked her, possibly loved her at one time, but he never acted on it because it never seemed like the right time. Then, he met Grace a couple of years ago, and he was able to focus on her. He realized that Grace was staring at him waiting for an answer to a question and he had not heard the question.

"What was that, babe?" he asked.

"Why are you trying to process it? Why are you acting so weird all of a sudden?" Grace asked anxiously.

"Nothing, sorry, I'm okay. Just a long day, you know," Avi said trying to reassure her, but feeling somewhat guilty about it.

To Be Continued…