Chp 8 – Stolen Kiss
The group sang a couple of songs and then tried a new arrangement. Meanwhile, Esther and Grace were off on the side sitting and talking. They were on the other side of the room, so no one could hear them speaking.
"You have to tell me what Avi said to you, it's very important to me, Esther. I am your best friend and your roommate; please tell me, do I need to be worried about my relationship?" Grace said as she looked over at Avi who was looking at the ground and not making any eye contact with her whatsoever, which is not the norm.
Esther frowned, "Gracie, I think it's best if you speak with Avi about this, I don't really feel comfortable speaking with you about it. All I know is that you need to speak to Avi about it."
"That tells me that there is something, look at me Esther, does he like her?" Grace asked not sure if she wanted to know the answer, but knew that she must know if she was going to move forward in her relationship with Avi. She loved Avi, but she didn't want to be with him if he cared for someone else.
"Yes," whispered Esther, so low, that she hoped that no one heard, she had already gotten something stirred up today for overreacting, so she was very careful as to what she was saying to Grace, her best friend. Esther didn't hear any response, so she looked up and all she could see were tear-filled eyes. She placed her arm on Grace's shoulder and Grace pulled away, not wanting to be touched at the moment. She cleared her throat and stood up, "Is this true?"
Esther nodded and then regretted it because she was not expecting what came next. Grace got her things from the chair and went over to where the group was still singing and walked right up to Avi, tears now falling from her eyes. The group stopped as Grace entered the circle and Avi looked at Grace and said, "What's wrong?"
"We are over, Avi," Grace choked out.
Avi stood there in shock and said, "Let's talk about this outside, okay?"
At this time, Mitch, Scott, Kevin, and Kristie all started walking away slowly as they did not want to be standing there witnessing this moment, as they felt bad enough just standing there. Grace stopped Kirstie by holding her arm out and said, "Kirstie, you might as well stay right here, this has something to do with you."
"What are you talking about Gracie?" Kirstie asked completely confused.
"No! Not here, not now, we are going outside, " Avi said pulling Grace out the door gently.
Once outside, Grace pulled away from Avi and stared at him with her arms folded in front of her.
"Where is this coming from, we were doing so great," Avi said pleading.
"I think that it's time that you are honest with yourself, Avi, I know you, and I know you more than you think that I know you. You are different now, you have changed. And I know that you like Kirstie, yes, I finally got the answer to my question. I know that you didn't want to hurt me and that is why you wouldn't answer me, but I started thinking about it and if it was as simple as just saying, no, you would have said it a long time ago. I confirmed my thoughts once Esther confirmed your feelings."
"Esther!" shouted Avi.
"It's not her fault; I basically dragged it out of her. But, she didn't have to say much, just confirm what I already knew to be true. I can't believe you, Avi. You say you love me, but how can you like her too?" cried Grace.
"I don't know, I'm so sorry, I never meant to hurt you. You have to know that I love you," Avi said looking very sincerely at Grace.
Back inside, Esther starting packing up her things because she wanted to get out of there before Avi returned. Kirstie walked over to Esther and said, "What's going on? Why did she say this has something to do with me?"
"Kirstie, you have to know how Avi feels about you, right," Esther said, not realizing her voice was carrying over to the other guys across the room. They stopped whispering and looked in the direction of Esther and Kirstie. Scott started heading towards them. Kirstie was confused now more than before, how Avi felt about her? How did Avi feel about her? She looked at Esther and shook her head and said, "What are you talking about?"
"Wow, you really don't know, do you? Well, I'm done telling people things today, you should talk to Avi," Esther said.
Kirstie just looked at her and watched her leave the studio, but not before Avi came back inside alone. He looked so defeated and Kirstie felt so bad for him. She walked up to him and asked, "You ok, Avi?"
He looked at Kirstie, who had such concern in her face, and he said, "Not really, Kirst, I think that I'm just going to go home."
Avi looked over at Esther who was trying to leave and said angrily, "What is wrong with you? Why would you tell Grace?"
"Did I lie?" Esther snapped back.
Avi didn't say anything at first, but then said, "I was going to talk to her in my own time, and I didn't want her to know, not like this, not now."
Esther frowned because she realized how she hurt her brother; she wasn't trying to hurt him. She was just tired of the truth not being out there. "I'm sorry, Avi," she said. Esther walked out of the studio and Avi went over to his bag and started packing it to leave.
Kevin came over and said, "You going back home?"
Avi nodded.
Kevin leaned towards Avi putting his arm around him and whispered, "I think that Kirstie might want to talk to you, man. Esther said some stuff while you were outside with Grace."
Avi sighed and sarcastically said, "Great, perfect, that's just so freaking awesome."
Kevin leaned back and placed his hand on Avi's shoulder and said, "At least the truth is out now, you don't have to hide it any longer."
Avi rolled his eyes at Kevin, knowing that Kevin was just trying to make him feel better. Avi stood facing the rest of the group and said, "Guys, I'll talk to you all later, okay. I'm heading home. I'm sorry for bringing my personal drama into our space today."
"Avi, we need to talk?" Kirstie said walking up to him.
He looked at her and he hated that she looked so confused and then he looked past her and saw Scott, who was putting it all together in his mind. He looked over at Mitch who just looked so concerned for everyone. Avi could barely take it anymore and he reached for Kirstie's arm and said, "I'm sorry Kirstie, I can't talk right now, I'll talk to you later, okay."
"Can I walk out with you then?" Kirstie asked.
Avi said, "Sure, that's fine. See y'all tomorrow." He waved and the others said their goodbyes.
As soon as Avi and Kirstie headed outside, Mitch turned to Kevin and said, "Is it true?"
Scott turned to Mitch and then to Kevin waiting for Kevin's response.
Kevin nodded and said, "Yea, I've known for a little bit, but yea, Avi's has been crushing on Kirstie pretty bad. He really likes her and I guess Grace just found out about it as well as Kirstie, well almost. I don't think that Kirstie knew anything about it."
Scott face was stunned. Mitch's eyes widened and Kevin realized that he had just said all of this in front of Scott who was currently in the starts of a new relationship with Kirstie. Kevin said, "Scott, you okay?"
Looking down at the ground, Scott sighed, "I didn't even know that Avi liked Kirstie, how is this possible? He is in love with Grace."
"He has been struggling with it; he didn't want to hurt anyone. I think it's because she broke up with Aaron, I don't know. But, how is this going to work with two members of the band liking the same member?" Kevin said.
"I don't even know," Scott said.
Mitch quickly added, "It'll work out, guys, we just have to take it a day at a time, okay."
Outside, Avi and Kirstie were headed towards Avi's car and Kirstie stopped short of the driver's door, blocking Avi way of getting in. Avi said, "Kirstie, let me get in my car."
"Talk to me first," Kirstie said with a small smile.
How could he resist that little smile of hers, he nodded and said, "Okay."
"Avi, why would Grace say that earlier about it having something to do with me? Also, your sister made it seem that I knew how you felt about me, how do you feel about me? What's going on?" Kirstie asked.
Avi leaned in and kissed her softly. It was a small kiss, but it caught Kristie off guard. Avi wrapped his arms around Kirstie's waist and pulled her close to him and hugged her.
After a minute or two, Kirstie broke free from Avi's arms asking, "Why did you kiss me?"
" I like you, Kirstie. That's what's going on here. Grace found out from my sister. I'm coming clean, I wanted to do this a different way, but now it's all out there, I like you."
Kirstie stood there brushing her fingers along her lips still stunned from the kiss that Avi gave her. How can her heart feel things for both Avi and Scott at the same time? She scooted over so Avi could open his door. He smiled and said, "It's not often that you are speechless, Kirst. What's going on in that pretty little head of yours."
"You kissed me," Kirstie said eventually.
"Yes, can I kiss you again?" Avi asked with a flirtatious smile.
"Um, I gotta go back inside, Avi, I'll talk to you later, okay," Kirstie said feeling flush.
Avi smiled and he was happy that he at least got to kiss Kirstie, even if it wasn't the circumstances that he wanted. Kirstie waved bye as Avi drove off and walked back inside in a daze.
She went over to the music stand and looked at the sheet music. She must have stood there for several minutes before Mitch came over and whispered, "Kirstie, you are blushing?"
Kirstie shot a look at Mitch and touched her cheeks and said, "Am I?"
Mitch laughed and said, "Yes, you are, what happened out there."
"Um, I can't really talk about it," Kirstie said shooting a glance over at Scott who was heading their way.
Mitch turned and saw Scott and said, "Later, then."