Chp 10 – Next Day

Avi tossed and turned all night thinking about Kirstie and Gracie. He was shocked that he kissed Kirstie and told her how he felt. He was sort of proud of himself; it was something that he wanted to do for years. He felt horrible for Gracie and still loved her, but he also really liked Kirstie and that was something that he could not hide away in his heart any longer. He really wanted to talk to Kirstie again, but didn't know when. She was staying over at Scott and Mitch's. He pulled out his phone and saw that it was only 6:11AM. He rolled back over to his pillow and tried to go to sleep and then he heard his phone buzz. He glanced over at the text message from Grace, 'Can we talk?'

Avi thought about it and texted back, 'You sure you want too?'

(Grace Bold, Avi plain)

Yes, I want to talk, well, text.

Ok.

I'm sorry about how I handled things; I should have spoken to you privately. That was not right of me to do that in front of everyone.

I wish you would have done that in private.

I was so upset and after Esther confirmed that you liked Kirstie, I lost it. Can you be honest with me and tell me now?

Tell you what, that I still love you. Yes, I love you Gracie.

Don't say that.

Why.

Because you like her, you can't love me and like her at the same time.

I'm sorry for hurting you, Grace; I never wanted to hurt you in a million years.

Do you think that you will ever stop liking Kirstie?

I don't know how to answer that question without hurting you.

Have you talked to Kirstie at all since we kind of broke up?

It seemed pretty real to me, the whole breaking up thing.

Did you talk to Kirstie?

Yes.

And?

And what, we talked; she wanted to know why you said what you did. Why you were pulling her into our business.

I know, that wasn't fair of me to do to Kirstie, she was so confused.

Yes, she was.

Are you going to try and date her now?

I don't really want to talk about this with you right now. We just broke up yesterday and I feel that this is getting a little bit awkward.

Do you think that you'll ever want to get back together with me?

I think we need some time apart right now.

I love you, Avi. More than you know. I'll talk to you later.

Bye Gracie, I love you too.

Avi looked at the time again and it was about 6:45 now. He sat up and stretched. He got up and got ready for the day. He walked into the kitchen and started some coffee. He went over to the balcony and looked out and looked at the sunrise and smiled. He turned and saw a sluggish Kevin walking towards the coffee maker.

"Morning," Avi said towards Kevin.

"Morning," Kevin said rubbing his eyes.

"You seem really tired?" Avi asked.

"Yea, I was up pretty late, working," Kevin said as he grabbed the biggest coffee cup he could find and poured him a cup.

Avi walked over and poured a cup as well and joined Kevin at their kitchen table. Kevin looked over at Avi and said, "So, how are things today after you have had some time to think about things?"

"Confusing, I told Kirstie how I felt and I kissed her," Avi said.

"What?" Kevin asked.

"Yea, it was a spur of the moment type of thing, I'm not sure why I decided to it, I just couldn't keep it inside any longer. She was looking at me with those incredible eyes and that little smirk she does, and I just had to tell her how I felt," Avi said.

"What did she say?" Kevin asked how more awake.

"Nothing really, I really shocked her. She seemed very surprised, but she did kiss me back," Avi said.

"Scott and her have a thing, well, I don't know how much of a thing, but I know it's something," Kevin said.

"Really, I thought there was a chance he might like her, do you think that she likes him?" Avi asked.

"I don't know," Kevin asked and then said, "Avi, I want you to be happy, you deserve to be happy."

"Thanks Kevin," Avi said with a smile.

"I'm going to go over and talk to Kristie this morning," Avi said sipping his coffee.

"That's good," Kevin said.

They continued to talk and drink coffee and they made some waffles as well. After eating breakfast, saying goodbye to Kevin, Avi headed out in the direction of Scott and Mitch's. He knew that he would pass Aaron and Kristie's old place, so he tried to go quickly by that door. He passed it without incident and he was thankful.

As he walked up to the front door of Scott and Mitch's place, he wondered what he would say. He knew that the words would come to him once he saw her. He reached his hand out and knocked and no one answered at first, he could hear someone moving around the apartment inside. He knocked again and the door slowly opened and Scott stood there yawning and Avi said, "Hey Scott, can I come in?"

Scott opened the door and halfway smiled, "Sure, come on in, Avi."

Avi walked in and saw that the couch was made up with a pillow and blanket and sheets. He looked over at Scott and saw Scott sit back down on the couch and crawl underneath the blanket and look over at Avi and said, "Have a seat, sorry we are all still sleeping. What time is it?"

"Where's Kirstie?" Avi asked.

"She's in my room, why?" Scott asked.

"Just curious, that was nice of you to give up your bed, you don't even fit on the couch," Avi said trying to make light of the situation.

"It's fine, she'll be out soon anyways," Scott said watching Avi now.

"She will?" Avi said with a little bit more excitement than he thought he would.

"Yea, she's not going to stay here forever, it was always just for a couple of days," Scott said.

Kirstie came out to the living room and saw Scott and Avi talking and she felt her stomach do somersaults. She tried to go back to the bedroom before anyone noticed her, but too late. Avi turned and said, "Good Morning, Kirstie."

Kirstie slowly turned back around and smiled and said, "Morning Avi. What are you doing here so early? It's not even 7:30 in the morning."

Avi said, "Wow, I didn't know it was still so early, sorry about that, I've been up for a while."

"Really, why?" Kirstie said as she walked over and sat on the end of the couch as Scott scooted his feet back so she could.

"Just thinking about things," Avi said staring at her in the eyes.

Kirstie felt the stare, but also felt Scott's eyes on her too. This was getting a little too intense for her. She had slept by herself last night while Scott took the couch. She felt Scott's leg lean against her and she tried to focus on Avi. She was not about to flirt with either one in front of the other. Avi looked at Kirstie and then at Scott and then back at Kirstie and said, "Can we talk privately, Kirstie?"

"Sure, let's go out on the balcony," Kirstie said standing up.

Avi and Kirstie walked out onto the balcony and Kirstie sat down in one of the chairs while Avi sat in the other. They looked out at the trees and Kirstie smiled and said, "It's going to a beautiful day."

Avi looked over at her and smiled, he loved how Kirstie found beauty in every day.

"I wanted to talk to you about us," Avi said.

Kirstie looked over at Avi and wondered if she should be honest with him and she knew that it would be best if she was. She basically gave Avi the same talk she gave Scott. She opened Avi's eyes to her feelings towards Scott. After hearing her talk about everything, Avi said, "I wasn't expecting you to be so honest with me, but thank you. So you like both of us?"

"Yes, I know it's hard to understand, but I have feelings for both of you," Kirstie said.

"On one hand, I am so happy that you like me too, Kirstie, but, to be honest with you, I don't know how I feel about you having feelings for Scott too. I'm not going to fit for you, Kirstie. So, I guess Scott likes you as much as I like you?" Avi said with a heavy sigh.

"Yea, sorry Avi, I don't want to hurt you, I just wanted to be as honest as I can be with you. You and Scott are both important to me and I don't want to lose either of you in my life," Kirstie said.

"I don't want to lose either of you also, so I guess I can't get another kiss?" Avi teased.

Kirstie shook her head, "no."

"Okay, worth a shot. So, I guess I'm going to go back in and face Scott now. This won't be awkward at all," Avi said now understanding Scott's looks towards him this morning up until now.

Avi stood up and walked back into the living room and saw that Mitch has now joined Scott on the couch and they were watching TV. Avi looked over at Mitch and said, "Morning Mitch."

"Morning Avi, good talk between you two?" Mitch asked as he felt Scott's foot nudge him. Mitch looked over at Scott and gave him a look.

Avi smiled and said, "I guess so. So, this isn't awkward at all, Scott."

Mitch laughed and said, "This is so funny, it's like I'm living in the TV show, the bachelorette."

Scott shoved Mitch to the end of the couch with his foot and he and Avi gave him a look. Kirstie looked at Mitch and said, "I'm so glad that I can be your personal entertainment, Mitchie, this is nothing like the Bachelorette."

"Yes, it is. You like them, they like you, all you need is a rose," Mitch said smiling.

Kirstie finally laughed at the situation and it did lighten the mood a little bit.

"Well, I'm going to go get ready for the day, I'll see you later Avi, okay," Kirstie said.

"See you, Kirst," Avi said.

Mitch looked over at Scott who was not amused by his joking and he knew to give Scott some space at the moment and said, "Sorry, I'll leave you two to talk."

Mitch walked back to his room and shut the door and Avi stood as Scott slowly rose up to a sitting position. Scott was the first to speak, "Avi, I don't want this to come between us."

"I don't want that either," Avi said.

"If she wants to be with you, I'll be okay with that. All I want for her is for her to be happy. I told her the same thing. That doesn't mean that I don't want to be with her, because I want nothing more in the world. But, I am not going to play games or fight for her, this is her choice," Scott said.

"You love her?" Avi asked with a realization of his best friend sitting in front of him confessing his true feelings.

Scott didn't answer, but just looked at Avi.