Chp 4 – The Break
Kirstie headed back to the apartment and was relieved that it was empty of Aaron. She walked around and looked at their things, pictures of them on vacation, a magnet they got together on their first trip to the mountains, little things that brought happy memories. But, was she being fair to Aaron, she wondered if her feelings for Scott were starting to resurface. She almost kissed him; she couldn't believe how close they almost came. She sat down and watched some TV until Aaron would come home. She pulled out her phone and texted Aaron and asked and he replied, 'I'll be home in about two hours, almost done babe.' She then scrolled through her contacts and dialed Mitch and he answered on the second ring.
Mitch picked up the phone and said, "Hello Sweetie, what's going on?"
"Can you come over?" Kirstie asked.
Mitch sensing that Kirstie needed him said, "Of course, I'll be right over in a few minutes."
Kirstie said, "Okay, thanks Mitch, bye!"
"Bye Kirst," Mitch said.
Mitch put his phone down and Scott looked at him and said, "Everything okay with Kirstie?"
"Yea, she just needs to talk, I'll be back later," Mitch said standing up and going to the door.
Scott watched as Mitch left and he wanted to go too, but knew he should stay there.
Mitch came into the apartment and found Kirstie sitting on the sofa in the living room crying. He walked over and sat down and put his arm around her and said, "What's wrong?"
"Everything, Mitchy", Kirstie said between sobs.
Mitch went to get Kirstie a glass of water and grabbed the box of tissues and came back over and said, "Here, drink this. Wipe your eyes, take a deep breath, and tell me what's wrong?"
After a few minutes of Kirstie calming down, she looked at Mitch and said, "I'm going to break up with Aaron when he comes home today."
Mitch held Kirstie because he knew that she hated hurting anyone in her life and that this was going to be really hard for her to do. He said, "When did you decide all of this?"
"Today, yesterday, the day before, I think that I have known for a little while. I just was really thinking about it and it's just going well, you know. It's not fair to him for me to be in this relationship with him when I know that I am settling for him, you know," Kirstie said.
"I think that you should just be honest with yourself and with Aaron. What are you going to do about the apartment?" Mitch asked out of concern.
"I don't know yet, I haven't even gotten that far. I'm going to give him the option of staying here, he loves this apartment, I was going to call the landlord and see if there was another one available," Kirstie said.
After a little time passed, Mitch looked down at his phone and said, "I better get going before Scott bursts in here wanting to know what's going on, he was there when you called earlier."
"Oh, well, I guess you can tell him what I plan on doing, that way I don't have to tell the whole thing again," Kirstie said.
"What's going on with you two?" Mitch asked.
"Me and Scott," Kirstie said.
"Yea, something is up with y'all," Mitch said.
"Mitch, I have no idea what's going on, all I know is that I almost kissed him today, me, Kirstie, almost kissed my best friend, right here on this sofa. What if Aaron had walked in? He would have been devastated," Kirstie said.
"Is that also why you are breaking up with Aaron today?" Mitch asked.
"Not the only reason, just more of like it was an eye opening experience and I realized that Aaron wasn't the one for me. But, because of Scott, no," Kirstie said.
"Yea, I get that, well, I will talk to you later, call me," Mitch said with a hug goodbye.
Kirstie watched Mitch walk out of the apartment and she waited for Aaron to come home.
Mitch walked into his apartment he shared with Scott was not surprised to see Scott at the piano. Scott paused and looked up and said, "You have been gone forever, what in the world is going on, I almost came down there to see what was up, you know how hard that was for me?"
Mitch smiled softly and said, "I know, I know. Kirstie needed to talk; she's going to break up with Aaron today when he gets home."
"Whaat, she's breaking up with him?" Scott asked as his mind went racing.
"Yea, and you might want to work on your sincerity when you see her, you almost sound excited," Mitch said with a smirk.
"I do feel for her, I like Aaron, I just don't know if I have ever liked him and Kirstie dating, he didn't seem like he was good enough for her," Scott said.
"Hmmm," Mitch said going over to the kitchen to grab some coffee.
"Don't hmmm me, I am being serious," Scott said nudging Mitch.
"Can I ask you something, Scott, and you'll be completely honest with me," Mitch said with a very firm look.
Scott was worried for a moment, but said, "Yes."
Mitch poured his cup of coffee and reached for the sugar and started to drop a spoonful into his mug. He looked up and he stirred it with a spoon and said, "Do you like Kirstie?"
Scott didn't answer, but turned towards the living room. He went to his phone and brought it to the kitchen and Mitch watched him pull up some folder on his phone. Scott showed the folder and it was filled with photos of Scott and Kirstie together, from before Pentatonix formed to current days at random concerts. Mitch looked at Scott and said, "Wow, how many pictures do you have in this folder?"
"About fifty, it's just some of my favorites from the years. When I'm feeling down, I scroll through them. I have a folder of all of us too, but this one is the one that is password protected, I never wanted Kristie to know that I had a folder of just us," Scott said as if he was revealing a big secret.
Mitch looked at Scott and said, "So, I'm guessing that the answer to my question is a yes."
Scott pursed his lips and raised his eyebrow and took his phone back and nodded slightly.
Mitch said, "Are you going to tell her?"
"I want to, but every time that I feel like telling her, she starts seeing someone," Scott says.
"Okay, I know for a fact, that she was single for like five months before she started dating Aaron," Mitch said.
"I had just ended things with Esther and how do you know how hard it to tell one of your best friends that you like them in a romantic way?" Scott asked.
Mitch smiled and said, "I can imagine it's difficult, especially after all of these years. You know, I don't think that Esther will be happy for you two or Avi."
Scott stopped in his tracks, "Avi? What about Avi, why wouldn't he be happy?"
"Nothing, I did not say his name," Mitch said feeling horrible for almost spilling Avi's secret from years ago.
"Mitchy, tell me, or I will tickle you," Scott said walking towards him.
"That is not fair, Scott, and you know it," Mitch said and walked away from Scott.
"Tell me, I won't say anything, I promise," Scott said.
"Okay, this was years ago, Avi had a big huge crush on Kirstie, like, I think that he even loved her," Mitch said.
Scott completely dropped his jaw open and said, "Avi loved Kirstie?"
"Yea, well, I think so, he never asked her out, then he met Grace, and I guess he didn't. He seems really happy with Grace, you know." Mitch said.
Aaron came home and was completely exhausted from helping his brother move. He was happy to see Kirstie when he came through the door and was even happier to see that none of her 'guy' friends were hanging out with her alone. He went into the kitchen and grabbed a water bottle and came into the living room where Kirstie was sitting and he sat in the recliner and put his feet up and said, "Hey babe."
Kirstie looked up and Aaron saw her puffy eyes and sighed, "What happened now?"
"We need to talk, Aaron." Kirstie said gently.
"About what?" Aaron said as he took a swig of water.
She waited until he was put the water bottle down and looked at Aaron sincerely and said, "I think that we need to break up."
Aaron put the recliner in a sitting position and said, "What are you talking about?"
"I have thought a lot about it and I think that we need a break, I'm so sorry Aaron. The last thing that I want to do in this world is hurt you, and I don't want to lead you on in anyway, but I feel that we aren't meant to be together anymore," Kirstie said.
"Do you not love me anymore?" Aaron asked.
"I do love you Aaron, but-" Kirstie started and then was cut off by Aaron, "Don't say, that you are just not in love with me anymore, I don't want to hear that if that's what you have to say."
"I know that we just started living together and we have a rental agreement, but I just feel that in my heart, we need to end things now." Kirstie said as she reached for Aaron's hands.
He held her hands in his and looked at her in the eyes and knew what she was saying was the truth. He couldn't help but feel that she was drifting away from him and then he asked, "Please tell me this is not because of some guy."
Kirstie shook her head and said, "No, this is not because of some guy."
After a long ten minutes of utter silence, Aaron stood up and walked around the apartment and looked over at Kirstie and said, "What's the plan for the apartment?"
"Whatever you want to do, if you want to stay, I'll find another place. It might take a couple of days, but I'll try and find a place as soon as possible," Kirstie said.
"Kirstie, I don't want to make you move out of your apartment, but if you honestly don't mind, I would love to stay here, I love this location," Aaron said.
"I can see if I can get my old loft apartment back, it might still be available, it's only been a few months, you know. I want you to be happy, Aaron. You will meet an amazing girl one day and she will love you the way you should be loved," Kirstie said.
"I already found an amazing girl," Aaron said as he reached for her and gave her a hug.
They both felt like this was a goodbye hug and Kirstie said, "I'm going to go now, okay. I'll go find out about my apartment and I'll come back later."
Kirstie stepped out of the apartment and felt free for the first time in over a year, she felt like a huge weight was lifted off of her shoulders. She could breathe again. She didn't feel smothered. She felt bad for the way she hurt Aaron, but she felt that it was best, because it wasn't fair for her to stay with him when she wasn't in love with him anymore. She was so pleased that he didn't yell or scream, she was a little surprised at all how calm he was, but she would take it. She walked over to Mitch and Scott's apartment and knocked. Mitch answered and said, "Did Aaron come home yet?"
Kirstie nodded and hugged Mitch's neck and said, "It's done."
Scott came over to the door and said, "Kirstie, Mitch told me about you and Aaron, I'm sorry it didn't work out for you two."
Kirstie smiled and said, "Thanks Scott."
Kirstie went over to the couch and sat down as Mitch and Scott came over and sat by her. Mitch said, "So, what are you going to do now, with the apartment?"
"Well, Aaron is going to stay there and live there. I'm going to see if I can get back into my loft apartment or another apartment somewhere," Kirstie said.
"But, your loft apartment is four blocks over," Mitch said with a frown.
"It'll be okay, Mitch, we can walk four blocks," Scott teased.
"Are you staying with Aaron until you find out? Won't that be awkward? You can stay here." Mitch said looking over at Scott for approval.
Scott agreed and said, "Yea, you can stay here, Kirst, until you find a place."
"Guys, that's really sweet, but where am I going to sleep?" Kirstie said.
"You can sleep with me," Mitch said, and then laughed at how that sounded and said, "I mean, we can share the bed, we aren't going to do anything."
Kirstie laughed out loud and said, "Thanks Mitch, I needed that laugh. I'll think about it, okay."
To Be Continued…